Podcasts about markis

Steelers insider Mark Kaboly from The Pat McAfee Show joined the show. Mark reacted to a few Steelers legends criticizing Mike Tomlin and the “Steelers Way.” Are the Steelers just a quarterback away from being great? Mark said Ben Roethlisberger is pretty savvy in the media game. Mark reiterated that Justin Fields will be the team's best option for 2025. More w/ Mark – The guys wanted to get Mark's take on what Jim Rooney said the other day about the Steelers being “above the mean” compared to the rest of the NFL. Will those comments change what Art Rooney will say next week? The guys speculated what Art will say in that presser. How much will it match what he said the last few years? What about the comment a couple seasons ago about finishing the season strong? More w/ Mark – Is the Steelers front office willing to have a difficult conversation? Mark does think it is strange that we haven't heard anything regarding the coaching staff in 2 weeks. Should the Steelers reach out to Bobby Slowik about an offensive coaching job after he was let go by the Texans? Mark said the Pete Carroll hire was strange to him because the Raiders are nowhere close to a playoff team. Mark thinks the chalk talks in the conference championship round.

01 Duke & Jones, Marlhy - Kill Me To Know (Extended Mix) [Independent] 02 JLV - SummerTime Breeze (Extended Mix) [HEXAGON] 03 Jarod Glawe, Markis, 88BIRDS - Kaleidoscope [LOUDKULT] 04 AR CO x Punctual x NewEra - Generation Love (Extended) [Helix] 05 RELOVA - All Night Long (Extended Mix) [IN ROTATION] 06 AVAION x Sofiya Nzau - Wacuka (Extended) [Ministry Of Sound] 07 HUGEL & Diplo ft. Malou & Yuna - Forever (MEDUZA Extended Remix) [Insomniac] 08 Tom Bug - Take Control (Original Mix) [Dobar House] 09 AYYBO - Demon Time (Extended Mix) [GDB] 10 Chapter & Verse - Regulate (Extended Mix) [Helix] 11 Pandhora, Stephane Salerno - Papaya (Yame Extended Remix) [Art Vibes] 12 MNNR - LAKA (Extended Mix) [Municipal] 13 Sammy Porter - Kicking You Out (Extended Mix) [The Myth of NYX] 14 Gwen Stefani - Hollaback Girl (Kriss Reeve Extended Mix) [White] 15 Tim Hox, Ava Silver - The Day (Extended) [TBC]

00:30 Introduction 03:45 From Episode 329 "Mark and the PSPs" 07:05 From Episode 330 "Garrett x Madame Web" 11:55 From Episode 331 "Dave and Jack x Madame Web" 18:25 From Episode 335 "Mark IS the sporting albatross" 21:30 From Episode 336 "Garrett x the sporting albatross" 24:25 From Episode 336 "Ken Shamrock for president" 29:20 From Episode 341 "What is a Gooner" 34:05 From Episode 343 "Eggs and Bananas" 36:45 From Episode 348 "The Zimmer Bwah" 40:10 From Episode 353 "Lobbyists..." 46:55 From Episode 354 "Macho Man impressions" 49:05 From Episode 357 "Is Pokemon an Anime" 54:05 From Episode 357 "Garrett's Nah" 56:55 From Episode 359 "The Venom debate" 1:04:25 From Episode 362 "Aussie Game of the Year" 1:06:55 Outro 1:08:45 Storming through the party like my name was El Nino... Like, listen, share and subscribe, we appreciate any love from you fine people. We are available on most podcast platforms, just search ‘Link to The Cast'. linktr.ee/linktothecast If you wanna contact us for our mailbag, or just to say hi, or if you just want to keep up to date on our content as it's posted, check out the following: linktothecast.wordpress.com / linktothecast@gmail.com @linktothecast on Twitter and Blue Sky. The lads are: ► @thedaytodave ► @lithiumproject ► @jacklayzell ► @garrettkidney

Openers:   Mark: First in Flight Tim: Arcs Closers: Tim: Changing enjoyment (and ratings) of games Mark: Is it possible to go to too many game events? Tim @Denga If you've followed me for any time, especially on our Discord server, you've heard me talk about a couple things: my appreciation for the "new" podcast Board Game Hot Takes, and my observations of how the energy of our hobby has shifted from when I joined it. I get to combine both of those topics into one episode by inviting one of the three BGHT hosts, Tim, to join me on the mic and use him as a representative of the "next generation" of boardgame hobbyists. He chuckles at that characterization, pointing out he's not that much younger than me, and has been playing boardgames for a few years. But that still makes him the New Kid on the Block compared to an old fart like me, and I think it shows in the types of games he & I both love.   That's what we talk about, how the bulk of the hobby may be broadening and unchanging (think about Ticket To Ride, Catan, and Azul at Target stores and on Amazon), but the energetic, active hobbyist part of the hobby appears to be compelled by crowdfunding, plastic figures, and the BGG Top/Hot games lists. I'm not trying to say that's a problem, but I am certain that's it's a difference. At the same time, there are some nice advantages for old-timers like me, whether it's improved game distribution, production enhancements (e.g. double-layer boards), and the most robust online multiplayer options we've ever seen. -Mark

Special Guest Host Ken Hensley Ken dives deep into the intricate relationship between faith and obedience in the context of salvation and justification. He examines how Paul contrasts faith with works of the law, not with simple obedience to God. Plus, he addresses historical misinterpretations surrounding Luther's struggle versus Paul's struggle. He also takes a caller's valuable critique on addressing antisemitism head-on.   Paul the Apostle's statements about “Works” (01:09) Christine - Complaint about comment that Luther was anti-Semite because he was German. (15:57) Mark - Did Luther ask for a Catholic priest when he was on his deathbed? (19:53) Sal – A lightbulb came on listening to your talk today. (21:53) Brian – I read the Lutheran confessions and I don't believe the battle between faith and works is necessarily what people think it is. (32:23) David - I call it the 'Protestant Revolution.'  Luther introduced a lot of new ideas. (41:45) Jim – Did Allister McGrath bring out a new theology about Justification? (46:46) Mark - Is it okay to choose between the lesser of two evils? It seems like that is something we have to do in politics today? (48:09)

DJ “D.O.C.” On Air is a weekly mix show featuring the hottest ElectroseX Records tracks and dance music from around the world from fellow EDM industry producers. Producing/Mixes/Radioshow: info@electrosexrecords.com Record Label/A&R/Owner & Founder: djdoc@electrosexrecords.com New Music out on all platforms including: Beatport https://www.beatport.com/label/electrosex-records/86837 Junodownload https://www.junodownload.com/labels/ElectroseX Traxsource https://music.apple.com/us/artist/dj-d-o-c/1719172929 Beatsource https://www.beatsource.com/label/electrosex-records/66584 MusicWorx https://www.pro.music-worx.com/en/artist/dj-d-o-c/175821 Apple Music https://music.apple.com/us/artist/dj-doc/105750664 Spotify https://open.spotify.com/artist/4cYUeqAGXyqvtPMLSFdprl DJ/Producer & Radio Mixshow Host - Any questions hit me up on my socials or by email. To have your music played on DJ "D.O.C. On Air send your tracks to djdoc@electrosexrecords.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rockstar_dj_doc Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rockstardjdoc Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/rockstardjdoc Soundcloud: https://www.soundcloud.com/rockstardjdoc Website: https://www.electrosexrecords.com Episodes 215/p> Playlist: Markis & Dallerium - Moonlight DJ "D.O.C." - Moon Melody Ken Bauer - Your Voice Roxanna x DJ "D.O.C." - Stronger Beth Mills x DJ "D.O.C." - The Light Brittney Bouchard x DJ "D.O.C." - I See The Dark DJ "D.O.C." - Feel The Music In The Air Kaoru & Alex Mueller - Techno_Drug DJ "D.O.C." x Jose "House'in" Cruz - Belong Together Roy Orion & Lusso & KROMI - Full Throttle DJ "D.O.C." x Marc Stout - Kill My Feelings Ruslan Radriges x Alexander Turok x WhiteLight - Unstoppable DJ "D.O.C." Featuring Sergi Yaro- Find The Light Eli Brown & HI-LO - Pyramid Rave Spag Heddy - Gameplay DJ "D.O.C." x High Density Velocity - Tear The Club Down Jesse Jax - Secrets DJ "D.O.C." x Melrose Mike x Sullivan King x ELLA - Countdown

Today we feature "The Black Manifesto" by Markis Piper. Please send your submissions to be featured on the podcast to poetryinmedicine@gmail.com. "In whatever you do, read a poem." Honored to have been named one of the top 10 medical podcasts in the state of Georgia by Feedspot: podcasts.feedspot.com/georgia_medical_podcasts/

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Vous avez entendu "Tu m'entoures", le new single de Markis ? Il nous en parle cette semaine dans la GRANDE interview du Journal du Gospel !

Patrick discusses the tragic bridge collapse in Baltimore and its profound implications for life's uncertainties. Plus, he tackles tough questions on purgatory and dispels misconceptions about the Catholic faith. Tune in to gain valuable knowledge and deepen your understanding of important issues.   Baltimore's colossal Key Bridge collapsed when container ship crashed into it. We fear there are mass casualties and we pray for those souls and for everyone in Baltimore in the aftermath of this travesty Renee - Did Purgatory exist before Jesus died on the Cross? (06:24) Brandon - I talked with a friend who thought it was bad that the Pope had a direct line to God. How do I respond to this? (13:25) A group of 26 academics have challenged the International Olympic Committee's framework on the inclusion of transgender athletes in sport, saying it does not protect fairness for women nor align with scientific or medical evidence. (18:45) Ledda - In your confession helper, it says that a woman who commits abortion automatically is excommunicated, but Pope Francis said the sin can be absolved (26:54) Dan - Why did Judas need to identify Jesus the night that Jesus was arrested? (34:36) Katya - Why are exorcist priests regarded more than regular priests and why don't dioceses make them known to the public? (40:41) Mark - Is the Passion according to Mark read every year or do they rotate Passion narratives? (46:25)

Patrick dives deep into the ethical crossroads of medical decisions and religious beliefs. He explores the weighty implications of a doctor respecting a Jehovah's Witness patient's refusal of a lifesaving blood transfusion. Patrick also tackles the complexities of voting ethics; how our responsibilities as Catholics shape our choices in the political arena, specifically when candidates support practices like IVF and abortion. Plus, don't miss his enlightening discussion on the significance of attending the upcoming National Eucharistic Congress for spiritual growth. James - Did Mary sin after Jesus was born? (00:45) Mark - Is it morally okay for Catholics to support Donald Trump with his stance on IVF? (06:01) Gina - I am a doctor and I had a Jehovah Witness patient and she said she didn't want to receive donated blood (even if it was necessary to save her life). Am I sinning if I honor her wishes and she dies? Patrick shares and responds to a couple of emails about presidential candidates and their stances on IVF Marie – What is the “Armor of God”? (28:18) Preston Allex, Relevant Radio's CFO, joins Patrick to share exciting news about the upcoming National Eucharistic Congress (35:58) Mike - I work in the OR and I disagree with what you are talking regarding patient autonomy. So I think you should not infuse blood if it's unwanted.

The Katherine Massey Book Club @ The C.O.W.S. hosts the sixth and final study session on Roxanna Asgarian's We Were Once A Family: A Story of Love, Death, & Child Removal in America. Gus has been asking listeners to locate the "love" in this narrative. Maybe you can help us locate the "family" in all this too. All of the murdered non-white children - including Devonte Hart - were abducted from the state of Texas. In the time we've been reading this book, the Texas Child Welfare system has been fined and charged with wanton neglect - including 49 children dying while in foster care over the past 4 years. Gus suspects most of those 49 fatalities were non-white children. Last week, we heard more details about Tammy Scheurich, the White biological mother of Hannah, Abigail and Markis. This drug addict, school drop out White Woman is presented with the Queen's English. The complete opposite of the incoherent Negro dialect of Dontay and Nathanial Davis that Asgarian highlights. As Gus suspected earlier, we're told Tammy's White family is Racist, but we're given no details about how they practice Racism. This week, readers found out that Jen & Sarah Hart made time to find a "no-kill animal shelter" for their hounds. While the pets survived, the 6 non-white children were poisoned before being driven off the cliff. White Mendocino County enforcement officials worked vigorously to avoid using the term "murder" when describing the carnage. They empathized with the murdering, White lesbians' family. #ThrowAwayBlackChildren #WhiteCronyism #TheCOWS15Years INVEST in The COWS – http://paypal.me/TheCOWS Cash App: https://cash.app/$TheCOWS CALL IN NUMBER: 605.313.5164 CODE: 564943#

The Katherine Massey Book Club @ The C.O.W.S. hosts the 5th study session on Roxanna Asgarian's We Were A Family: A Story of Love, Death, & Child Removal in America. Gus has been asking listeners to locate the "love" in this narrative. Maybe you can help us locate the "family" in all this too. This is our penultimate session on the disgraceful mass murder of 6 "adopted" non-white children by two lesbian White Women. All of these children - including Devonte Hart - were abducted from the state of Texas. In the time we've been reading this book, the Texas Child Welfare system has been fined and charged with wanton neglect - including 49 children dying while in foster care over the past 4 years. Gus suspects most of those 49 fatalities were non-white children. Last week, Asgarian detailed the White side of the tragedy. Abigail, Markis and Hannah all have a White mother, Tammy Scheurich. She produced offspring with 3 different black males. The Suspected Racist author demonstrates the same pattern: omitting the details of White pathology. We're told Tammy is estranged from her White parents, but we don't know why. Her new beau, Rob, prohibits discussion of what happened to her 3 murdered children. Readers don't know why. Conversely, when Asgarian sits down for waffles and fried chicken with Dontay and his black family, we get every pitiful tidbit. We hear about Sherry's physical therapy appointments and her "mop of slick black curls" and Dontay's appetite for raw pork chops. #TheySavedTheDogs #TheCOWS15Years INVEST in The COWS – http://paypal.me/TheCOWS Cash App: https://cash.app/$TheCOWS CALL IN NUMBER: 605.313.5164 CODE: 564943#

Conheça o Levante Sala VIP! Você terá a sua Carteira analisada por Flávio Conde e Ricardo Afonso. Clique no link e saiba mais: https://lvnt.app/gqa524 5/02: FUSÃO AREZZO e SOMA, BOLSA SOBE e DÓLAR R$ 4,98 Olá, seja bem-vindo ao Fechamento de Mercado da Levante comigo Flávio Conde, hoje é 2ª. feira, dia 5 de fevereiro, e o programa de hoje é dedicado ao ACRMatias, Monael, João Dutra, Nicoletti, João Markis, JMSarkis, Edson, Agnor, Leonardo, André de Paula, Renilson, Ronaldo e Solano que já assistiram o Mata-Mata: 12 Construtoras: Qual Comprar? A Bolsa subiu levemente para fechar ao redor dos 127,6 mil pontos com volume regular de R$ 18 bi, R$ 2 bi abaixo dos R$ 20 bi das segundas de dezembro. Por que a bolsa performou assim? 1º. A bolsa abriu em leve alta, 0,10%, subiu até 11h30, negativou às 12h e só foi positivar depois das 15h30 mesmo com as bolsas americanas caindo depois de dias de altas e dólar subindo de para R$ 4,98. Bancos, Petrobras e Saneamento sustentaram o Ibovespa enquanto o varejo e construtoras caíram. SOMA e AREZZO abriram em alta com o anúncio da fusão seguido de teleconferência com analistas, mas cederam bem talvez porque as sinergias da fusão só viriam em 2025. A alta dos juros futuros no Brasil fez as ações de varejo e construtoras caírem hoje. 2º. Entre as 15 mais negociadas 9 subiram lideradas por: PETR4 0,60%, PETR3 0,20%, ITUB4 1,80%, BBDC4 2,10%, BB 0,60%, BBSE31,20%, B3 1,10%, RENT3 0,50% e VBBR3 2,10% 3º. Seis ações caíram entre as 15 mais negociadas: VALE3 -0,90%, ARZZ3 -4,30%, SOMA3 -5,00%, B3 -0,90%, MGLU3 -1,0% e PRIO3 -0,40%. 4º. O petróleo chegou a cair -0,20% para fechar com 0,90% de alta, de US$ 77,20 para US$ 78,0 depois que o Buffet apoiou o CEO da Occidental Petroleum de que pode faltar petróleo em 2025 – eu duvido que isso aconteça – porque as cias. não estariam repondo petróleo com novas reservas. 5º. O minério recuou 0,60% para US$ 132,4, dentro da volatilidade diária de -/+ US$ 2 por tonelada. 6º. As bolsas americanas recuam com -0,13% Nasdaq (no ano sobe 4%) e -0,58% Dow Jones (no ano sobe 2%) em função dos juros dos títulos de 10-anos dos EUA subindo de 4,02% para 4,16% a.a. porque o Fed deve adiar o início da redução das taxas de juros dos fed funds de março para maio ou junho. . 7º. O dólar subiu 2 centavos para R$ 4,96 de R$ 4,98 dentro da volatilidade diária de -/+ 2 centavos. 8º. Os investidores estrangeiros sacaram R$ 400,8 milhões em recursos no segmento secundário da B3 (ações já listadas) na quinta-feira, 1º de fevereiro, dia em que o Ibovespa subiu 0,57%. Assim, o déficit da categoria no ano foi a R$ 8,30 bilhões. Já o investidor institucional aportou R$ 72,6 milhões na quinta-feira. Com isso, o déficit do grupo no ano foi para R$ 491,0 milhões. E o investidor individual aportou R$ 194,8 milhões no mesmo dia, levando o superávit de 2024 para R$ 4,24 bilhões. As informações foram divulgadas pela B3. Destaques de alta: CIEL3 +2.83% R$ 5,08 BBDC3 +2.20% R$ 13,94 JBSS3 +2.17% R$ 23,50 BBDC4 +2.02% R$ 15,63 WEGE3 +1.99% R$ 33,24 Destaques de baixa: COGN3 -6.72% R$ 2,50 SOMA3 -5.84% R$ 7,26 AZUL4 -5.54% R$ 12,97 LWSA3 -5.43% R$ 5,05 ARZZ3 -4.44% R$ 60,01 Agora, você terá uma mensagem especial de 2 minutos que fiz explicando sobre o Sala VIP Conheça a Levante Investimentos: Conheça nossas *Séries de Investimentos*: https://lvnt.app/4q3u3b Acompanhe nosso Instagram:   / levante.investimentos   Fique ligado nas principais notícas do mercado no nosso canal no Telegram: https://lvnt.app/zuntm0

Patrick dives into a variety of topics brought up by insightful and engaged listeners. From discussing the significance of wearing a crucifix with Jesus's body versus an empty cross, to exploring the idea of infallibility of the pope and the challenges within the Catholic Church, Patrick provides thoughtful and informed responses. He delves into the historical context of the church and offers advice on navigating complex issues with faith and dedication. Mark - Is it proper to have the crucifix with the Corpus? Rafael - I think that if Jesus isn't on the Cross, how can you say that the cross isn't of one of the thieves or someone else. Jake - Where does it say the pope is infallible? Why would this system even exist, it seems like an insecure system if he goes crazy. (11:39) Teresa - I washed an old bottle of holy water in a tub. Can I poor the holy water residue in my planters? Chris - I prayed in front of a nativity scene, but Jesus wasn't in the manger, so do I still get an indulgence? Vivian - My cousin doesn't have a father figure in his life and he gets into trouble a lot. What should I do? Megan - If I give a gift to Relevant Radio, would that be a valid tithe? Laura - My son was dating a trans woman. How do I talk with him about this? Joann – Did Jesus, Mary, and Joseph leave for Egypt because of the killing of infants? Helen – My daughter's godparents divorced and left the church. Do I need to get new godparents for my child? (42:25) Jonathan - I think losing things in life is important to growing in life.

On this edition of Straight Up 5, JP Jr and the boys will talk about who won the Michael Markis Memorial Tournament this year and was it Johnny? We'll also discuss Pete Weber getting in to the US Open next year, and the PBA 50 tournament that will be named after him next season. We'll also cover league results, the Imbecile of the Week and more!SUBSCRIBE TO OUR YOUTUBE CHANNEL!!!Follow the show on X :@straightup5podFollow Johnny Jr :@jpjr07Follow Dr Ocho :@TheDrOchoFollow Rad Rob :@radrobgamingThis show is part of the Spreaker Prime Network, if you are interested in advertising on this podcast, contact us at https://www.spreaker.com/show/4952849/advertisement

Jennifer and Sarah Hart, a same-sex, white couple living in Minnesota adopted 6 black and mixed-race children from Texas. That would be a challenge for most people, but Jen and Sarah made it look easy. Jen's social media was full of beautiful pictures of their children in nature, political rallies, protests, and musical festivals. They seemed like the perfect modern family until reports of child abuse and neglect mounted and Child Protective Services (CPS) was called in 3 different states as the Harts moved to evade authorities. The tragic story ended on March 26, 2018, when Jen and Sarah decided to drive off a cliff in Northern California, forever affecting those who loved Markis, Hannah, Devonte, Jeremiah, Abigail, and Ciera so dearly.Support this podcast.Sources:https://news.yahoo.com/two-women-murdered-adopted-black-140003914.html https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-hart-family-timeline-20180404-story.htmlhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6N17FqridVE https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/hart-family-mystery-deepens-as-friends-remember-previous-foster-child-in-minnesota/https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/story-of-harts-foster-child-is-one-of-heartbreak-though-not-the-way-some-might-expect/https://www.investigationdiscovery.com/crimefeed/murder/hart-family-jennifer-hart-sarah-hart-devonte-hart-suv-crashhttps://www.startribune.com/years-of-abuse-allegations-gathered-on-oregon-parents-who-drove-over-ocean-cliff-with-kids/480720321/https://www.oregonlive.com/pacific-northwest-news/2018/04/hart_family_crash_oregon_relea.htmlhttps://www.oregonlive.com/pacific-northwest-news/2018/04/hart_family_deaths_show_--_aga.htmlhttps://www.oregonlive.com/pacific-northwest-news/2018/04/devonte_harts_biological_mom_t.htmlhttps://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2018/04/08/tourists-find-a-body-in-the-ocean-near-where-hart-familys-suv-plunged-off-a-cliff/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hart_family_murdershttps://time.com/5498137/hannah-hart-confirmed-dead-california-cliff-crash/?amp=truehttps://www.oregonlive.com/news/2010/01/cries_for_help_for_jeanette_ma.htmlhttps://www.washingtonpost.com/national/his-siblings-were-killed-by-their-adoptive-mother-he-was-left-in-foster-care-to-suffer-a-more-common-fate/2019/12/11/f54f793a-d654-11e9-9610-fb56c5522e1c_story.htmlhttps://www.texastribune.org/2023/03/14/texas-child-welfare-removal-hart-family-deaths/https://www.adn.com/nation-world/2018/07/14/as-children-begged-for-help-system-failed-them/https://www.oregonlive.com/news/g66l-2019/04/62ad88fc503462/hart-family-inquest-see-evidence-the-jury-viewed-before-concluding-mothers-planned-fatal-crash.htmlhttps://www.amazon.com/We-Were-Once-Family-Removal-ebook/dp/B09Y4765CL/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2241MO98M9RMQ&keywords=we+were+once+a+family&qid=1698208991&sprefix=we+were+once+a+fa%2Caps%2C120&sr=8-1https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/01/200129104737.htm

Special guest host Fr. Matthew Spencer Jean - If someone has the last rights and a little time passes, is there a way to know if they go straight to heaven or to purgatory? Connie - Regarding the Gospel Reading from yesterday: Why was the person thrown out because he didn't have a wedding garment. It seems harsh? Bill (19:07) - What profession of faith does an adult need to make to become Catholic? Deacon Wayne - I heard a long time ago that the wedding garment was something given to us by the King. So the king was wondering if the wedding garment was lost or sold by the person at the feast. Katie – Is the consecration saying, “My Lord and my God”, an indulgence prayer? What would be better to say? Alonso - Is it okay to convert someone's ashes into diamonds? Can I keep the ashes in my own house? Patrick - Is there symbolism to the 6 jars at the Wedding Feast of Cana? Mark - Is there still a Jewish covenant? Are there two covenants?

Mark Is a legend in the radio business in Michigan. A home town boy he started in the business at 15 and never looked back. Stations big and small Mark and seen and done it all. He owns his own creative company MS Creative and is now the producer and voice of Michigan Rocks Radio currently featured on Eagle 101.5 FM. I could go on for days but I'll let Mark do the talking. I hope to have him come back for a part two. He has a ton of stories I would love to have him share with you. Hugs and Kisses JB

Remember, we welcome comments, questions, and suggested topics at thewonderpodcastQs@gmail.com.   S4E28 TRANSCRIPT:----more----   Yucca: Welcome back to The Wonder Science Based Paganism. I'm your host, Yucca. Mark: And I'm Mark. Yucca: And today, we're talking about the senses, the other senses in our practices. So, the ones like smell and taste and touch that sometimes we can forget about. Mark: Right. Yeah, I mean, humans are very visually oriented and they're very sound oriented. That, that tends to be the senses that we lead with, those of us who have those senses. And so, Our orientation towards what we do in ritual, what we do in our practices, all that kind of thing, will often kind of lean into those senses because that's what we're used to leading with. But the other senses are also very compelling Very compelling, and can be powerful instruments in changing our consciousness and influencing the effectiveness of our ritual practices. So, today we're talking about that. Yucca: That's right. And before we go much further, we should say that Yes, there are other senses. We're talking about the classical senses, which I think are useful because they are senses that, one, we have a specific organ, which is dedicated to that sense, and it's also about our interaction with the outside world, where we do have other senses like proprioception or things like that, but that's it. Those are a little bit less obvious. Now, not that they aren't important and that you couldn't bring awareness of that into your practice, but for now, we're just going to be talking about those three in the more classical sense. Mark: Yes. Yeah, I think That's plenty. Yucca: Yeah, Mark: We could, I mean, we could certainly dive into other things, but I think, you know, that'll, that'll certainly take up our time. Yucca: which is a fun rabbit hole if you're looking for a research rabbit hole to go down is how do we define senses and all of that stuff is delightful. Mark: Sure. Okay. Yucca: Now, let's start with, with smell, right? I think that's a good place to start.  Mark: Smell is a particularly powerful emotionally evocative sense. Our olfactory receptors are hooked pretty deep in our brains. You know, when you think back to, I mean really back to our earliest ancestors, the single celled organisms, they were able to detect the chemical nature of what surrounded them and move away from what was harmful, move towards what might be food. That is, in essence, smell. That, so that, that sense has been coded into us from the very beginning, and in fact we've lost a lot. Of what we used to have in the way of smell in, in the way of, of the olfactory scents but it's still very powerful for us and it's very influential over our mood. Yucca: It is, and it's one of those that is often hanging out in the background that we're really not conscious of, sometimes if there is a strong, potent smell, but we often start to tune smells out, even though they're there, they're there. And we don't think about them consciously, but they are influencing our mood and our, how we feel about things, and I'm guessing that most people listening, that if you have a sense of smell, that at some point in your life, you've encountered a smell. And all of a sudden you're just, memory wise, just back at some previous scene in your life, right? The smell of walking into a coffee shop or the, you know, cigars and you're sitting on your grandpa's lap again or something like that, Mark: Mm hmm. Yes, exactly. And the, the challenge in some cases with really cultivating that sense and its ability to influence our mood is that we have some social rules around acknowledging smell. There are a lot of smells that we're like supposed to pretend are not there Yucca: Mm hmm. Mark: because it's embarrassing for people or, you know, whatever it is, or you're not supposed to be critical of how somebody's house smells, that kind of thing. Yucca: And humans are not supposed to have any smell whatsoever. We're supposed to... Be completely smellless. Yeah,  Mark: unless it's some goop that you apply to yourself, which has no relation to what a human actually smells like. Yucca: Something that vaguely smells like a flower from the other side of the world, but maybe not, because you've never actually smelled what this flower really smells like. But they say on the bottle that that's what it is. Mark: right. There you go. Yucca: Yeah. Mark: I have a natural deodorant that I use once in a while when I'm going to be wearing a bunch of layers. And It's it's scented with ylang ylang. I have no idea what ylang ylang actually smells like. There it is, ylang ylang. So, Yucca: enjoy looking at the bit. The names of, like, when you go through the aisle at the store, and, like, how they will name products, because sometimes it's just the name of a flower or something like that, and other times they just, they just give them these really weird names, like, it's like Spicy Night Out or something, and you're like, wow. Yes. Mark: fresh garden scent. Yucca: Yes. Fresh garden. Okay. Compost? I have yet to see that one. That would be a good one. Mark: that would be a good one. Yeah, compost musk. Yucca: Yes. Yeah. Anyways. You were saying that they're, first of all, acknowledging That the, that these things exist that they're a part of our world. Mm hmm. Mm Mark: so, and, you know, I'm not, I'm not recommending that people suddenly start violating all the social rules around, around scent and smell. I'm just saying that it's helpful to be aware of that so that you can suspend those rules when you're engaging with your practice so that you can really let yourself kind of drift away on the associative memories and that the scents bring up for you. Yucca: That you can be aware of them and make choices once you're aware of that, those norms, then you can decide. A lot of them are there for perfectly good reasons, right? Like you're saying, we're not saying necessarily just throw them all out the window, but you have a choice once you're aware of it, that awareness is the first step. Mark: In terms of practice, I not infrequently use incenses and sometimes I don't burn them. Sometimes I just kind of sit them out because they're, they smell good without burning. I'm particularly fond of the resinous incenses, like frankincense and myrrh and dragon's blood. Those, they smell super sacred to me. As soon as that hits my nose, they're just like, wow, here I am in the temple. Yucca: hmm. Frankincense is one that I use in my house on a regular basis. Yeah. Mark: Yeah. So your kids may come to associate that with home. Yucca: They may, yeah. We use a lot of, of... Synths in the house, and I change it throughout the year so there's some that that's just like the frankincense, that often feels more like of a fall kind of wintry one to me but I still use it throughout the year simply because I love it, but we have a little diffuser that I'll put the oils in And then in the winter, we heat with a wood stove. And since we're such a dry climate, I'll often have a little humidifier on top of the stove. So I've got a little iron kettle that is just for making sure that the house isn't so dry that you get nosebleeds from it, because really, we are in such a dry climate. So I'll usually put some drops of different oils into that. And throughout the year, the It is a conscious choice, but there's just certain smells that just... They just feel like they fit the season better. Mark: Huh. Yucca: And I was, I was mentioning to Mark before we started recording that here, it's really feeling like autumn is coming a bit early this year. Like it's the end of summer, but most years this would still be the end of summer. Right now it feels like the beginning of fall. So I noticed the, the choices that I am making in the morning when I'm putting some little oils in, they're more, they got a little bit more spicy of a. You know, I put some clove in the other day and some things like that and it just, it just changes the feel and the mood of the, the house. Mark: It does. Yucca: think the kids really will grow up with that, right? Mark: for sure. Yeah, there's something about kind of curating your olfactory experience that is, I mean, Here we are. We've got these senses, right? And we can either be just sort of buffeted by the winds of whatever comes along in a literal sense or we can we can make choices about what we choose to surround ourselves with in the way of, of olfactory cues. And what I find is that the, the incenses that I use are so specific, each one is so specific in its felt sense. I mean, I wanted to say vibe. I mean, we know what that means, right? That sort of felt emotional sense that comes up when you smell a particular thing. That I'm afraid I have a lot of them and I kind of hoard them. I mean, I haven't bought incenses in years, but I have them all in sealed tubes and jars and boxes and things like that. Actually, this brings up a little story that came up recently. We were having the Thursday night atheopagan Zoom mixer. And I got to telling a story about this one particular incense that I just love which I said was called Five Grandfathers, and it was made by a metaphysical shop in San Francisco called The Sword and the Rose. And a person who was on the call typed it in and the shop still exists. Yucca: Oh, Mark: And, and they, they make, they craft all their own incenses and they do it in the, you know, in a ritual way and all this kind of stuff. They have oils and all that kind of stuff as well. I think it's the swordandtherose. net, I think is their shop. But it turned out it was six grandfathers, not five. I had just misremembered and the label fell off years ago. But now that I know that I can get more of it I burned some the other day. And it is this incredibly earthy, evocative really unusual it has a couple of kinds of pine bark in it and tobacco and some really unusual things that you don't usually find in incenses and it, it just seems super earthy to me and, and very evocative. The story that the man at the shop told me was that his image of it is of the six grandfathers sitting in a kiva. And I can just see that image so well when I, when I burn this incense, it's so cool. Yucca: Oh, that's one I can, I'm just imagining what that smell might be right now. Mark: Huh. Yucca: We don't have a word for it. Picture, we can't, I can't picture it, right? We don't have a, we don't have a word to say that, right? Mark: Right. Yucca: Because when it's a, Visual scene, I can picture it in my mind, but I can't, we need another word for smelling it. Mark: I wonder if it's possible to learn to imagine scent. Yucca: oh, I, I certainly can, Mark: Can you? Yucca: absolutely, yeah. Mark: Okay. I, I can't imagine it. Yucca: to, okay, yeah. Well, different people have different relationships to what they can imagine and what they can't. Mark: Yeah. Yucca: I know my father doesn't see things in his mind, Mark: Huh. Yucca: right? We've talked about it, but he doesn't. He doesn't dream in pictures, he doesn't see things but feel has a very strong physical awareness of how spaces feel, right? I haven't asked him about whether he can smell things, but I can smell and taste things the sensation of a touch of something, right? Like I can imagine petting a big fluffy dog right now, and it's a very strong sensation, right? And I can, I can smell the smell of the dog's breath, right? Dogs have that very distinctive, they're stinky, but it's like you still kind of like it anyways. You're like, oh, you're such a sweetie, right? Like that happy dog breath. Mark: Huh. Yucca: Like, that's just very visceral, and we just, I think our language lacks words to really talk about those sorts of experiences in the same way we can talk about visual things. Mark: Yes, yeah, I, I really think that's true because what smell evokes in us is a felt sense, sort of an atmosphere or a, you know, what some people call an energy or a vibe, right? Yucca: It's a body awareness, but it's not body in the sense of, I don't, it's not something I'm experiencing with my hands it's not something I'm experiencing with my eyes, but there's a, there's something much more primal about the experience. Mark: yes. And I, and I agree with you that we don't have good language to describe those kinds of sensations. Like, like the feeling of shame, for example, when you're suddenly embarrassed by something. There is a very definite felt sense in my chest when that happens. And it's a physical sensation. It's not just an emotion. It's a physical sensation in my body, but we don't have words for those kinds of things. Yucca: Yeah, Mark: Yeah. So scent very powerful very useful in rituals for creating a sacred space. You know, and it, and a little goes a long way. I mean, I've, I've been to rituals where there were great fuming braziers of incense and it kind of smoked me out and, you know, had to leave early. Yucca: It can be such a challenge because that's one where people experience it so differently, right? What is a small, a strong smell to you may not be to somebody else. And what emotional state people are in is going to influence how much they can perceive it or not. We'll talk more about this with taste as well, but taste and smell are very connected. When we're a lot around really loud noises and vibrations that can change how we perceive it, right? When, and I'd have to go back and find the original sources on this, but my understanding is that when we are in airplanes, with all of the noise and the vibrations, we don't actually taste as well as we do when we're in a calmer setting. Mark: That's interesting. Yucca: that Mark: That explains airplane food. Yucca: right, that if you eat that same food on the ground when the engines are off, you will have a very different experience of it than when, I don't know how loud it is in an airplane, but it's... Mark: It's Yucca: loud. It's loud, right? Mark: Yeah. And it's kind of amazing that the brain is able to, in many ways, kind of filter that out. It resets your baseline, so you're able to have conversations with people and so forth, despite the fact that there's this very loud noise going on. Yucca: I find I get exhausted. I can sleep very easily on airplanes because it is just so except if I have to sit by the window and then I can't not look out the window the whole time. I do not have the money nor do I want to spend the fossil fuels to do this, but I would be the person that If those weren't an issue, we'd just buy tickets just to sit and look out the Mark: And look at the, look at the landscape, look at the clouds. It's, it's amazing. Yeah, I'm, I'm taking a red eye to Washington, D. C. in a couple of weeks and I'm, I don't sleep well on planes, so I'm really not looking forward to it. Yucca: Well, maybe you'll have to listen to some good podcast or something like Mark: Yeah, yeah. You know of any? Yucca: So some, you're talking about using scents intentionally in ritual, Mark: Right, Yucca: So, so one thing that we can do with scents, and this applies to any of the other senses as well, is we can purposefully associate them with things Mark: Mm hmm. Yucca: and be our own little Pavlov's dogs. Where if we want to invoke a sense of comfort or something like that, we can, when we get into that state, bring out the thing that has that smell. Right? Like, I'm thinking, for instance, of like a lavender pillow. Have you seen those little bags that people stuff lavender with? Well, that's something that you, if you wanted to use that scent, you get into that space, you smell the scent, you think about the scent and you experience the feeling that you have, and you intentionally do that several times and just reinforce that so that your body That's just a clue that you use just to do that. Mark: I have an example from the annual hallows ritual that my, my ritual circle, Dark Sun, does and I introduced this, but I use it every year, but sometimes. I got a little vial of cedar oil, and the reason I got cedar was because for some reason cedar reminds me of coffins. Yucca: Mm Mark: seems like cedar would be a good material to make a coffin out of. So there's this sort of funereal solemn quality, I think, to the scent of cedar oil. And we've used it to anoint foreheads and things like that so that that scent is kind of around during the ritual and it's powerful. It's very powerful. I don't use it for anything else. Yucca: Mm hmm. Mark: It sits on my ancestor and underworld altar for the rest of the year. I'm looking at it right now. Yucca: Cedar's one that I tend to use around this time of year, Mark: Is it? Yucca: right? It is one that I associate with a late summer, early fall. Kind of, and then as we get into the winter, I'll definitely switch more into some of the piney, sappy kind of smells. Mark: yeah, for sure, Yeah, and maybe this is a good place to transition into taste. Because taste and smell, as you say, are, are very deeply related with one another. I can imagine tastes. Yucca: Interesting. Mark: So, and considering that taste is other than the, you know, the, what, six, seven types of taste buds that we have, all the rest of it is olfactory. So, maybe I'm just, I need to practice imagining smells. Yucca: Well, what if you start with a really strong one, like walking into a coffee shop that roasts its own beans? Mark: I just, I just imagined a smell, ammonia. Yucca: ammonia, oh, that's a, yep. Mark: Dead. Yucca: say that and I've got, right Mark: there it is. Yucca: I can even feel the part of, of my nose where it is, Mark: Where it burns. Yucca: it burns, yeah oh yeah, Mark: Okay. So I can't imagine since I'm just not very practiced at it. Okay. That's good to know. So taste. I have used taste in rituals where in order as kind of a part of induction into the ritual state, into trance, that very present flow state that That is, you know, what we seek to create in ritual space. I've used cues like a single dark chocolate chip, Yucca: hmm, Mark: for example, you know, you put the chocolate chip on the tongue of each participant because there's, there's a way that that flavor, it kind of floods your sensorium with this. Deliciousness, and it's kind of a full body experience. It pulls you into, into being in, in, in your body rather than thinking about other abstract things. Yucca: right? Reminds me of communion when you say that, right? Like, I think that's probably some of what's going on with that, that, little sip of wine, right? Mark: I've used sips of wine as well. Now, under COVID, it's not so convenient because you're not going to have a single chalice. Yucca: That you can, yeah. Mark: just kind of wipe the lip and, and move on. But it could still be done. You could have a tray of, you know, little, little cups of wine and, Yucca: Well, that's, you know, depending on, different churches have done different things, but ones that I have visited, I've seen they have, like, basically the little shot glasses, that there's just a little sip for each person, right? And then they have, like, the little wafer In fact, I visited one once in which the wafers came pre packaged and they're a little, like, plastic, like, thinking of, like, it would be, it sort of looked like the thing that Like, the flight attendant would give you on the plane, like, one of those little cookies. Of course, that's somewhat wasteful, but it's, it was, I found it quite charming, right? It was like, oh, okay, that's a good solution. This was even pre COVID, like, okay, yeah, so, but that's something that humans, I bring up communion because it's, we've been perfecting this ritual thing for, you Mark: Yes. Yes. There, there is nothing in a traditional Catholic mass service that isn't carefully calculated to create a particular mood, a particular set of emotions, a particular worldview. I mean, it's all very carefully curated. And. And, I mean, I, I find, you know, cathedral architecture and Gregorian chant and, you know, ritual music and the simple incense that they use and, I mean, all that stuff is just really amazing as a kind of sensory experience. I, I don't care for the theology, Yucca: I don't like, I don't particularly care for the theology or the message, but I, I I really do enjoy mass. Mark: mm hmm, Yucca: That, you know, that's something my, our father taught us when we were little, like, how to, you know, he was raised Catholic and obviously did not raise us Catholic, but taught us how to go through the movements and everything so that we could experience it. And I just loved the whole ritual of all of it, and the, you know, the kneeling as you go in, and the water, and the pre like, all of this stuff is just, it's so effective, Mark: It is super effective and that's why I reference some of those things in the Atheopagan Ritual Primer and in my book, my first book, the Atheopaganism book, because Because we've been doing these ritual things, you know, for tens of thousands of years, and we've learned a lot, and it's not, you know, these, these techniques, you know, we're not inventing them now. They've, they've been used for a very long time. We're repurposing many of them to create modern pagan rituals.  Yucca: And they were repurposed before us, too. That's the, you know, they came from other sources as well. Mark: So taste it is traditional in many pagan denominations, I guess I'd call them, or paths that cakes and ale is a a segment of the ritual that takes place after the main working of the ritual. In the structure that I've proposed which is arrival invocation of qualities. Deep working or deep play or working, gratitude and then benediction the cakes and ale or sharing a ritual meal piece happens during the gratitude phase because we're grateful to eat and it makes our bodies happy to food into them. So that, that's another thing where. You know, you pass bread or cookies or, in some cases, meat depending on who's doing it and what time of year and all that kind of stuff. Yucca: hmm. Yeah. Outside of a formal ritual, something that I like to do when I go in my own land, when I'm just hanging out and being like, hey! Friendry. But when I go somewhere that, like on an adventure with the kids a couple months back we went into the Carlsbad Caverns and things like that, is to actually taste the air. Now, that's again mixing in with the smell as well, but there is a very, places have really distinctive tastes, and you can take a deep breath in, kind of, it makes me imagine like the wine tasters and it's kind of the same way that you might taste the wine in your mouth and like move it around and all of that. You can do that with the air and taste it. the back of your, on your tongue, in the back of your throat. And every place is very different, Mark: Hmm. Yucca: right? It's a little, it's subtle, right? Because it's not the same as like putting a chocolate chip on your tongue. But, but the taste of a city and different cities have different tastes, right? And I'm not talking about putting things literally in your mouth other than the air. In some places that might be perfectly safe. If you're in the middle of a forest and you want to taste a pine needle, that's probably fine. Other places you might not want to pick up a rock and taste it because it's got diesel on it or something like that. But experiencing the environments that we're in on a, consciously choosing to experience them on a level that isn't just site, I think, can really help us. Actually, I did a video on the YouTube channel about that a couple weeks back.  Mark: Go check that out. Yucca: but yeah, that's there. So, I think that that really helps to connect with the places where we are and slow down a bit, Mark: Mm hmm. Yucca: right? Because the more that we're experiencing things, the more new and novel things, the slower the time becomes. Your awareness of that. So a lot of this talk about how, when we were little, it seemed like our childhoods took up so much more time in our lives, and now the older we get, just the faster and faster time goes. But I've found that this is something I've been working very consciously on, is trying to slow that down. and going, I can't actually signif like, I don't really get to choose how many years I actually get to be alive for. I can, you know, make certain choices that will help me to live longer, but, you know, I could be in a car accident tomorrow. But what I can do is I can experience the moments that I have more deeply, and doing things like pausing and tasting the air, or really smelling the environment. around you, I have found really helps to get back a little bit of that stretched out time the way it felt when I was a child. Mark: Huh. Huh. Yeah, I can really see that. And that brings us to touch, which is kind of an entirely different thing. And I, I think the reason it's a different thing is that when we breathe in a scent or we taste something, we do not yet consider it to be a part of ourselves. It's something that's in the process of becoming part of ourselves by being breathed in or by being ingested, but it's not us yet. Whereas touch is very intimate. Because it's engaging with our skin, which is us. Does that make sense? Yucca: Does, I mean, when we, when we're smelling something, or we're tasting something, it's, it literally is going into our bodies. Mark: I know, but we don't think of it that Yucca: yeah like, with smell, it's almost like a lock and key thing happening, Mark: Huh. Yucca: but yeah, there's something different with the touch that, like, I think it's, it's tapping into something a little bit more Like a different kind of instinctual reaction because the touch is, well, first of all, there's a lot of different touch, but some of it is there so that we know, like, get away, don't get eaten so going back to when we were way, way pre pre mammal ancestors, we were just these tiny little worm things we bump into something, oop, don't get eaten by that, go somewhere else Yeah Mark: Yeah, so, Yucca: I think I see what you're saying with that, like there's a Mark: well, there's a question of safety. The immediacy of touch raises the question of safety. You know, am I, am I safe being in contact with this, whatever it is? We, there are ways that things that you breathe or things that you ingest can harm you. They're more the exception than the rule. We, you know, we eat every day, we breathe all the time. We kind of assume that what we're doing in those regards is, is gonna be okay for us. Yucca: right, and the, I mean, taste is there partly to let us know, oh, spit that out, that's poisonous, don't eat that but then we spit it out and it's, it's out, it's gone yeah, but yeah, the safety, and safety in both ways like, are we not safe, and are we safe? Because again, going back to that mammal side, when we're, when we're born, we're we clinging to our parents, right? We hold on to the other animals because we're a social, we're a social animal. And we're held by and we don't wanna be put down. We'll, we'll make that pretty clear. Mark: When people have a traumatic experience, Very frequently, what's done by emergency personnel is to put a blanket around them. And it's not because they're cold. It's because the blanket provides a feeling of safety. The, the, the tactile experience of having the back of your neck covered and, you know, all of that is, it And I've actually done this in ritual circles where if somebody was having a really hard time, they were, you know, going through an experience because the ritual had brought things up for them. I've, I've actually brought people a blanket and put it around them for, for that purpose. And it makes a lot of difference. So these, Yucca: a weighted blanket that is just amazing for that. Mark: Yeah, my partner Nemea has a weighted blanket too and she loves it. Yucca: Another one, this is a little bit more, more extreme than a blanket, but it's a squishbox. If you ever feel like you really, really just, you just really need to climb into a hole you can make a box that is big enough for you to get in, so maybe, you could also do this with a bathtub if you happen to have it, and just fill it with blankets or, you know, pillows and things like that, and you just get in it between all of those things. That stuff, and you just feel squooshed and safe and surrounded. Because sometimes when you feel like, I want to be in a hole, being in the hole is the best thing that you can do for that feeling. So, probably you don't actually have a literal hole, so you can just make one, right? Mark: Well, and, and I've seen memes, I mean both of us are neurodivergent, obviously in different ways because everybody's different but I've seen memes from particularly people on the spectrum where that sort of being crushed feeling is very comforting. It's like it keeps you from flying apart. In some way. And so, you know, just kind of a bear hug from a trusted person can give a similar sort of, you know, squash me until I'm safe sort of feeling. Yucca: yeah. Oh, I just love that name, Bear Hug, too. It just makes me think of, that was something that I remember as being a little kid, is I would ask for the bear hug, I want the bear hug, and they go, rrrrr, give the growl, and the big hug, and with the, you know, the big arms of the parents. So, yeah, those things, those never, you know. Talking about how short, it's amazing how short our childhoods are, but how that never leaves us, right? Even though a lot of times we don't, we don't remember most of our lives, right? We cannot remember most of our childhoods, let alone our adult lives, and yet it influences us so much. Mark: Yes, yeah, so many of the associative memories we were talking about was sent and so forth. So many associative memories that pop into your mind at a random time are from your childhood. They're just, that's, that's when all this baseline stuff was being laid down and we go back to it over and over again. So, so yeah, touch. And I have used. Textured things in ritual like fur or even things like steel wool or like a pet brush, you know, that wire, the, the, the sharp wire pet brush, you know, those kinds of things, you know, if you very gently brush it along the skin or if they brush their fingers along it all of those are, are, Ways of once again, you know, pulling someone into being in their body and being in immediacy and presence rather than the past and the future. Yes. Yucca: yeah. Temperature as well. Temperature's a big one. And you can go either direction with that. And there's some simple things that you can use, like, like those little heat pads, those hand warmers. Mark: Mm hmm. Yucca: But there's also the ones, you can get the little cold packs, that they're about the same size, they're for if, you know, somebody hurt their ankle or something like that, but, which by the way, I carry those whenever hiking because if somebody is getting overheated, you can open up one of those packs and have them put it underneath their armpit, or between their legs, and that really helps to start to cool them down faster. Same thing in this. In the winter, do that with the, with the heat pack. Mark: Huh. Yucca: But that's something that you could do in a ritual space as well. Mark: Yes. Yes. All of this stuff. I mean, you know who really specializes in this stuff, who's really, really good at it is the BDSM community. Yucca: Right. Mark: of this is called sensation play. Yucca: Mm hmm. Mark: And, I mean, they have, they've got feathers, and they've got horse whips, and they've got everything in between. They've got thuddy things, and they've got stingy things, and they've got gentle things, and they've got cold things, and they've got hot things, and, you know, this is all, you know, something that they really narrow in on, you know, dialing in exactly what works for people in, in all those circumstances and People that are on the receiving end of that are also exploring, okay, that works for me. Okay, that doesn't, you know, this evokes a particular emotion in me. So it's all, it's very interesting stuff.  Yucca: Makes a lot of sense. Yeah. Mark: yeah, Yucca: And I mean, so that could be a really good resource, and it doesn't necessarily have to be a sexual experience. Mark: right. Yucca: So that may be the focus in that particular community, but the knowledge could be applied to, to any sort of sensation that you're, that you're intentionally invoking. Mark: Exactly. Exactly. So, yeah, because there are multiple axes of That, that community explores. There are things around power, there are things around shame, there are things around physical sensation. There, as I say, there are these multiple axes that people will explore with one another. And that's all great, but what we're talking about right now is the sensation piece, the touch piece. And yeah, so, I mean, Welcoming a blindfolded person into the ritual circle with a soft caress of a feather on the side of their face. You know, you, you just, particularly if, if they're blindfolded so that they're not depending on visual cues for everything. There's a way that that can really make the body's senses come alive. And then you have powerful experiences of these other sensations that are provided. So, Yucca: the blindfold, sometimes just closing your eyes or having a blindfold is enough to get you to shift to thinking about and paying it to paying attention to the other senses, because they're there. But it's whether we're really engaging with them or not. And then learning to use them, like just a couple minutes ago, with the imagining it when you said, Oh, yeah, I can imagine. I just have to practice it. I think that applies to all these other things, right? We, most of us can physically smell. It's just, do we practice noticing that and refining that? Most of us do have a sense of touch. So how much attention are we paying to it? How much are we not? Mark: Huh. Yeah. And so, I guess, kind of moving towards a summation of all this, this, you know, the senses are kind of a playground. And they, they are very influential over what our psychological state is. And we, as practitioners of paths that we add. Deliberately work to affect our psychological state in ways that benefit us and that enable us to have, you know, experiences. Really, you know, need to look at that. We, we need to be aware of all the different ways that, that our senses can be helpful for us. Particularly those that we don't tend to pay as much attention to, like, like scent and, and taste and touch. Yucca: Right? Mark: Well, this has been super interesting again. Thank you for, for a great conversation. Yeah, this was a good idea. I'm, I'm glad we did this. Yucca: Yeah. Thank you. And thanks everyone for hanging out with us and listening. And we really appreciate you being here with us. Mark: We sure do. Yucca: We'll see you next week.    

In this episode, the gentlemen have an expressive conversation about the views of Black Men in today's society and how they have been impacted by racism. They provided insight on ways to address it moving forward and the importance of Brotherhood and how to handle these complex, century-old issues faced by Black Men in America. Get ready for "Exit Wounds," a mini-series that shines a light on the issues impacting Black men and the world around them. Through candid conversations, we create a safe space where Black men can share their stories, build community, and empower themselves and others. Our aim is to facilitate dialogue and promote change. Join us each week as Markis from "Through the Looking Glass" leads a panel of influential men who are making a difference in their communities. Mr. Blackovation from "All Things Black Podcast" and Chris and Earnell, the "Wildcat Therapist," will also be joining us to provide their unique perspectives on the issues at hand. Together, we will explore the topics that matter most to Black men and work towards creating a space where our voices can be heard. Don't miss out on this honest and impactful series. #podcastersofinstagram #podcasting #blackpodcasters #podcastrecommendation #newepisode  #blackmenpodcasters  #eachoneteachone  --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/throughthelookingglass/message

In this episode, the gentlemen take a deep dive into the challenges in society that challenge the roles of masculinity, specifically for the Black Man. This conversation gets deep and honest. Get ready for "Exit Wounds," a mini-series that shines a light on the issues impacting Black men and the world around them. Through candid conversations, we create a safe space where Black men can share their stories, build community, and empower themselves and others. Our aim is to facilitate dialogue and promote change. Join us each week as Markis from "Through the Looking Glass" leads a panel of influential men who are making a difference in their communities. Mr. Blackovation from "All Things Black Podcast" and Chris and Earnell, the "Wildcat Therapist," will also be joining us to provide their unique perspectives on the issues at hand. Together, we will explore the topics that matter most to Black men and work towards creating a space where our voices can be heard. Don't miss out on this honest and impactful series. #podcastersofinstagram #podcasting #blackpodcasters #podcastrecommendation #newepisode  #blackmenpodcasters  #eachoneteachone  --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/throughthelookingglass/message

Patrick comments on God's will and why praying matters Keith - We think temporally and God is outside of time. Voytek - Was my mother's confession valid if she never stated her sins? Lynn – My niece getting married outside of church. Can we go to the ceremony or reception without causing mortal sin? Carol - Can you say “this is my confession for my entire life” and not mention specific sins? Terri – Mother Angelica had a prayer for unbaptized babies. Does that conflict with Church teaching? Yvonne - How can I offer Jesus his body, blood, soul and divinity? Lindsey – My brother and I had a disagreement and we haven't talked in 5 months. How can I reconcile when he only wants to talk in texts? Mark - Is the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth in some way happening today?

This episode the gentlemen take a deep dive into Fatherhood and what it means to them. Get ready for "Exit Wounds," a mini-series that shines a light on the issues impacting Black men and the world around them. Through candid conversations, we create a safe space where Black men can share their stories, build community, and empower themselves and others. Our aim is to facilitate dialogue and promote change. Join us each week as Markis from "Through the Looking Glass" leads a panel of influential men who are making a difference in their communities. Mr. Blackovation from "All Things Black Podcast" and Chris and Earnell, the "Wildcat Therapist," will also be joining us to provide their unique perspectives on the issues at hand. Together, we will explore the topics that matter most to Black men and work towards creating a space where our voices can be heard. Don't miss out on this honest and impactful series. #podcastersofinstagram #podcasting #blackpodcasters #podcastrecommendation #newepisode  #blackmenpodcasters  #eachoneteachone  --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/throughthelookingglass/message

This week the panel talks about the impact of Mental Health on Black men and the struggles of seeking help. Get ready for "Exit Wounds," a mini-series that shines a light on the issues impacting Black men and the world around them. Through candid conversations, we create a safe space where Black men can share their stories, build community, and empower themselves and others. Our aim is to facilitate dialogue and promote change. Join us each week as Markis from "Through the Looking Glass" leads a panel of influential men who are making a difference in their communities. Mr. Blackovation from "All Things Black Podcast" and Chris and Earnell, the "Wildcat Therapist," will also be joining us to provide their unique perspectives on the issues at hand. Together, we will explore the topics that matter most to Black men and work towards creating a space where our voices can be heard. Don't miss out on this honest and impactful series. #podcastersofinstagram #podcasting #blackpodcasters #podcastrecommendation #newepisode  #blackmenpodcasters  #eachoneteachone  --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/throughthelookingglass/message

In 2018, six children — Ciera, Abigail, Jeremiah, Devonte, Hannah and Markis — were murdered by their adoptive parents, Jennifer and Sarah Hart, who also committed suicide when they drove their family off of a cliff in Mendocino. The Harts were white; their adopted children were Black and mixed race. Much of the news coverage focused on the Harts, their motivations and history. But a new book by journalist Roxanna Asgarian traces the murdered children's stories through the perspectives of their birth families. We'll hear those stories along with the failures of the foster and adoptive systems they expose from Asgarian, whose book is titled “We Were Once a Family: A Story of Love, Death, and Child Removal in America.” Guests: Roxanna Asgarian, law and courts reporter, The Texas Tribune; author, “We Were Once a Family: A Story of Love, Death, and Child Removal in America”

This week the panel asks, "What is Brotherhood?" Get ready for "Exit Wounds," a mini-series that shines a light on the issues impacting Black men and the world around them. Through candid conversations, we create a safe space where Black men can share their stories, build community, and empower themselves and others. Our aim is to facilitate dialogue and promote change. Join us each week as Markis from "Through the Looking Glass" leads a panel of influential men who are making a difference in their communities. Mr. Blackovation from "All Things Black Podcast" and Chris and Earnell, the "Wildcat Therapist," will also be joining us to provide their unique perspectives on the issues at hand. Together, we will explore the topics that matter most to Black men and work towards creating a space where our voices can be heard. Don't miss out on this honest and impactful series. #podcastersofinstagram #podcasting #blackpodcasters #podcastrecommendation #newepisode  #blackmenpodcasters  #eachoneteachone  --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/throughthelookingglass/message

On the outside, they were an exceptionally special family. But not that far beneath their carefully curated image, is a story of abuse that should scare us all. 02:16 Introduction 04:47 The Moms 09:03 Foster Daughter 15:40 The Adopting Begins 17:33 The Crash 23:32 2 Days Before the Crash 28:11 Highway Patrol Investigation 30:52 Toxicology Report 32:17 Family Annihilators 35:37 Markis, Hannah, and Abigail 38:22 Devonte, Jeremiah and Sierra 43:35 Financial Motives 44:04 More Allegations 47:46 DHS Complaints 56:45 Teasing Part 2 Sign up for Madison's weekly newsletter: https://grimweekly.com/ Who's Knocking? Youtube Subscribe: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbkxAlijpwT7zhAcjLzUdXg Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/whosknockingpodcast/?hl=en Email: hello@whosknockingpodcast.com Madison Cheeatow Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/madison.cheeatow/?hl=en Produced by Aidan Cheeatow Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aidan.cheeatow/?hl=en Lost Line Media Youtube Subscribe: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQ4PvjE1eQJ83qaQ5bgtSgw Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lostlinemedia/?hl=en Email: contact@lostline.ca Website: https://www.lostline.ca/ Music by Matthew Cook Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/matthcook/?hl=en Artwork by August Digital Website: https://alwaysaugust.co/

The guys are joined by their friend Chris for this episode, as they discuss the Universe 25 study, as well as a few other studies and experiments from the past which pertain to a society's rise and fall, mental programming, and civil obedience. Chris and his wife Kayla own Vivid Ink, a tattoo parlor on Main Street in Honesdale, PA. Kayla is the head artist and does incredible work. Be sure to check them out on Facebook and Instagram, and book an appointment the next time you visit the Poconos!!

How fast do you open up to new potential partners? Are you someone who offers access to yourself at 100% from day 1? We discuss the importance of making sure you know who you are allowing into your world, to share your story, to access your energy. Markis leads this conversation to find out what the Wonderland Crew feels about access levels when going into relationships.   Whether you're currently in a long-term partnership or seeking to build a new relationship, this episode offers valuable insights on how to create an environment where both partners feel secure and loved. Clip Link: https://www.tiktok.com/@kamiecrawford/video/7079103204960619822 --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/throughthelookingglass/message

Patrick continues taking calls about cell phone and porn addiction and strongly recommends not giving children cell phones Joe - I am a recovered sex addict. I got through it because of the great advice from priests during confession. Porn is nothing but fast food. Cecilia - Is there a letter from Saint Paul that talks about Anthropology? Lia - Giving kids phones: My kids don't have phones; how do I handle this since everyone else does have a phone? Annmarie - Is there really fire in hell? I heard that hell is not literally fire. Henry - I was a police officer and child porn is something we dealt with. Mark - Is there a resource that talks about the destruction of porn in society for someone who is struggling with porn? Patrick - I am a porn addict and it has ruined my life. Parents need to put protections on their own phones. Ann - My friend is in prison for child porn. It cost him his job and marriage. When he was a child he was exposed to porn.

Patrick answers listener questions about if you can be a Catholic if you are missing one of the sacraments, is going to Mass on Saturday the same as going to Sunday Mass, are Catholics discouraged from reading the Bible, and what are the differences between a Catholic baptism and a non-Catholic baptism?  E-Frank - Can you be Catholic, without one of the sacraments? Mark – Is going to Mass on Saturday evening the same as going to Sunday Mass? Karen – Are Catholics discouraged from reading the Bible? Cindy – What is my obligation to guide my sister, who lives with me and is a fallen away Catholic, back to the faith? Carol – What are the differences between a Catholic baptism and a non-Catholic baptism?  My daughter is now a non-denominational, and unsure of baptizing her new baby as a Catholic.

Patrick answers listener questions about plenary indulgences for the dead, if it's okay to renounce our faith if it will save the lives of others, and if there are any last rites available for non-Catholics Lawmakers want this to be the last time Americans turn back clocks for daylight saving Joseph - Can I go to confession to get a plenary indulgence for the dead in November? Susan - The USCCB is asking us to vote for different political positions. How is that not the Church playing politics? Mark – Is it okay to renounce our faith if it will save lives? Natalie – Are then any guidelines I need to follow in regards to a loved one during end of life care? Alva – Are any of the last rites available for non-Catholics?

This is a live edition of Straight Up 5! This week JP Jr and the boys talk about the 2022 PBA Player of the Year and Rookie of the Year nominees and who they think should win. They also discuss who should be the Nagy Sportsmanship award winner and why it's not Sean Rash. Johhny gives a tribute to his late best friend on his birthday and the live chat gives their own stories about Mike Markis. In a strange twist, the boys break into what their favorite cereals and snack cakes are. Follow the show on Twitter :@straightup5podFollow Johnny Jr :@jpjr07Follow Dr Ocho :@TheDrOchoFollow Rad Rob :@radrobgaming

What's up trap fam! The boys are back with a special guest, Amanuel is bald still and not here. lol We are joined by our good friend Markis Gallashaw Cam's first college roommate! We talk about everything college, Rome's Voice over gig, Subway surfers, Vagina flavored chips, 2006 memories and much much more! Come on in wipe your feet and get ready for another episode of The Comedy Trap House! Join the Comedy Collective “Dormtainment” at the Comedy Trap House for their weekly podcast. It's hilariously insightful, thought provoking, and sometimes-just flat out stupid. Eavesdrop as we discuss current events, personal theories, and our journey! Side effects from listening include laughter, mental growth, and a burning desire to chase your dreams. Thank you guys for all the support! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On March 26,2018; a vehicle was heard speeding off atop a cliff into the Pacific Ocean below. Inside the car the bodies of 2 adult females and 3 children were found inside. Unbeknownst to others that 3 bodies had been flung from the vehicle. Jennifer and Sarah Hart, and their 6 adoptive children Markis, Jeremiah, and Abigail were found inside the vehicle or nearby where as Sierra, Hannah and Devonte were no where to be found. Only remains of Sierra and Hannah were ever found. Devonte's body was never recovered. A tragedy that was no accident. But the story behind the Facebook happy posting mothers was that of saddness, darkness and terror. Follow us on IG @thespookybarberbabes for our discussion thread --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/spookybarberbabes/support

Farmer Demetra Markis joins Hobby Farms Presents: Growing Good for a chat about her farm, Milleflora Farm, where she and her partner grow medicinal herbs for natural medicine clients and a small vegetable harvest to share with neighbors. Demetra talks about this farming endeavor, as well as sharing about her community grazing efforts, where she and neighbors graze sheep to reduce tall, dry grass that can contribute to wildfires in her home state of California. Demetra digs into participating in community-level farming, as well as discussing tried-and-true flock protection against predators—all the predators, actually, including mountain lions. And as an experienced community acupuncturist and licensed herbalist, she discusses some of her experience growing medicinal herbs. Plus, she shares the pleasure of enjoying olive oil made from homegrown olives. Plus, we cover biointensive growing, a particularly helpful technique for areas like California with constraints on land and resources. Milleflora Farm

This is PART 2 of the deep dive into the tragedy of the Hart family. This episode talks about the imperfect foster care system, the danger of getting too caught up in portraying the perfect life on social media, and how good some people are at keeping secrets. The 6 children in this case deserved to live far past their teen years but their lives were selfishly stripped from them.  PATREON LINK BELOW (aka the fan club/our fav people ever/ our besties/the cool people club) https://www.patreon.com/truecrimeexposed Sources: A Trail of Deceit: The Hart Family Tragedy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hart_family_murders https://people.com/crime/hart-family-murders-anniversary/ https://www.oregonlive.com/pacific-northwest-news/2018/03/hart_family_deadly_crash_a_tim.html https://www.oregonlive.com/news/erry-2018/09/457f99a9ef7947/inside-the-hart-family-home-po.html https://theappeal.org/hart-family-fatal-crash-birth-mother-scheurich/ Social: Instagram @truecrimeexpod TikTok @truecrimeexposedpodcast Twitter @truecrimexposed Organization: https://www.childhelp.org

On March 26, 2018, 38-year-old Jennifer Hart drove her entire family off a 100-foot cliff into the Pacific Ocean in Mendocino, California. What police initially believed to be an accident quickly turned into a murder suicide investigation. If you or someone you know is experiencing abuse please reach out for help: Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline (Call or text 1.800.4.A.CHILD (1.800.422.4453) or the cyber tip line CyberTipline (missingkids.org) Join Our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/inhumanpod Buy MERCH here! https://www.inhumanpodcast.com/merch If you enjoy our podcast, please leave us a rating and review! Follow us on Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok @inhuman_podcast and join our Facebook group (Inhuman Podcast). If you have questions or case suggestions, send us an email at inhumanmonsterpod@gmail.com! Check out our website to submit listener stories or case suggestions, and to see all sources for this episode! https://www.inhumanpodcast.com/ --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/inhumanpodcast/support

In 2018 the nation is rocked when a seemingly picture perfect family has dark secrets exposed. This episode talks about the imperfect foster care system, the danger of getting too caught up in portraying the perfect life on social media, and how good some people are at keeping secrets. The 6 children in this case deserved to live far past their teen years but their lives were selfishly stripped from them. **Our newly launched Patreon page is under review before it's allowed to go public so keep checking back if you are unable to access the page right away!** PATREON LINK BELOW (aka, the fan club/our fav people/ our besties/the cool people club https://patreon.com/truecrimeexposed?utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter&utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator Sources: A Trail of Deceit: The Hart Family Tragedy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hart_family_murders https://people.com/crime/hart-family-murders-anniversary/ https://www.oregonlive.com/pacific-northwest-news/2018/03/hart_family_deadly_crash_a_tim.html https://www.oregonlive.com/news/erry-2018/09/457f99a9ef7947/inside-the-hart-family-home-po.html https://theappeal.org/hart-family-fatal-crash-birth-mother-scheurich/ Social: Instagram @truecrimeexpod TikTok @truecrimeexposedpodcast Twitter @truecrimexposed Organization: http://www.preventchildabuse.org/chapters/washington/

Shane recaps the All-Star game, chats with former Shocker Markis McDuffie and ends the first hour with the All-State Twitter Question. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Here's the link to the blog post: https://atheopaganism.wordpress.com/2022/05/21/reintegration/   Remember, we welcome comments, questions and suggested topics at thewonderpodcastQs@gmail.com   S3E19 TRANSCRIPT:----more---- Yucca: Welcome back to the wonder science-based paganism. I'm one of your hosts Yucca.  Mark: And I'm the other one, mark. Yucca: And this week we're talking about reintegrating. With normal life after you've had some kind of experience like a retreat, which we're going to be talking about. The one we were just on or a really impactful ritual or something like that. Mark: There's a lot that happens in our brains when we go through these transformational peak experiences. And there are things that we can do to kind of smooth our transition back into the ordinary routines of our life and to make that emotional transition easier. So we're going to talk about that stuff today.  Yucca: And to be bringing some of that with us too, right. To not just be closing the door and saying that was one experience. Now, now I'm back to my other one, but being able to bring, bring the things with us that we want from that while still not living in that space all the time. Because as, as much as we want to. That's not what every day life isn't. It probably wouldn't be very good for us if that was the case anyways, to be in that open and raw and kind of heightened of experience. Mark: Yes. And I mean, it can be dangerous. One of the things that happens when we're really kind of blown open that way is that we tend to be really focused on our internal experience. and we can make clumsy mistakes.  Yucca: Merging into a lane that has somebody in  Mark: has somebody in it. Exactly. So operating heavy machinery is not advisable immediately after going through some kind of impactful experience like that. So we're going to talk about all that, but let's start with a little reporting about the century retreat that happened last weekend, that we were both at it. was. A very powerful experience for me. The people were so kind and so open and so growth-oriented, and so no nonsense in the sense of critical thinking and science orientation. It was really, I, I, I saw this group of people. Gathered. And it was exactly the same as the picture in my mind of the non theist paganism community that I have always hoped for.  Yucca: yeah. It was pretty amazing. It was it was just so interesting. All of the different types of people and yet the things that many of us had in common. I personally really appreciated being around other pagan parents. And talking about just the kind of, you know, the one that, just the connection, the human connection, but also having those same kinds of themes and talking about, you know, how these were the things that we were balancing or in our families and considerate and family considerations. Because that's something that I don't find as much discussion of that in the online spaces, because there's so many different kinds of people, right. But the family orientation, isn't usually the main focus that I find in pagan spaces. Mark: That's really true. And I think it's especially true in in physical in-person gathered spaces because pretends to be a lot of focus on adult activity And you know, just adults playing the way adults like to play.  Yucca: There's practical reasons for that, right? Yeah. Mark: For sure. That said If this is going to be a multi-generational movement, you have to incorporate the next generations. Right. And so there has to be a place for children and there has to be things for them to do. And the, the rituals, the symbolic activities need to be comprehensible. To children, there needs to be some reason why they would participate. So I was super glad that we had a, a workshop. Building a wheel of the year with your family. For example, John Cleveland hosts workshop. And there were fun activities like body painting and things like that, that you know, face painting and all that good stuff that would make a lot of sense to a little kid.  Yucca: Yeah, well, and one of my kiddos was there and she was just delighted and is still, you know, it's still high off the experience of it. And everyone, I was just blown away at how incredible the whole community was just so welcoming with her. And I think she wanted to drop to adopt everyone.  Mark: Okay.  Yucca: So they were just amazing. Mark: Well, she wasn't alone. I mean, I kind of feel like I want to do adopt everyone too. And that is, I mean, honestly, that is really what we're talking about in this podcast is that, that deep connected sense and this sort of longing and loss that happens when you separate and go your, your diverse ways. There's a reason why we feel that. And it's because when we have. That deep human contact. And we feel, we feel a kinship with other people. There's a hormone called oxytocin that gets released into our brains and oxytocin is about pair bonding and hyper-focus and it has. It has a number of different functions, but particularly it's the love hormone. It's the thing that gets released a lot. When you feel a deep affinity with another person.  Yucca: Right. It's it's that mammalian connection.  Mark: Yes.  Yucca: I think that the oxytocin is in non mammals as well, but it plays different roles in different kinds of creatures, but, and mammals, that's the, that's our bonding. Right. You know? Mark: Yeah. And by the time century retreat ended and it was only three days I felt really bonded with the people in this group. You know? we had shared common struggles. We had  Yucca: How old is the moon. Mark: how, how old are they at the eclipsing  Yucca: Yeah. Mark: And shared this experience together of doing these workshops, doing these rituals, sharing meals together. The whole thing was really quite an adventure. And so now the challenge is how do you integrate. What you've learned and experienced from that into your daily life, but also really get your feet back on the ground in your daily life.  Yucca: Right. And there's, I mean, there's different approaches that I think are all important, but one of the first ones is remembering that we are our bodies and then. When we go through experiences like that, or again, maybe like a, just a really intense ritual or something like that, that we need to take care of ourselves on that really practical level. Something like a longer experience like that I personally was quite sleep deprived. I think Marcie stayed up quite, quite a bit later than I did.  Mark: I did. I stayed up til about three o'clock in the morning on both Saturday and Sunday nights.  Yucca: and then. Breakfast at eight.  Mark: Breakfast at eight 30. Yeah. I didn't feel sleep deprived in the moment.  Yucca: And then, Mark: I'm sure, because of all the sort of neuro-transmitter hormonal stuff going on. But once we started driving home, which was two and a half days for me and the,  Yucca: yeah. Mark: guys that I drove home with I was dozing in the car and slept really hard the first night because I was so sleep deprived, but sleep deprivation is actually something that contributes to that vulnerable emotional state.  Yucca: Right. But once you come out on the other side, There may be some catching up to do, right. Really take a look at that sleep hygiene. All of those things that, that are important on an everyday basis, but especially when you're coming out of that vulnerable state, you're going to really want to. If you can try and protect that time. Nope. This is the time for the sleeping and whatever it is that you do to help yourself with that, the sleep masks or dark rooms or the temperature, all of those, you know, turning off the screens and that sort of thing.  Mark: And at the same time, be aware that sleep deprivation can significantly impairs our response times, our eye, hand coordination, a lot of different physical attributes. So it's important, you know, maybe the day after you get back from something like this, maybe you don't get behind the wheel of a car  Yucca: If possible. Yeah.  Mark: And  Yucca: of those things we don't, we don't see it in ourselves. The studies are really clear that our self perception versus the outside objective. Perception of, of us is very different when it comes to sleep deprivation.  Mark: Yes.  Yucca: Yeah. Mark: Yes. So it's easy to tell yourself. Oh, I'm fine. You're not fine. And it's important to just, you know, go with your knowledge that you're not fine, even if it feels as though you're fine and take care of yourself do what you can to be safe. And, and I would say that that's true at two levels. It's true at the level of your body is health, but it's also true of your heart of your, of your emotions because. When you come out of an experience like that, you can be very tender and very vulnerable and you can get hurt easily. And it takes a while to kind of put back up the ordinary callouses that we have to protect ourselves from little things that might affect us otherwise. It's, it's really a strange experience for me this week because I haven't had this kind of experience for quite a while. I mean, I've been to other sort of festivals where I had. Some of this experience, but I've never been to an event where I felt such complete kinship with the people. You know, that we're, we're self-selected to be people who are non theist pagans, and being surrounded by a big crowd of those folks was really profound to me. And so I miss it now. Right. But I have to keep marching on in my life and doing light life things and it ebbs day by day. And so a part of the way that I have approached this is besides just trying to take care of my physical self is to be in touch over social media as best I can with the people who were there. And I also wrote a blog post about reintegration to sort of walk through my own experience of this because I suspected that many of the rest of us were having the same kind of experience.  Yucca: Right. Yeah. So we'll put the link for that. If people want to check that out, the blog post cap. Mark: Yeah. So, as, as Yucca said, this is, you know, it's, doesn't have to be a big multi-day festival that affects you this way. It can be a really heavy therapy session. You know, where something really shifts or you realize that something has been really stirred up. The same kinds of self-care activities are really important to do at this time. Anything that really goes to your deep emotions and stirs up your limbic system in that, in that intense kind of way. These are the same things we need to do for ourselves. When we go through a breakup.  Yucca: Great. Mark: If it's a breakup that we didn't want or a break up that still causes a lot of loss and regret for us, not the kind of breakup where you're like. Thanks, bye. Just go away now.  Yucca: I mean, I know those exist. I've heard about them, but I have never experienced it that way.  Mark: Yeah, yeah, yeah.  Yucca: but that's something that ritual can help with.  Mark: Yes.  Yucca: If, well, it's really great if all the parties involved but even if it's just you and you want to have a ritual about that, that's something that, that can be very helpful. Mark: Yeah, I have conducted a dissolution ritual and it was really pretty powerful, you know, the separate, the symbolic separation of the lives of the two people so that they could go off in opposite directions. It was, it was a powerful thing to do. And of course the trick there is to see whether all the participating parties will actually show up to do the thing. And you know, in some cases, one or both of them are one or, or more of them are mad. And so they won't do what the other person wants them to do, even if it would be good for them. But it's, it's something, you know, if, if a disillusion is coming in your life, it is something to consider whether you do it for yourself or whether you do it with the, the people that you're splitting up with. So, Yeah. the, this is re this really goes to kind of the care and feeding of the tender parts of ourselves and. You know, we live in a world that can be pretty harsh at times. I mean, certainly just turning on the news can be just like, oh, ouch. Ouch. Ouch. Ouch.  Yucca: Yeah. Mark: And so it's very important, especially if we've done some significant emotional, psychological work to care for ourselves in all those different ways. And that can also mean connecting with other people that are in our ordinary lives. You know, getting some of that, that bonding feeling with people that were already connected to.  Yucca: Right. And that's also for folks who have. Who live with non-human animals, like our cats and dogs and, and creatures like that, that we definitely share these really deep connections with you know, your, your good cuddle per session can definitely assist in kind of, you know, easing out of that experience. Mark: Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. So it's, it's funny while I was gone, our cat was apparently extremely needy and, and cuddly with pneumonia. And now that I'm back, she's extremely needy and cuddly with both of us in a way that she wasn't before. But she. Her initial response. When I came back, was this sort of outreach, Meow, like where have you been? So that was, that was good.  Yucca: That's good. I'm glad you didn't get the the I'm mad at you. Snub cats do sometimes like, oh the, to you, I wasn't hurt or mad that you left.  Mark: Right,  Yucca: Yeah. Mark: And the other thing you can do is you can, without being obsessive about it, you can, you know, create some reminders for yourself about that experience and what you loved about it. My desktop image Right. now is the group photo that we took at the end of century retreat, just so that I can see those faces and remember. You know, the many great interactions that I had over the course of that weekend, particularly the rites of passage section, which was just a really moving, moving set of rituals and ended with a wedding, which is always upbeat and happy. And that was good.  Yucca: Yeah. that we, we took a few items. There were, you know, gifts that people had, but we also picked up, we just took a few pine cones  Mark: I took a pine cone to.  Yucca: and we live somewhere with a lot of pine cones, but these pine cones got to go in a special spot. And so, you know, there to. That's who experienced it. We know what those pine cones are. Those specific ones have a important meaning to us. But if someone else was to walk into the house it's oh, there's there's pine cone over there and there's 20 more over there. But no, but these ones, you know, there's they still have that feeling right. When we look at them like, Ooh. Yeah, right. Okay. That whole thing that's that's real right. That's part, that's part of us. Hmm. Mark: And it's great to do that too, because that's a part of teaching your kids about ritual creation, Right. I mean, these, these pine cones became sacred objects because they're symbolic of a particular experience. And. That's a great thing to teach kids because then they can choose their own, make their own, start to develop a ritual practice. Yucca: Right. So let's touch on a couple of other specific things that people might want to keep in mind. We talked about the sleep they're talking about also, maybe not just related to the sleep, but if you can avoid getting behind. Car the wheel of a car or heavy machinery, things like that. But you might also be a little bit more mindful with making sure that you're getting a meal that is going to be, you know, not be spiking, your blood sugar really high and making you super hyper and, you know, taking care of getting whatever the food is. That really feels good and grounding to you, you know, be mindful about, okay, maybe that's going to be more appropriate than.  Mark: Right.  Yucca: Going through your fast food or whatever it is. Mark: and the impulse may be because there's this sort of longing to get back to this high place. The impulse may be to go for sugar or caffeine or energy drinks or whatever those things are.  Yucca: try and fill it in.  Mark: Yeah. And that's, you know, that is an impulse that honestly should be resisted. It's, it's much better to get something that's solid and wavy and grounding into you. So that you can. Get get your head straight again in a way that balances the experience that you've had with the life theater in. And then there are creative things that you can do, like writing or songwriting or you know, even spoken word just into a tape recorder about what your experience was like, what you learned, how that. Can impact your life going forward. I really feel that the people who went to this event were changed. I know I was, and now I'm exploring how was I changed?  Yucca: Right. Yeah. I certainly know that was the case for me coming home and, and, you know, greeted my, greeted my land coming back and, you know, went inside wherever. Partner and, and youngest child were, and, and cat who was very happy to see us. But I, you know, I remember sitting back down on, on the, the sitting down on the couch and just thinking about some of the things that had really come up for me and re and about the way that people treated each other was just so. Amazing and refreshing and welcoming and, and kind right. And  Mark: kind.  Yucca: tenfold like, like they really paid attention. Right. And that was something I remember sitting down and going, okay. I, that felt good. That felt feeding. How do I make sure that that's something that I continue to have in my life because wow. That was really. That helped. Right. I'm an introvert. I don't spend time around a lot of people, but, and so on one level, it was that that whole weekend was incredibly exhausting for me just to be around people. But it also was very interesting to go, wow, human interaction can be feeding. How do you know, how do I do this? How do I make sure that this continues in my life? And so there's this whole period of, of, of. Evaluation and reflection after an experience like that. Mark: Right. Right. And that's an essential part of the reintegration, honestly, because you don't want to lose the. The lesson content from the experience right? I mean, there's the whole emotional journey that happens with an event like this, but there's also stuff you learn about yourself and about what you want in life. And. Humanity generally and how humans can be. One of the things that was really striking to me from the very beginning, like the first person that. I saw, which was Rachel at the registration table actually it was before the registration table had been set up. It was Rachel and joy and joy I had met before, but everybody was on it about consent immediately.  Yucca: Right. Mark: Everybody asked before hugging. Everybody asked before a handshake and we didn't have to make any kind of announcement about it. That's just what they were doing.  Yucca: Yeah. And that was so refreshing. From as an individual, but as a parent as well that no, buddy, it was so nice. Nobody touched my kid without asking her if that was okay. Right. And of course she was like, yeah. Right. But then also having her be around just seeing everybody do that and that isn't just like what mom is telling her to do. That's just like what everybody is doing, you know, that was so. Wonderful that we weren't, you know, it wasn't like we were fighting to try and like make this the way that it should be. That's just the way it was. Mark: Yeah. Yeah. And I mean, the implications of that to me have a lot to do with what humanity is capable, capable of. You know, it's, it's, it's so easy to be despairing about humanity right now because we've got some people that are really pretty lost and pretty damaged and you know, doing a lot of harm.  Yucca: Yeah, we've got a lot of trauma that we're working through.  Mark: we do. And part of what was so powerful about this event was that people came with their trauma and they were unapologetic about it, and they were really open about it. The ritual that I did after my workshop the absolution ritual, which you were not involved with you, you weren't in that workshop.  Yucca: No that I so since I had my kiddo with me, we did need to step aside sometimes to do some naps and just do some breathing. Right. Because please for us, that being there was like being in the middle of the civilization. It's very strange how different people feelings were about it, but it was like being surrounded by people. And we were like, whoa, lots of people let's go breathe for a minute. And that's the part that's also part of taking care of yourself is recognizing that like, You know, this is this an open raw, so there were some things that I've missed a lot of the rites of passage and those kinds of Brits rules, but the, from what I've heard, I mean, people were just so much to say about them. Mark: Yeah. The, there were just a number of times when. You know, given, given an inflection point, given a moment when they could either step forward in their human imperfect wounded glory, or step back and protect themselves and be defensive, they chose the first over and over and over again. And this ritual that I did at the end of my. My workshop on how to create an atheopagan ritual is called the absolution. And I've done it several times before. And in a nutshell, what it's about is we have people imagined, just focus and think about the most cringe-worthy moment of their life. So the moment that they feel the most shame, the most embarrassment about, and just hold that in their mind, and then. Ritually one at a time, absolve them of that, make it go away. Have it, have it have its power and its weight. Fade away from their body. It's very simple, but I mean, people have tears streaming down their face and I was, you know, fighting not to cry because there was so much emotion in the room. It was, it was just remarkable. And I mean, I know that for the people that went through that ritual, there was a, there was a real change in them. And to me, that's just like, okay, all of this stuff, all of this non theist, paganism, atheopagan ism, all this stuff that I'm doing is absolutely worth it for that moment. For the moment of realizing that you've, you've lightened the load for your fellow humans, it, it felt. Well, I wouldn't say this. It's not that it felt like a community. It was a community Yucca: Is, Yeah. Mark: Is, a community. Almost none of us had ever seen one another in person before, because we came from all over. We had people from Canada, we had someone from Mexico. We had people from all over the United States and,  Yucca: impressed how far some folks came. Yeah. Mark: People were ready for this. They were, they were, you know, the people that, that came. to this event were like, Yeah. this is, this is the direction I'm going. And I'm going to, I'm going to jump in with both feet.  Yucca: Yeah. And a few folks told me that, and this was just so heartwarming to hear that the podcast actually helped them like that. That was kind of the thing that got them to, to, you know, take the chance and, and come. And it was just. That was just so wonderful to hear. Mark: Yes. Yes. I think we were talking about one person that you're going to get together with their kids and your kids.  Yucca: Oh yeah. Mark: I'm pretty sure that person had first encountered you on YouTube and then heard about the podcast and from the podcast came into the atheopagan community.  Yucca: Yeah. I think I'll have to check with them, but I think that. That's the case. Yeah. And so that's something nice to a lot of a lot of us who are kind of close to each other. Now that person, I we're about six hours apart, but we figured three hours driving each way. Does it sound so bad? Right. But there's people in the, in the areas are already talking about, well, what we can do in the meantime, right? Cause we're not going to do another full one until 20, 24. But we could still get together on, you know, smaller groups and that sort of thing.  Mark: Right. Well, we, you know, we have that affinity group program. Many of which are regional groups, and I know that the Colorado group is really focused on getting together and doing things together now. So, that's, that's exciting. One thing that was the. There was a brainstorm in the car while we were driving home is the possibility that we could pick a weekend that would be kind of atheopagan affinity group gathering weekend.  Yucca: Oh, I see where you're going with this. I like this. Okay. Mark: And I mean, we could have t-shirts made right. You know, all that kind of stuff. Yeah. And so it would be the same weekend, but the groups would gather like, you know, my local affinity group, which is called the live Oak circle is the Northern California affinity group. We could gather on that weekend at a local park and do a ritual.  Yucca: And I'm sure folks from a little bit further away would be welcome as well if they didn't have. Right. So you might get your Oregon or Washington people who are like, well, this is the closest and I'd love to see. Yeah. Mark: So there's, there's lots of ideas about what could be done in the off year. I speaking from the standpoint of having helped to organize this event, we can't do it every year. It's just too exhausting. I think it would be too much money for people if we ask them to come every year  Yucca: Well, I think every other is now my daughter disagrees, but I think it's a waste. But as an adult, our perception of time is a little bit different than, than when you're a kid. I mean, 20, 24 is for forever away.  Mark: that's right. Yeah. Well, think about it. That's a third of her life, right? I  Yucca: yeah. Mark: that's, that's you know, for me that would be 20 years,  Yucca: Yeah. Mark: so that's a long time. That's a really long time. What else do we have to say about this?  Yucca: Yeah. I think really the, the main thesis is thinking about how to care for yourself as you transition between these two kind of worlds that this, that Eve experienced. They're both real. Right. But. Just thinking about in your own life though, how to be mindful about that. And there might be some little rituals to bring in. One thing we've talked about so much before is the idea of grounding that that's important in everyday life, but especially in points of transition.  Mark: Right,  And. there are, there are little ritual, symbolic things, as you say that we can do, I'm still wearing my registration. Century symbol from the event?  Yucca: And that was a really lovely touch to everybody. Got one of the, the sun tree. It it's burned, right? We're at, yeah,  Mark: Yes, it's  Yucca: Yeah. A little  Mark: wood burned into a, a little wooden. Medallion. Yeah. So we were all wearing those and it was, it was cool. So yes on the one hand, I would not want this. Podcasts to in any way, dissuade people from seeking these kinds of experiences because they enrich our lives so much and they help us to become wiser and kinder and more. More whole, right. The heal, our wounds. So if we've in any way implied that it's a problem that you have this reintegration experience. I, I, I wanna make it clear. That's not what we're saying. It's it, the, the experience of going to this retreat for me was an unequivocal. Good.  Yucca: Right  Now on the, on the other hand, we're also not saying that you have to do something like this, right? That if this is something you do, it's can be amazing and wonderful. But you can still be an atheopagan. You can still be whatever you are, even if the. Even if being able to go to one of these things, just isn't where you're at right now. Cause I know there were a lot of folks who really would have loved to come, but didn't have the means to travel or didn't know the schedule wasn't going to work or whatever. Right.  Mark: Right. Which actually brings me to another idea, which we haven't really, this was a brainstormed idea in the car and we haven't really talked about this at all at the atheopagan council or anything, but a possible. Would be to have a virtual event maybe in January of 2024. I'm sorry, 20, 23. Yeah. We could do workshops. We could have fellowship, all that kind of stuff over zoom. So it would be, you know, possible for people to attend and still get, you know, a little bit of that, that hit of the person that interaction.  Yucca: That's a really lovely idea. Yeah.  Mark: And it'd be a lot easier to organize.  Yucca: yes. A lot less expensive and could allow more people to possibly participate. But yeah, so basically like, a big you know, co conference or webinar kind of style through zoom.  Mark: Yeah, And we, you know, we could have some breakout rooms where people could fo could, could socialize, you know, we'd have big blocks of time available just for people to interact and say hi and introduce themselves and all that good kind of stuff. So I think that. An idea that has some real legs. And I'd like to talk about it at our next atheopagan society council meeting, which happens at the end of June. But we'll see, you know, we'll see what there is the capacity to create. I know the organizers of this event, myself included put in a lot of work and  Yucca: and did an amazing job.  Mark: well, thanks.  Yucca: you know, everything again, I just keep using the word blown away, but that really. That's that's the sense that I'm coming away with is just everything. I was just blown away by the people and the, how well it was organized and the welcomeness and experience and, and the location was an amazing location. Mark: Yeah, with that beautiful view of Pike's peak Right. there. Yucca: Right. Mark: And the food and the kindness of the staff, you know, the accommodation to dietary considerations, they were just so great about all that.  Yucca: And it was, it was, it felt remote. And yet we were like 10 minutes from .  Mark: yeah.  Yucca: Right? Like, and there were a lots of there's so much life there. That was really fun. There were these swirls. I loved watching the squirrels with the really long ears and the Yeah. And just watching them run up these how tall those Ponderosa is worth. Those were tall  Mark: they were.  Yucca: and down these, you know, we have, ponderosas where I am too, but not, not like those ones.  Mark: Yeah, it's pretty, pretty clear. They they get a little more water than where you are, I think.  Yucca: I think they got a lot more water  Mark: Yeah.  Yucca: here. Yeah. And they did the, they did a lovely job. Maintaining the area and there was this huge labyrinth and it was just, yeah. Anyways, that we could, we could just keep going on about like all the wonderful things.  Mark: Yeah. but shout out to love for a retreat center in Colorado Springs because they were wonderful. It's, it's actually owned by the United church of Christ, which is a very liberal Christian denomination and a part of their mission is that they're welcoming to everybody.  Yucca: And it certainly felt that way. Every, you know, every staff member that I had any interaction with or watched interacting with anyone else just, just seemed very kind and, and open and  Mark: Yeah, glad we were there.  Yucca: yeah.  Mark: Yeah. Yeah. And we were too. So I think that's it for this week's episode of the one. Yucca: And we appreciate all of you being here with us and we'll see you next week.

Join Me and and my conspiracy Hero Mark Steeves as we chat conspiracy, books, Tartaria, and whatever else we felt like. Mark Is the host of My Family Thinks I'm Crazy: https://www.patreon.com/MFTIC/posts https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCO0A8caVlYmn-n3QgLosqXQ Founder of alt Media united https://altmediaunited.com/ +Music is Hollow Hill https://open.spotify.com/artist/1Zm0padNimtEzUsgPFSQvO

Come chat it up with the creators of the "Relationships Through the Looking Glass" podcast as we welcome Marlowe Valcourt, The Woke Therapist, and Mr. Blackovation (Darrell) back to Wonderland. In this episode, we go down the rabbit hole as we seek to find out what authentic forgiveness is. Michelle and Markis take the episode back to its foundation of freestyle conversations on topics highlighting the importance of honest representation in seeking growth through connection. This season we have focused on healing and healing together. This episode will dig deep into the importance of release and forgiveness for your growth and healing. As always, feedback is always welcomed. Don't be like Pierre!  The world is a wonderland...the same one Alice found herself in. Everything is distorted, and nothing appears real, while the fakest thing can feel like the most authentic experience. The podcast will look at how our perceptions of ourselves and the world around us impact how we relate to one another. With a male and female perspective from guests in different fields and life experiences, we aim to use real-world examples of how the looking glass self-theory has an impact on all relationships. We will address societal, cultural, and mental health concepts in everyday terms as we work towards personal growth that allows us to build authentic relationships and attract connections meant for us. While there may have been mental health concepts discussed, this podcast is not meant to be a substitute for diagnosis or mental health care. If anything in this episode triggered you, please seek the care of a professional mental health provider in your area. Come check us out and learn more about the hosts and our origin story. website: www.thelookingglass.fans - Instagram: @thelookingglasspodcast - FB Group and Page: Relationships Through Looking Glass Podcast --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/throughthelookingglass/message

Remember, we welcome comments, questions and suggested topics at thewonderpodcastQs@gmail.com   S3E11 TRANSCRIPT:----more---- Yucca: Welcome back to the Wonder Science-based Paganism. I'm your host Yucca. And this week we're talking about crystals, herbs. Other magical treasures. Mark: Right. Yeah. These are things that are very important in the practices of many pagans. We have a different take on what that means from maybe the mainstream pagan view. So it will be talking about. But also about what we can do to create aesthetic objects and materials that help us to get into the right mind space, to do effective ritual work and and how we can best equip ourselves with all those kinds of things.  Yucca: Right. And also not just in the ritual space, but in our everyday mundane life and environments that we create. Mark: Sure because they work as talismans. And we did do a, an episode on talismans a long, long time ago. The, they, they, you can carry an object with you or wear a piece of jewelry or anoint yourself with a particular scent, any of those things. And if it has a strong association for you, it will remind you of that characteristic or quality. And then you have that with you in your ordinary life. And that can be really great, really empowering and and supportive of success.  Yucca: Right. Mark: So for a minute, let's, let's just talk in the big picture about all of This What do we think about magic crystals? Yucca: This will probably not be a surprise to our long-term listeners, but my take and I'm guessing this is the as well Mark, is that they aren't inherently magical. They don't have super special powers. They're not supernatural. They're natural, just like everything else. Some of them are really. Some of them are beautiful. Their stories are amazing in terms of how they were made and the interaction between the biosphere and the geosphere and all of that is just incredible. But there's a lot of big claims about crystals that I don't buy. Mark: Yeah. me neither. There, although we might aesthetically appreciate a quartz crystal more than we aesthetically appreciate A lump of granite, there's no special quality that makes the crystal any more special than the lump of granite. The lump of granite has an amazing story behind it, too. Yucca: Yeah. Mark: But that being said, and we're going to talk about the provenance of these things in a while, presuming that you have something that was, was brought to you in an ethical manner, there's nothing wrong with having beautiful stones on your, on your focus, your altar, or, you know, carrying it with you.  Yucca: of jewelry  Mark: jewelry One thing that I will tell you though, not to do, which is something that I saw a photo of on the internet that really terrified me. Someone had taken a whole, whole bunch of sacred stones and crystals and had hot glued them to the center of their steering wheel,  Yucca: oh, yes, don't do that.  Mark: where their airbag is,  Yucca: Yes. I've seen. People do that with their dashboards too, but the airbag is even a Mark: Yeah. I mean, that turns the thing into a Claymore mine. It's just, it's terrifying to think about the damage that that airbag would do if it deployed. So don't do that.  Yucca: Yeah to a lesser degree. That's why I, when I did have long hair, I haven't in years, but I never liked using like the chopsticks or the clippies or anything like that because I always thought, oh, what if I fall backwards? But an airbag that's a lot more intense. Mark: Yes. I have been on the receiving end of a face full of airbag. And I was really glad it was there, but it happens very, very fast and it hits you hard. So please don't put anything hard between you and it  Yucca: yeah. Yeah. So that's,  Mark: kind of a special case,  Yucca: let's say you have in common.  Mark: Yes.  Yucca: that the stones that you have are on the gyms that you have are not the mind in a way that is with slave labor and all of that. And that they're not, it did, it came to you in an ethical way that great, right. Mark: Which is a steeper standard than you might expect. Mineral specimens and particularly crystal specimens are mined in extremely environmentally destructive and unsustainable ways often by people living in slave like, or in, in truly enslaved conditions, including children. In many places in the world. Many places in south America, for example, Brazil places in Asia as well and there and South Africa. There are there beautiful stones and it's lovely to have them, but to be honest, my take is if I didn't find it myself, I'm not going to buy it. I, at this point I will buy fossils. If they have good provenance, but when it comes to just mineral specimens, I just don't do it anymore. I have a few that I acquired over the years and that's enough.  Yucca: Yeah. So this is something that, that if you really enjoy crystals, that we would encourage you to look into and do some research on. Because there certainly are ways to, to acquire them that aren't based on those things that we just talked about, but it's really, but it's, if you're just getting a random one, it's really hard to know what that history is. And there's a good chance that, that it really does come, is supporting the system that is so exploitative on just every level. Mark: And you just don't want to be part of increasing the suffering in the world. Right? I mean, that's, that's a pretty simple standard. It's like,  Yucca: There's enough of that  Mark: Yeah. don't, don't make things worse. It's it's it's not too much to ask. That said getting a good Providence. Mineral specimen from an ethical source also lets you know that the mineral itself hasn't been monkeyed with because one thing that happens in mineral specimens a lot is that they get cooked. They're heated to high temperatures to change their color. And so you may not even be sure exactly what you're getting. This happens with quartz a lot. There are lots of different colors of quartz because of trace elements that are included in the quartz as the crystals form. But if you bake  Yucca: that's what a Ruby is, right? It's just a little bit of chromium in it isn't it? Mark: No Ruby is corundum which is the second hardest naturally occurring mineral. After diamond corundum is a, a mineral of its own. It's the same mineral as Sapphire rubies and sapphires. And then there's also, what's called common corundum, which is used in making specialty sand papers and things like that. This is, this is one where I learned this at my daddy, the geophysicists ne so, yeah, corundum is number nine on the most hardness scale. And then diamond is 10. But there are pink quartz is in and even red quartz is that I, pink quartz is their natural. I've never seen a natural red quartz. It may exist, but I've never seen one.  Yucca: Mm. Okay. Yeah, just looking up just a real quick, it looks like that chromium is in a.  Mark: Is it.  Yucca: yes.  Mark: I, Yeah, I'm I'm sure because corundum corundum is a particular molecular structure, but then the color comes from whatever associated trace minerals. I would imagine that it's probably cobalt or copper. That's the trace for sapphires.  Yucca: yeah, yeah. We'd have to look into that. Yeah, just little bits of just a few little bits of different elements. Completely changes the whole look of it.  Mark: That's the wonder of chemistry, right? You take oxygen, which is a colorless, tasteless, transparent gas and hydrogen, which is a colorless odorless, tasteless gas. You bond them together and you get water, which is none of those things.  Yucca: Yeah. Okay, I'm going to go down a rabbit hole. I've got to stop looking at  Mark: Yeah. yeah. I invite You to do it cause it's really cool, but maybe not during the recording. Yucca: yeah. Mark: So  Yucca: were talking about cooking, right? That sometimes they will be  Mark: they they will be heated and modified in the lab. And it's also very common for example, to take mineral specimens and to grind a point onto them so that they look like a crew of quartz. The natural cleavage pattern of a court's crystal actually does lead to those beautiful faceted points that we're familiar with, but people will take like a piece of Topaz or a piece of Aqua Marine and they will grind a point onto it so that it looks more like what people think of as a crystal.  Yucca: Right. Mark: So. you want something that reflects the, the amazing nature of the natural world as it assembles these cool crystal instructures. You want something that hasn't been too? What's the word I'm looking for? Compromised by those artificial processes to try to make it look a particular way so that you'll buy it.  Yucca: Yeah. Well, I mean, it depends on what your, what your goal is though, right? If you're buying it, just because you like the way it looks, but it might not really matter to you what the history of that is. But if it's something that's, it looks, if it's important to you, that it be a specific. Mineral that it'd be the specific history. Then you might not be getting that unless, you know, unless you trust who you're buying it from and the process that it was produced under. Mark: Right. And speaking of rabbit holes, if you really get into crystallography and you start looking at All. the different geometric forms that different chemicals will take when they form crystals, that is. That is this unbelievable, cool world. I mean, when you think about it, water creates crystals in six sided, highly intricate crystal forms that we call snowflakes. Right. He light, which is salt forms in cubes. Sometimes the cubes are kind of skewed like a parallelogram, but they're still basically just, you know, six sided figures. So one of the things that can be really very wonderful about exploring the world of rocks and minerals is actually. You know, digging into the geology itself, you know, the stories of how these rocks came to us, you know, the ones that formed in in pockets of, of air that were filled with hot liquid. Supercharged with minerals and then crystallized, and then the water drained away leaving these geocodes inside filled with crystals cracks that had hot fluid injected into them and then grew crystals out so that they created veins. Which is the way that many metals and metal ores are laid down. Geology is very fascinating. Set of topics. And if, if you really get into the rock world, you can have a really good time there.  Yucca: Yeah. And there's a new field, which is geo biology, which looks at the overlap between mineralogy and biology and how those two things we like to separate them into these two different, totally different categories, but they're not, there's this wonderful overlap and, and On earth when we compare it to what we know about the other terrestrial planets, we have far more in terms of order of magnitude more mineral species than our sister planets too, even though we're made from the same starting material, because we've got life, that's mucking around with the chemistry here. And so there's just so there's so much that happens in both directions. So that's a, that's a whole new field. It's only started in the last, you know, 10, 20 max years. Mark: Yeah. Well, when you think about it limestone, for example, or chalk, that is entirely deposition of the skeletons of living creatures compressed down into sedimentary layers. It's nothing but that that's all that it is. So you're talking about rock that has been constructed by the biosphere.  Yucca: Yeah. And all of those types of minerals that can only form in high oxygen environments or things that can only form and specifically acidic environments, all sorts of things. Mark: Yeah, so I'm kind of a tangent, but geology. Cool.  Yucca: Yes.  Mark: it out.  Yucca: Yes. Very much. So. Mark: So that's crystals and what we have to say about it. And I guess I'd like to click out a couple of layers now, before we move on to other things like herbs and tools and bones and feathers and all the wonderful things that we like to use in our ritual practices, because they create a particular. Ambiance a particular aesthetic feeling. And that's to talk about consumerism,  Yucca: Right. Mark: which is an issue in the broader pagan community.  Yucca: Well, not just the bacon community, but that's one of the, the, the struggle, the challenges of our modern society today.  Mark: Right. The commodification of everything, including spirituality, where it's like in order to be really a, a good pagan, you have to dress a particular way or one of a small set of particular ways. And you have to have particular kinds of ritual tools and. Not all of that is rooted in the, I must have ethos of capitalism, Yucca: Great. Mark: you know, and not, not only I must have, but if I can afford it, I deserve to have,  Yucca: Yeah. Mark: I mean, we never even asked ourselves the question, you know, should, should this product even exist?  Yucca: Yeah. Mark: Not talking specifically about like your here's. Here's a good example in my mind, Botox, should this product even exist? It is used as a treatment. For a non-problem that culture tells mostly women that they have, which is they are aging, which is natural and normal. And then it is sold at considerable expense. It's derived from a poison and then sold at considerable expense. it wears off. So you have to use it again and all this kind of stuff, but nobody ever really asked the question, should this product exist? It was just assumed that if people would pay money for it, then the product should exist. And. I go back to a very wise thing that morning glory Zelle once said to me, she was a friend of mine, a lover of mine and just a dear, dear, dear person in my life. And I'm so sorry she's gone. But she once said to me, if you can't do it with a stick, you picked up on the way to the circle. You can't do it at all. And to me that just speaks volumes about how you don't need expensive trappings. You don't need 4,000 tarot decks. You don't need exotic feathers from south America. And You know, crystals from all over the world and all the many, many, many things that we tend to accumulate around ourselves as pagans, because we want to be able to create that, that feeling and then to carry it out with us into our ordinary lives. So I just encourage you think about it. Think about. You know, it's one thing. If you're buying something from an artist whose, you know, whose individual living is being made better by they're assembling something that looks very beautiful and they're doing it from materials that are not unethically sourced, that's one thing fine, you know, support that person. That's Great. But it's another, if you're just kind of. You know, ordering stuff from Amazon because you feel like you're supposed to have it.  Yucca: Yeah. Mark: You're you're not supposed to have it. You don't have to have it. I have four ones, none of them was made by a person. One of them came from a Redwood tree. One of them came from an Oak tree, you know, and these are fallen branches, Right. Yucca: Yeah. Mark: From dead. One of them is an extruded piece of kelp that's dried into a rod shape. And the final one here, I'm going to peer over and look at it. Now is a bone is a deer bone. And all of those have very powerful associations for me. And I use them in different ways when I do rituals, but I didn't have to buy any of them. And no nothing was harmed.  Yucca: Right. Mark: You know, no carbon was made transporting stuff from one part of the world to another part of the world in order to bring me this thing. And more and more as I get older, I think that doing no harm is the very, the very least we can do. I mean, doing, you know, making things better, obviously. Before us on the table. That's that's the work, but at the very least we can reduce the harm that we do.  Yucca: Yeah, I think that's, that's very well said. And, and to, to build on that, I want to say that none of this is to try to make somebody feel guilty about what they have or about, you know, wanting to have the beautiful thing or something like that. But to encourage you that, to think about, you know, whether you need it. And, and if you don't being okay with that, right. It's okay to not have the incredible velvet robes and the, this and the, that, and the like, like you were saying, Mark. Yeah. You've got a branch from a tree that meant something to you or a bone from an animal that meant something to you. And that, that works. Right. And that can be, that can be just as if not far more meaningful than the thing that was purchased and the thing that was just part of the commodity chain. Mark: Right. Because when something is delivered to you as a part of the commodity chain, you have no story associated with it. Right? The story is I gave them money. They gave me.  Yucca: Yeah. Mark: when you make something for yourself or you find something or you buy something from a person, or it was a gift. you buy something from an individual person whose work you appreciate and you know something about them. Then it brings the story. And the association of a story with an object is core to what we think of as charging a magical idea. Right.  Yucca: Yeah. Mark: Cause that's what it is. It tells you a story when you see it or when you hold it in your hand, it says, I come from, I come from this Seychelles islands and I am a piece of volcanic rock that has sharp edges on it. And Lay on a beach for many years, you know, having those sharp edges rounded down so that now all these little pores make this wonderful sort of sponge like a piece of stone. I just made that up. I don't have a piece of rock from the Seychelles, but anyway, Yucca: but it's unbelievable. Right? It sounded like you were describing, you were looking at a particular rock and describing it. Mark: Sure. And if I did have a rock from the Seychelles and I had been to the Seychelles, then it. would tell me stories about all of my experiences in that place and why it was magic to be there. And, you know, remind me of of people that I knew that were there and,  Yucca: Or the relationship with the person who went there and brought it back to you and keep it to you over the coffee that you had or whatever.  Mark: Right. Right. so long story short, we just really encourage our listeners as we do ourselves to interrogate our capitalist assumptions because they're there they're soaked into us. We can't have. You know, we were, we were raised in this particular over culture, which we've talked about before and asking questions and challenging assumptions is the way that we start to become more free. And it's not just about undermining a system, which is destroying the earth and causing a tremendous amount of suffering. It's also about becoming more liberated ourselves becoming more free and that we want that for you and for ourselves. It's something we want for the world is for people to be more liberated and feel like they have more choices about what they do  Yucca: Right. And to be, have that. Richer more colorful life. That isn't because of what you have, but because of what you do and experience,  Mark: and the relationships, you know,  Yucca: right. Mark: Yes. Yeah. Including with the world itself, with the biosphere and the, all the various creatures that, that are a part of it. So that, that it's w it wasn't really a tangent, but it was sort of a long sojourn. Yucca: Yeah. Well, that's the framework that we're going into talking about the rest of these items with,  Mark: Yes. That's true. Yeah. So let's talk about herbs, which are somewhat different because many herbs do actually have medicinal qualities. Also many herbs are claimed to have medicinal qualities that don't really.  Yucca: Well, so many herbs are sprayed with a lot of stuff that you probably don't want to actually be eating and a may have been grown in a monoculture, you know, there's, there's a lot of levels to it. So just like, just like we were talking about with the crystals, you want to be really mindful and aware of the story of what it is that your. Mark: Right. Yucca: using Mark: The good news about herbs is that you can grow your. own. And then you know, what condition they were grown in. And you have a personal relationship with the plant because you fostered it, you helped for it to grow. I don't find that I use a lot of different herbs in my work. I've got, you know, the reliable ones, the Rosemary and the time and the Sage and the sweet grass, which doesn't actually grow locally where I am, but it smells so beautiful when it burns. And I mostly use them in the manner of an incense because I but the other thing that you can do rather than burning them is just a heat. And then we'll still make this beautiful scent as the, the essential oils in the earth evaporate and go into the, into the air column.  Yucca: Right. And some of them, you can, you can simmer and water and do like the like put it on the stove top and you'll get that beautiful smell. Some of them that does not work out for. So you got to kind of experiment with that. Mark: Don't do that with pepper. I have bad experience in system cooking things with a lot of chili flakes or a lot of black pepper.  Yucca: Yeah. Mark: you, you basically create tear gas. It's not very good.  Yucca: So once again, common sense, right?  Mark: Yeah.  Yucca: A little bit of common sense in there, but.  Mark: but. there is something very wonderful about having bundles of dried herbs hanging around your kitchen. There's something about it. That's evocative of that. Archetypal hovel of the wise woman in the woods you know, who has a plant for everything, Right. Who, who knows the lore of the plants and. Not thoroughly versed lore of the plants kind of person, but I know people who are in our community and I think that's a wonderful path to pursue. Now I stop at the point where we start talking about the energies of plants that are magically going to influence something or other that are going to bring luck or money or relationships or those kinds of things, because I don't believe that stuff, but. Certainly, you know, elderberry, cough syrup works pretty well when you've got a cough and Rosemary or mint or a combination of the two, if you steam them and breathe the steam, when you're all congested, your nose will clear up. These are compounds that really work  Yucca: Yeah. Mark: and you know, they smell beautiful. The plants have. Fascinating histories of how they've been used or transported or transplanted around the world. So. That's that's kinda my take on, on the herbal thing. I can't speak to whether a particular plant has a medicinal power or not, because I'm not an expert in that way. But we're, we're talking about things now from the standpoint of their, their ritual qualities or their so-called magical qualities rather than their, their literal qualities. And just, just the aesthetic presence of those bundles of herbs, you know, it, it really can make a big difference. I mean, in the Southwest, you see people with chili peppers  Yucca: Okay. Yeah,  Mark: around the kitchen,  Yucca: there's some outside our door. Yup. We're almost out though, because you're actually supposed to be eating. Most of those people hang it for decoration, but there's drive so that you can break it off and you can put it in with your food. But yeah,  Mark: So, are you going to make it to the next harvest?  Yucca: No, we will not. Nope, we're out almost. But maybe we're in the new house now, so, and this'll be our full year, so we'll be growing a lot more of around stuff this year. But but we do, you know, with, we have a lot of herbs in the house and it's a lot of them are more just based on smell and associates. Right. I know that there's, that there are medicinal properties of certain things, but a lot of them, I think, you know, there's probably something in Campbellsville and lavender, which chemically interacts with our bodies in a certain way. But I just associate that with calm down. Relax just, oh, this is wonderful. Have the warm cup of tea or the smell or the, and because we use them that way intentionally, then it immediately brings us back to that since I. Mark: Yeah. And, and. I, I agree with you about cam and particularly because I have a very strong association of camomile as being very calming as well. And I don't know how much of that is just sort of the reputation and how much of it is an actual chemical interaction with my body. And how much of it is it just the flavor of camomile is so subtle. It's like, it's, it's not like. Beer or wine or, you know, something that really just makes a huge explosion in your mouth, right? It's this very, very subtle flavors. So you kind of have to slow down and pay attention, or it'll just seem like hot water  Yucca: Yeah. Mark: in order to taste it. It forces you to slow down, which is part of what's lovely about the Arab. So, yes, I'm sorry. I saw you stutter there? for a second as well. So I think we lost connection for a second. So by all means, you know, explore the world of plants. It's, it's a fascinating world. And  Yucca: Especially if you can grow some, even if it's just. And sometimes this is wonderful, but it, if there's just as a south facing or north, if you're in the Southern hemisphere, a sun facing window and just a few little pots. Mark: Yeah, just, just a couple little pots And you can grow, you know, you can grow your, your time. You know, there's nothing like fresh time. It really, it, it doesn't dry. Well, honestly, I mean, however, freshly you get your dry time, fresh time is just so much more powerful. And it there's  Yucca: Bazell  Mark: in Bazell  Yucca: we can. Yeah. There's just something about, about fresh Bazell and it's so expensive if you buy it, it's  Mark: if you buy it by the bundle. Oh,  Yucca: Well, if you want, if you buy fresh Bazell I mean, I know you can get like the, the dried stuff, but if you go to the grocery store and you buy like a few little sprigs, I mean, you're paying at least where I am like five bucks for something that's like the length of your hand and that's it. Mark: Yeah.  Yucca: So, Mark: yeah. We definitely have our basal plant in the kitchen and. One of the things that's really lovely about that is that the minute that you start picking leaves off of a plant and throwing them into a cooking pot, you're doing Witchery you absolutely are. There's just, there's something about it. You know, about drawing from the wild and, and putting. Drawing from, from the biosphere, from life and mixing something into your, your pot of food. There's just something that's very magical about it. And you can do it with intention and then you're adding that layer into your cooking. So.  Yucca: And then as you take the bite, let's say you're doing basal right? When you take that bite, you can, if you can remember that intention each time you take that bite, right? So you did it as you were cooking and then as it was going into your body, Mark: Right. And over time that will build an association between that taste and a particular feeling, a feeling of being well-nourished and taken care of at home. For example and those are powerful things because if you really need that, if you're far from home in a sterile hotel room going to a conference and you suddenly feel like you're. Ungrounded and wondering why the hell you went to this thing and how you're going to manage to do your presentation tomorrow. If you brought a little bottle of Bazell leaves with you and you can take a nice sniff of that, maybe that brings you back home, maybe that maybe that reestablishes, that sense of solidity inside yourself.  Yucca: Right. Or if you needed to be at the hospital for some reason, right? That's the time that you really want to be just present and grounded and in your, because you're probably why ever you're at the hospital, unless maybe it's for a birth. Right. But in most other cases it's a tricky time. Like you're usually not very happy to be there. Mark: right,  Yucca: Yeah. Mark: Yeah. So. I mean, we're, we're talking about these things in the context of how you can use them in your so-called spicy psychology. You know, the what said no, we'll called a little red adding a little razzle-dazzle to the. The things that you do in life so that you can be more effective, you can be happy Or you can be more focused. You can be more calm push away, anxiety rise up from depression, all of those things. And those are real effects. You know, we've been talking a lot this episode about how crystals don't really have magical properties and so forth, but the effects that we're talking about when we talk about ritual work are real effects. They, they affect your consciousness and that means that they affect your life. So we were. Finish by talking about some ways that you can go about charging magical stuff. So let's say you got yourself a beautiful rock specimen. Doesn't have to be. It doesn't have to be a crystal. It could be I don't know, one of those lumps of native copper, beautiful things, there, all these strange sort of configurations of, of copper that you find them in the desert sometimes. Whatever it is, what  Yucca: your business.  Mark: oh,  Yucca: seen those. Those are yet.  Mark: really cool. Yeah. I have a couple of them.  Yucca: Yeah. So first of all, Again, our take is that you're not actually taking some sort of magical power and storing it inside of that object. But what you're working on is your relationship with that object, your S you are immediate association that association, that relationship that's underneath that thinking part. The thing that you're going to experience instantly, right. Mark: Right. Which when you think about it is kind of like charging something it's like, it's like storing it's like storing a particular quality, like a battery so that when you take that object out or you hold it or you put it in your pocket or whatever it is, you can feel some of that quality leaking out metaphorically speaking, and instilling you with that. Right. I won't say who this is, but I have a friend who has a stone sex toy that she has lots and lots of very pleasurable associations with. Yucca: Sure.  Mark: Yeah. Because that's what it's for. And so she brings that with her to conferences. Not because she's going to use it, but because it just kind of brings happiness.  Yucca: Hmm. Mark: just, you know, I'm putting happiness in my suitcase, so I'm going to tote it along and it's going to keep me happy. So I think that's very cool Yucca: So that would've been something. It was just kind of built naturally, right. That  Mark: over time. Yeah.  Yucca: But, you can also do that very intentionally in ritual. You can, you can plan a ritual, you can sit down or go into your sacred space or whatever. However, you're going to structure that and. And try to bring whatever that is with you, right? If this is going to be something that say you're working on the feeling of comfort and relaxation, right? So do a bunch of things. That's going to get you into that state.  Mark: Right.  Yucca: Do you know, are there songs that get you there really quickly or certain smells or, you know, did she want to put on your, your fluffy slippers in your bathrobe or whatever it is, right. And have that object with you. Right. And start to, you know, if you're a word, see person, then, you know, maybe talk to it or, you know, what are the things, can you think of Mark? Mark: Well, in terms of talking to it to start with, I mean, you can literally say to it, I am now putting comfort into you. I am pouring that cuddly feeling of being on a winter's morning, under enough blankets, where everything feels warm right down to the tip of your toes. And that is going into this stone. It's going into it and it stays. And that's, what's going to be there every time I pick up this stone, I'm going to feel cozy and safe and taken care of. Say you have an issue with consistency that you, and you know, this is a thing for folks like me who have ADHD. It can be very, very difficult to be consistent. And it's taken me a long time to develop The kinds of systems that I need for constantly reminding myself of things so that I can do what I've said. I'm going to do. One way you can do that is if you have a daily practice, incorporate the charging of this object into your daily practice so that you are being consistent, inputting this consistency into your object. Right. So if it's, Yucca: The stubble helpful then. Right? Cause you've practiced the consistency. And then you have the thing that associate you associate with consistency. Mark: And what you've done is you've proved to yourself that you can be consistent and it doesn't have to be a hundred percent, you know, that's, that's, that's not how things work. You know, it's  Yucca: Yeah, Mark: the, I, the idea of perfection is like the idea of virginity. They don't exist. they're made up they're made up ideas. Yucca: they're made up to shame people into, into behaving or obeying. Mark: into obedience. Exactly. That that's not a real thing. A real thing is. Being more consistent, Right. Being more consistent than you were otherwise. If you miss a day of your daily practice, go back to it the next day. That's fine. But you do that for two weeks and now you have an object which has a, a story before. I did this ritual for two weeks, you know, where I was putting consistency of, of action into this object, into you know, whatever it is, a feather wand or a, a stone or a bundle of herbs that you might want to burn. So that at a time when you really need to be consistent and. demonstrated that you can be consistent in the course of doing that. So think creatively about how these rituals can go, you know, the best way to develop an association between an object and an experience is to have that object with you while you're doing the experience.  Yucca: Right  Mark: So, whatever it is you're looking for, if you're looking to goose up your love life, well, you know, have that on your bedside table. If you're looking to increase your capacity for focus maybe on your work desk or someplace where you really have to pay close attention. Yucca: Right for gratitude on the table or, you know  Mark: Great one. yeah. Great one. Yeah. So I, I guess sort of to summarize what I would say is, we're not saying that there aren't magical things. But what we mean by a magical thing is different than what a lot of people in the broader pagan community, me, we don't, we don't mean that there is some inferior quality radiating out from a particular kind of crystal that causes your liver to work better or something like that. What we mean is you can come to associate an object and pick the object that you think is a fitting. One Right. when it comes to being focused and precise, a really sharp edged. Perfect. Court's crystal might be the Right. object for you to use for that because it has its own kind of precision and perfection.  Yucca: Yeah. Mark: So we can come to ritually imbue. These objects with a kind of a power to speak to us, a narrative to speak to us and in doing so we can enhance our lives. We can enhance our ritual practices and we can be happier, more effective people, which of course is, as we say so often, That's the goal happier, more effective, make a better world. Yucca: Yeah. Mark: So, do we have anything else? Yucca.  Yucca: No, I think that this is a good place to wrap up.  Mark: Okay. Good. All right.  Yucca: I think that we covered quite a bit here and really, you know, covered the points that we wanted to about starting with talking a little bit about the consumerism part of it. You know, what's really the function of these and what is it mean for it to actually be magical in those relationships? And so we've, we've gone through quite a bit, actually with a few tangents here and there, little branches growing  Mark: Rocks. Check them out.  Yucca: Yes, Go down, go down that, that a Wikipedia rabbit hole. So,  well,  Mark: great. Yeah. thank you, so much, Yucca. It's been a pleasure as always. And boy, we are sure. Getting close to century retreat it's  Yucca: yes. Mark: six weeks away, seven weeks away, something like That  Yucca: That is yep. It's just around the corner. It really is. I mean, I don't know how it is for you, but the last couple of days has been pretending to be spring here. It, we will get a few more freezes, but it's just making it seem like, oh, well this retreats happening in the spring, right. It's spring. So is it now, can we go yet? Can we go? Mark: We just had all the wisteria growing on our back fence bloom and it's so it's beautiful and it smells so good.  Yucca: I love that  Mark: spring is really happening here. The trees are leafing out and it's just really, really going on. Yeah. So happy spring to all of our listeners, except the ones south of the equator.  Yucca: yes then happy. Mark: in which case, happy fall. Happy autumn.  Yucca: Oh, one more thing. My daughter came up with a holiday and it's Snake Celebration day, and so we need to draw pictures of snakes or make little models of them. And when we see the first snake out, that gets to be snake celebration day,  Mark: Okay.  Yucca: but we have to, we have to prepare ahead of time, have everything ready to put up so that, you know, because we don't know which day it's going to  Mark: so you draw the pictures and make the models in advance.  Yucca: And then we can put them up the day. That is snakes celebration day.  Mark: That sounds like a great holiday.  Yucca: Yes. So, all right. I'll let you know when it happens  Mark: All right. Cool. Please do well. A pleasure as always  Yucca: thanks Mark.  Mark: have a great week, everybody.

Live episode March Recap. Topics: What's Worse, Physical or Emotional Affairs Episode 2 of the "Our House is on Fire" series When Do You Know, It's Time to Go Guests Host: The co-creator of the podcast, Markis, makes an appearance and All Things Black Podcast (Mr. Blackovation/Darrell) The world is a wonderland...the same one Alice found herself in. Everything is distorted and nothing appears real, while the fakest thing can feel like the most authentic experience. The podcast will take a look at how our perceptions of ourselves and the world around us impact how we relate to one another. With a male and female perspective from guests in different fields and life experiences, we aim to use real-world examples of how the looking glass self-theory has an impact on all relationships. We will address societal, cultural, and mental health concepts in everyday terms as we work towards personal growth that allows us to build authentic relationships and attract connections meant for us. While there may have been mental health concepts discussed, this podcast is not meant to be a substitute for diagnosis or mental health care. If anything in this episode triggered you, please seek the care of a professional mental health provider in your area. website: www.thelookingglass.fans Instagram: @thelookingglasspodcast FB Group and Page: Relationships Through Looking Glass Podcast --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/throughthelookingglass/message

A murder–suicide which took place on March 26, 2018, when Jennifer Hart and her wife, Sarah Hart, murdered their six adopted children – Ciera (aged 12), Abigail (14), Jeremiah (14), Devonte (15), Hannah (16), and Markis (19) – and themselves by driving the family's sport utility vehicle off a cliff in Mendocino County, California, United States. Jennifer Hart was in the driver's seat, and Sarah Hart was in the front passenger seat. To unlock and get access to all 5 Seasons SUBSCRIBE or visit website MONSTERSANDMOTHERS.COM #jenniferhart #devontehart #monstersandmothers #Sarahhart

Today's episode features Danish doubles ace and good friend of mine, Kim Astrup! This is one of the few guest episodes actually recorded sitting right across each other, so please excuse us for the little bit of background noise for a few very short sections of the interview. We mainly focused our chat on the Tokyo Olympics and on getting a deeper understanding of Kim's (and his doubles partner Anders Skaarup Rasmussen) mentality on court, but we touched on several other topics as well. We obviously also had to pay tribute to the legend Markis Kido, who sadly passed away at age 36 on June 14th. Below is a short rundown of the different main topics during our talk: 2.45-7.15 Tribute to Markis Kido. 7.15-19.45 Tokyo Olympics, preparations, expectations, goals and what Mathias Boe has taught him. 19.45-38.00 Being controlled by your emotions, dealing with pressure and expectations from yourself and others and why finding the right mindset every single time is so tricky. 38.00-41.30 Modelling tips from the main model of the Danish team & how Kim suddenly realized he's now one of the old guys! 41.30-43.35 Tips for left/right handed combinations. 43.35-48.10 Kim and Anders' relationship, future and why he's calling Anders Badminton's Benjamin Buttons! 48.10-49.50 How much training is done with and without your partner as a doubles pairing. Hope you all enjoy the episode! And please consider becoming a patron on www.patreon.com/vittinghus to support the podcast and get benefits like early access, personal shout outs and chances to win prizes each month!

Bilal Markis is the creator of MCB, Miracle Come Back, a global nonprofit that holds blood drives across america and the entire world. As a single father, fearing his children's entry into gang life, he moved to a new township. During the move, his son was run over on his bicycle by two SUVs. After surgery, a coma, and various injuries from the accident, Bilal's son Rasheed was a stronger student, fully recovered, and inspires Bilal to start MCB and organize blood drives in over 30 countries.

Remember, we welcome comments, questions and suggested topics at thewonderpodcastQs@gmail.com   Content warning: Brief mention of drug use.  S2E11 TRANSCRIPT: ----more----   Yucca: Welcome back to the Wonder Science-Based Paganism. I'm your host Yucca Mark: And I'm your host, Mark. Yucca: And this episode, we are talking about personal growth. So both, or all three of the past, present and future. Mark: Right, right. Because one of the things that is incumbent on us as science-based pagans is to recognize that a personality is a process that life is not about arriving somewhere. It's about. Taking an ongoing set of steps forward. And we as pagans choose to pursue those steps in the pursuit of being better people, being kinder, being more effective being more competent in being happier. And so those are places you never completely arrive. There's always more that can be done in order to teach yourself about those things. And that's what we're going to talk about today. Yucca: Exactly. So the journey is never done, right. There's always more to learn more, to grow more, to change. Mark: So frustrating for those of us that are oriented towards perfectionism. The idea that you never actually can get there is incredibly frustrating, but I kind of made my peace with it a while ago. Yucca: You can make tremendous changes. You can really change your experience of life. Mark: Indeed. And you can change your experience of yourself. I mean, one of the things that many, if not, most of us are saddled with is harm. That was either intentionally inflicted upon us or accidentally inflicted upon us through processes like neglect from our earlier years. And we benefit by growing to heal from those experiences and taking what wisdom we can from them, but no longer laboring under the messages that they send us it's about who we are and how valuable we are and so forth. Yucca: Yeah. And no matter how wonderful of parents or families we might've had, they're still human. And we're still part of larger societies. And there's a lot of work, at least for my perspective, that our societies have to go. And lessons that we pick up about ourselves, value judgments about us. That probably aren't very healthy and not very helpful in the long run for living a happy and fulfilled life. Mark: Yes. And this to take one of what I'm sure it will be many trajectory, side trips. This is a gift that was given to us by the humanistic psychology movement of the 1960s, because until then, at least in the United States and in Europe, people were living to role. The idea was that you were to fit into your expected role as best you possibly could. And that was supposed to give you fulfillment. And of course it didn't, and that's why the societies were filled with alcohol abuse and kind of quiet misery of people feeling in a trap, but in the human potential movement and humanistic psychology movements of the late 1960s into the early seventies, the idea of. Really fleshing out and living in the fullness of our individuality became something that was celebrated. And that is now something that many of us see as the worthy pursuit of a conscientious life. And. So we're here to talk about some of the ways that we can help ourselves and one another to be happier and freer and less in pain than we have been because if our spirituality isn't for that, then what exactly is it for really? We don't believe in deities that are going to judge us. We don't believe that we are involved in some kind of a great cosmic balancing act. That's going to measure our quality and then make a determination about whether we reincarnate as cockroaches or not. We have this life. It is the life that's given to us. And so being ourselves as fully as possible and doing that in a way that's as joyous and as beneficial as possible, becomes the obvious answer to the question. What is the meaning of life? Yucca: That's beautiful. Mark: Thank you. Yucca: Yeah. Mark: Thank you. Yucca: Well, let's dive in. Why don't we talk a little bit about doing work for healing some of that stuff from our past and forming new patterns for things that really aren't serving us anymore, even if they might have at one point, if they're not what we want, now we can choose to change that we can choose to work on that. Mark: Indeed. And we talked about that a little bit when we talked about the inner critic in a previous episode. So we won't necessarily go into that a lot. Right now the inner critic is sort of the enforcer of the injuries, the hurt places get reinforced by the inner critic voice. All of us have some kind of place where we felt put down, less than inadequate, unloved. Some of us like myself come from a really pretty, not so great background and had a lot of, a lot of growth to do. And I guess. I guess when we start this conversation, where I would go is to say that really the best place to begin is with humility because there's a lot of pride in clinging to your damage. This is just who I am. It's how I am. This is how it's going to be. That's fine if that's what you want, but it doesn't sound very happy to me. There is a tremendous letting go that's required in order to humbly acknowledge that you're damaged and that you need to get better. Interestingly, the Humble Moon, according to the atheopagan calendar is tomorrow night, the full moon of the Humble Moon. So if you want to do some kind of ritual around humility I invite you to do that. I'm certainly going to be putting out bottles of moon water to capture the Moonlight and give me humility that I can pour out onto my alter my focus all year. Yucca: That's. I like that. The Humble Moon. Yeah. Well, I love that. That's the place that you started with that, with the being humble around that. And the recognition of that. I would also a place that I think is starting at the same time is the self-reflection, is the taking the time to really look at yourself and observe. What is going on? Where are you hurt? What are these patterns? Why do these certain things trigger you so much? What is it? That is, what is it that really riles you up or is getting in the way and trying to trace that back backwards, see where it's coming from. And that can be a really painful process. And it's one of those places where the critic comes up a lot and the voices of all the people who shamed us and all of those hurts to can, you can, it's a very raw and vulnerable thing to do, but it's so critical, right? How do you dress a wound without looking at it? Mark: Yes. Yes, exactly. That's so well said. The willingness to look in the mirror in a really unflinching way without letting that critic voice take over. But just to be very dispassionately aware, you know, what keeps happening in my life over and over. And what's my part in that. What do I do that keeps facilitating that thing again and again. Because it's not about destiny. It's the. Actions cause reactions. And if you keep getting the same sort of phenomenon in your life again and again, the odds are good that you did something that contributed towards that kind of reaction. Now, I want to be careful here because I'm not saying that people are responsible for their abuse. That is not what I'm saying. What I'm saying is that if there is a repeated pattern, Of something that you find damaging in your life, getting a handle on how you participate in that is an important step towards stopping it from happening further. Yucca: Yeah, that's a, it's really empowering, right? Because when you figure out what your role is, what the actions that you are having, those are the things that you can change. Those are the things you have influence over you can't change that you, what happened to you 20 years ago, that's done, but little by little today, you can start to change the patterns that grew out of whatever that was. Mark: Indeed. And it's important that as we do that, we always bear in mind that everybody has blind spots. We can work hard and therapy is actually a great framework within which to work on some of this stuff, to become aware of those things, those patterns, and to do it in a way that's contained within a loving, helpful environment without the critic voice going crazy. But we should always be aware that however self-aware we get, however wise, we may become there's stuff. We miss. There's always stuff we miss. Was that your phone? Yucca: That was my phone. It's a frog. I'm sorry. I forgot to silence it, but I said it to, the phones are so disruptive. Right. They disrupted the conversation right now. Mark: Yeah, I liked the ring tone. That was great. Yucca: Yeah. I have the frogs and birds and things. I put birds that aren't for my area. So I'll go huh? What is it? But it is, it doesn't bring that BEEP BEEP or the electronic thing into. Mark: Huh? Yucca: Into the environment. So Mark: Haha Yucca: it's on silence now. Sorry. Mark: I did an a, I did an ADHD thing, which is common for me cause that's a condition that I live with. So we were talking about blind spots. And the hope over time is that we become more and more aware of the complex of personality traits and impulses and responses that encompasses who and what we are. There's a reason why older people are associated with being wiser. It's because they have more experience. They've had more time to figure this stuff out. And the work of being a younger person is often not about that. You know, it's about finding your place in the world and, you know, working out survival and those kinds of things. So as we talk about personal growth, I just want to put that, put a pin in that idea that there's always something you don't know about yourself, which means there's always something new you can learn or that someone who isn't, you can reflect back at you and just because you didn't see, it doesn't mean you should reject it. Yucca: You don't have to try and tackle everything at once. Just because you are aware of these patterns does that mean that you can snap your fingers and fix it? All right. This is, these are things that take time and depending on your personality, you might want to grab, to find one and really work on that one, focus on that one and then come to another. Or another personality might be okay, I'm going to do a few of these and gradually work on all of them, little by little, but there isn't really a right, the right way to do it. It depends on you and what these things are and what your comfort is. And what are the other stuff that you're dealing with and doing in your life right now? Mark: Right. Yeah. Because especially when you're talking about really kind of root principles, core beliefs that you have, deep seated axioms that reside within your personality, that color everything that you do, you can take that one thing and you can explore it in terms of how it works in your social life, how it works sexually, how it works in your work life, how it works in your relationship to power in your relationship to money, all of those different things. And it's still just one thing. But it can play out in all those different aspects of your life. And so identifying something that is a truly deep wound is a gift that can keep on giving for a good long time as you, as he worked to figure it out. Yucca: Isn't that funny, right. Finding the wound can be a positive thing. Seeing that it's there. Right. Because we think about having the wound we think about, Oh, that's bad, but then the awareness and the knowledge that it's there, that's power Mark: It is. It is, and it is kind of paradoxical. I agree with you. It's you know, you would think that discovering this would be something that would be sorrowful, but instead it's more like aha. Okay. Now I understand why I respond to this particular thing in this particular way. Now I have power to make different choices. Now I have the power to say, Oh, I recognize this situation. This is the same situation again. And it's provoking that same wound again. Now, what do I want to do in response? And it gives you the option for new choices. So yes, it is paradoxical that identifying the wound is kind of a gift, but honestly it really is. It really is. I remember. I had a hallucinogenic experience with ayahuasca one time. Which is a very powerful shamonic drug that's used by Brazilian tribes. It's made of the Banisteriopsis vine and another plant that serves as an MAO inhibitor. So, what it ends up doing is delivering dimethyltryptamine to your frontal lobes, but then suppressing the enzyme that digests dimethyltryptamine, which is something that we actually naturally produce in small amounts. And so instead of having this momentary sort of experience of awe and wonder and connectedness, it goes on for six hours. And in my particular experience this time, I was having a hard time in my life at this time. And to be honest, I probably shouldn't have done this at that time. But what I came to realize was that one of my deepest axioms was a sort of baffled, sorrow at humanities, in humanity to other humans. And I hallucinated watching Joan of arc burn. For hours. Okay. She's burning, she's screaming. She's burning. And it was horrifying. It was a terrible experience. But what it taught me was this is one of the things that I just wrestle with internally, constantly. How can people do that? How to torturers managed to live, how do, how do people that make policies that cause people to starve or how do they rationalize that? And I don't have answers to it. I'm just baffled by it. And so I've worked with that piece for many years. And what I've discovered is that when you pull up the carpet of that, what's underneath is a tremendous kindness and generosity. I really want what's right for people. I want people to be happy. I don't want them to have those things happen to them. And so this went from being a wound to being something that I felt really good about. Something that I could feel, something that I could own instead of constantly being in a state of rejection. I think those kinds of experiences and I'm not saying that they necessarily need to involve hallucinogenic substances or any of that, but those kinds of experiences, those moments when we have that aha discovery about ourselves are incredibly powerful and they help us to grow into better people. Yucca: So that's a lot of the kinds of work that we have for self-growth coming from the past, but there's other angles that we could take a look at it. We can talk about what we want to become. So looking really honestly, at where we are today, which you can't really do without seeing where you came from as well. What caused that? But then looking forward and going, okay. I really want to cultivate these particular parts of myself. Right. I want to change those patterns that aren't serving me and build ones that are. And once again, one of those first steps is the awareness and the honesty with ourselves about where we are now and what we really want. And getting that, you know, there's things that we can say, Oh, I want this but do you really want it? Mark: Is it, you that wanted it or is it your mom that wanted it or is it the culture that wants it? Yucca: yeah. And try to piece that together. Before you can even start making those changes, why? And then the, how can start to come into place. Mark: I think that this is part of what the Buddhists talk about when they talk about beginner's mind, because Buddhism is very focused on being in the present, not being burdened by the past, or by hopes and aspirations and fears of the future. And there are. There are many great aspects about that. I think, you know, Buddhism offers kind of an amazing toolkit for working with consciousness and parsing out of the different voices in our heads and dispassionately looking at them and not necessarily just acting on them because they're talking. But particularly in this beginner's mind piece, the idea is let's try to approach this situation as if we never been here before. As if we were like an infant observer, what would we do? I love those birds. I hear them. That's wonderful. Yucca: Bird gatherings and squabbles and all kinds of things. It's wonderful. Mark: Well, we're look, we're pagans. We're going to take time out nature. So anybody that's that has a problem with the flow of the podcast. We'll just have to deal. Yucca: We have various different flocks out there that have a lot to say in my background. Mark: Nice. So the beginner mind to the degree that we're able to get dispassionate about our injuries, about our wounds and past that frees us then to approach situations with new eyes. So we can walk into that same meeting that you have at work every week, but you can say. You can approach it differently. You can talk differently, you can listen differently. You can observe the other participants in the meeting with new eyes and see new things that you never saw about them before. And that I think is another piece that personal growth can give us is the opportunity to be more observant. And to have more options in behavior in the moment, because one of the things about being really driven by your wounds is that you're kind of asleep reprogrammed to follow these behaviors that were programmed in order to defend yourself from the wounds that you've suffered. And that means you're not entirely awake and alive. And I think being awakened alive is something that. Yucca: This we've talked about quite often. Once you're gone, you're gone. So it's a pretty great it, frankly. Mark: It's a fantastic it. Yucca: Yeah. Mark: So we don't want to sleep through it. And we don't want to be kind of robotically, repeating the motions over and over, or in situations where we might choose to behave differently. And so when it comes to the question of personal growth in the context of the present, I think that beginner's mind piece becomes really important. And it can even be so much as, okay, I'm going to go into this meeting and I have a habit of feeling like I'm small and I ought to not say anything because of past stuff, but what if I didn't have that? What if I was just here in this meeting at this moment? And when I have an idea or a thought, I just said it? And you might find that when that happens, suddenly people respond to you differently. Suddenly there's a different dynamic in the room. And that kind of brings us to the future. Yucca: Yeah. Now, before we go too far into the future, there is a practice that I want to bring up. We've talked about it before, but it's the idea of grounding. And this is something that I think can be a really helpful tool to work on that, that, in moments like that. Okay. Before stepping into that room, And having that shift of, okay what if I was instead, what if I behaved this way? Right? That, that taking a moment to refocus, to become very present. And calm yourself is, could be really powerful too, to experience that what we often call grounding. And that's a thing that you cannot do without practicing it. But it's something that we can develop and become really good at. In the beginning, it might take to get yourself into that state might take 10 minutes of dedicated, close your eyes, breathe, focus there. But the more that you practice, you can shorten that length to the point where with enough practice, you can go, okay. And it just takes a breath and it can be really life-changing and it sets you up to be able to then make those choices, make those observations. Pause for a second. All right. It's like hitting that pause button and then you get to press play as soon as you're ready. Mark: Yes. It's an incredibly powerful skill. And what it does is not only sort of. Banish the demons, but it also brings you back to your deep understanding of who you are. You know, when you ground, you know, that you're worthy, you know, that you belong in any room you walk into, you know, that you can do the thing, whatever the thing is, and that you will to the best of your ability. And that's good enough. All of those things come when you practice this grounding technique. And it's really something that's worthwhile doing for people. It's what pagans do at the beginning of rituals all over the world and some of them better than others, but as a, as an ongoing practice, something to have in your toolkit, it is definitely something we recommend. Yucca: Yeah. So sorry to have interrupted the flow there, but I just thought that was a really important thing to pause and mention when we're talking about being present, right. Is the practice of grounding, is that stepping into presence. So, but let's step to the future. Mark: Yeah let's do that because the future is kind of an interesting topic to talk about. For one thing, we have no idea of what it is. We can project the trajectory of our current movement. Presuming that we're self-aware enough. We can kind of say, all right, this is where my behavior is going and where I'm likely to be. If I'm not hit by a train, if my partner doesn't get pregnant. If right, there's so many variables that we have no control over, but what we can do with the future is we can say, this is the kind of person I would like to be in five years. I would like for these kind of squealing hurts that I have inside me to have calmed down. By that point, I would like to be more generous. I would like to be more outwardly compassionate. So, you know, I'd like to, I'd like to be doing some sort of charitable work. For example, that's an expression of my compassion. That kind of goal setting can be very powerful for your personal growth because growth itself is sort of a morphous, right? It's just well getting bigger growth bigger. And then Yucca: Bigger. I'll get better, better, better at what? Bigger how, what, yeah. Mark: I'm just going to get bigger, which is an easy ideology to buy into in the capitalistic framework. Let's be honest because growth, right. On the other hand, if we actually frame that in terms of tangibles, I want to be this kind of person. Well, You would be amazed at how much of a choice you have about what kind of person you will be if you make decisions about being that kind of person. And that's where the personal growth of the future comes into play rather than saying, Oh, I'll never get out from under the terrible thing that happened to me when I was eight, you can say, I can heal that. And it can teach me compassion and it can motivate my efforts to make sure that never happens to another child again. And that is a growth agenda that you can be proud of, that you can feel solid about, that you can build a life around. Those kinds of agendas of growth agendas are very powerful. And I really come in to our listeners to be thinking about, you know, where do I need to grow? Where and what would I like that to look like on the other side of it? Because, as we said once, as we said, at the beginning of the episode, you don't ever get there. Right? There's no, there's just better than now. And then you can go for even better than that. Depending on how much time you have. Yucca: Yeah. And there's a lot of different frameworks to approach this, but, one thing that you can think about is looking at the person that you want to be, right. Or the thing that you want to cultivate. And I already started using the language that we start, that we use often in our is growing. We want to grow, we want to cultivate. So if you think about it like a garden, what do you need to do? What kind of environment would you need to grow, whatever your plant is that you're growing? How can you take care of the soil now to start to make sure that when you plant those seeds in the spring, that they're going to have soil that can hold moisture? Do you need to put some compost in there? And compost is something that you make from the past. Right. Sometimes you take the dead, the old stuff, you compost it and it gets eaten up by all those little microorganisms and transformed into the substrate for the future. So what are the steps today to create the environment that would allow for you to be that person? Mark: Very well said. And in many cases, for people who are particularly suffering in many cases the first decision is I've got to get out of this toxic context, because what happens with people that are really suffering from old injuries is that they tend to settle for situations that aren't very good for them. And so becoming self-aware and looking around and realizing this is toxic. I got to go is a first step towards either making that context less toxic, which is great, or getting out of there and moving on with life in a way that enables you to grow and be the person that you want to be. Yucca: Yeah. So working with that metaphor. Instead of trying to grow on asphalt to find a little patch of dirt to grow in it. And it might not be the, your lush forest soil. But it's dirt. You can dig in it, Mark: Right. Yucca: Right. Mark: And it's good that it's not the lush forest soil, because then you have to compete with all those trees. Yucca: Yeah. And where is the sunlight coming from? Yeah, exactly. And it depends on what you want to grow, your pH might not be quite right for your lettuce and carrots. Right? Mark: Right, right. Well, I feel like I've pretty well wrapped up everything that I have to say about this topic right now. I mean, obviously the whole subject to personal growth is both fascinating to me and really personal to me because I like to tell myself that I'm doing it myself. I like to believe that, and when I looked over the arc of my life so far, I believe I have. But it's an interesting thing, you know, sometimes words can come out of your mouth and then the rest of you can kind of go, Hey, you should listen to that. Yucca: Exactly. Yeah. Well, that's one of those things that you can do in those quiet moments, because. I really do think that we have a tremendous amount of wisdom and it's just setting ourselves up to be able to hear that and then to be in a position to act upon And, Mark: I so agree. Yucca: you know, we really do have so many tools to help us move in that way. And we've, and on this podcast, we talk about those tools a lot. We talk about ritual. We talk about things like grounding and meditation and these journeying, and just perspective changes and taking the moment, taking that moment out. And also a really important thing to consider too, is often talk about it from the spiritual or quote unquote magical side of things, but there's also the really practical, mundane things of your physical environment, making sure that your circadian rhythm is functioning healthily, that you are getting the nutrients that you need. You're getting the sleep. You're not getting toxins in your body. All of those things, those play into our emotional state, just as much or more than all of these other things we're talking about. They really. They're not separate. We talk about these, all of these as if there's two different categories, you know, there's the mind and the body but not really. They, I mean, the body creates the mind and the mind then tells the body how to be. And it's just this back and forth. Is this interconnected, cyclical, jumbled, beautiful mess. Mark: That's pretty much the size of it. That's as good. A way to end is I can think of actually. So we invite you to explore your own jumbled, beautiful mess and identify the places where it's not serving you and where you can be better. Identify some ways that you would prefer to be, if you do the work to get there. And I'm in the moment, look around, look with new eyes. Don't don't let that critic voice tell you what you're seeing. Yucca: Yeah, enjoy the journey. Well, thank you Mark. Mark: thank you so much Yucca. Always a pleasure.