Are you ready for this new series?

We're back with Cat Barnard. Cat is a partner and co-founder at Working the Future, a boutique consultancy helping business leaders prepare for and adapt to the future of work. With a previous career in workforce planning spanning three decades, Cat has has seen time and again just how foundational human connection and relationship are in accelerating team performance.

In this episode we explore how compassion and love for ourselves and others have to come first, how homogeny and perfectionism contradict the narrative of bringing our whole selves to work and other spaces.

Let's dive in!

Surprise! Episode 49 sneaks up (I even thought it was episode 50-HA). As I prepare for a brief hiatus to undergo knee replacements (thankfully, not simultaneously!), anticipate my summer return filled with fresh perspectives on spirituality, religion, and magic. In the meantime, dive into my archive of episodes, including captivating interviews on topics like Christian witchcraft, Native American religion, Christian Nationalism, and beyond. Stay tuned for a glorious journey ahead!

Did you know that you can get my voice in your inbox by subscribing to my Substack? Check it out at https://substack.com/@birdgirl1001 . Each week you will receive a sermon, channeled message and love note from me!

Have you purchased my ebook yet? Get your $10 copy of "Love Notes and Prayers: Guidance for the Soul" right here! https://store.bookbaby.com/book/love-notes-and-prayers

In this week’s episode I am deeply honored to interview Ronna Detrick, author of the new book Rewriting Eve: Rescuing Women's Stories from the Bible and Reclaiming Them as Our Own.

In this GLORIOUS conversation we talked allowing for the tension of stories instead of pushing them away, the audacity of a woman insisting that Jesus not turn away, and what might happen if we remembered that when God cares for us sometimes things don’t work out.

Ronnas Bio:

Ronna Detrick left the church and its dogma nearly twenty years ago but took the stories of women with her. She has combined her love of writing with a diverse and winding career that has included coaching, spiritual direction, professional development training, corporate leadership, and entrepreneurship. She shocked and delighted her audience in a provocative TEDx presentation on an Eve who inspires and empowers women instead of shaming and silencing them. She holds both a Master of Divinity degree and a Certificate in Spiritual Direction from The Seattle School of Theology and Psychology and a B.A. in Business and Communications from Whitworth University. After living most of her life in the Pacific Northwest, she is now just minutes from the Atlantic Ocean in Hampstead, NC, where she continues to write, drink strong coffee, have beautiful conversations with her clients, and cannot be dissuaded from the belief that her two daughters are the most amazing humans on the planet. Learn more at ronnadetrick.com.

Episode Links:

Website: https://ronnadetrick.com

Facebook: https://facebook.com/ronnadetrick 

Instagram: https://instagram.com/ronnadetrick

Subscribe to my writing on Substack: https://ronnadetrick.substack.com

Book Info: https://ronnadetrick.com/rewriting-eve 

A few weeks ago I was on a tour bus in France on a pilgrimage to the caves of Maria Magdalena. I could feel the love of spirit filling me in such a way that I started vibrating with an energy that was so big the only way it would come out was through the shedding of tears.

What I learned from this pilgrimage is that the good road is a road of love.

It is a reminder that we don’t have to rush to fix what feels broken to us.

This is my prayer/spell/invitation for you...

That at least once in your life you have a moment so simple and so full of awe, that you remember how remarkable it is that you are here.

Feast upon the bounty that is the earth and the heavens.

Nikita Gill has a poem called “Heartfelt” and one of the lines is about our heartbeat.

In this episode I invite you to think about our collective, communal heartbeat and how the beating of our hearts is a reminder that we are alive.

Allow yourself to breathe and flow in this beautiful reminder of our shared humanity.

You can let go...

Yep, you can let go and let gravity hold down the fort.

Open up your hands palms up to the sky and just give and receive love. You don’t have to hold it all together, that is what the universe is for.

You are free to be the untamed wild heart that you were born to be.

You are here to challenge the power structure with your divine knowing.

When you are questioned, look to the center of your soul and do not doubt yourself.

This episode is a little spiritual poem if you will. 

When you are radically present in the place you are in, you are able to feel the wisdom that you naturally carry within your heart.

This episode is a delicious little prayer for you to explore what happens when you feel the land beneath your feet.

Believing in the power of transformation and embracing the joy of being fully present can have a profound impact on our lives.

When we believe in the power of transformation, we open ourselves to change, growth and joy.

In this episode, I talk about how trolling the troll left me in a fit of giggles and reminded me how to be fully present at each and every moment. 

Enjoy!

Welcome to another exciting episode of our podcast where we delve deep into the complexities and wonders of human existence.

In today's episode, we are going to explore what it truly means to be a human being, the vast range of emotions and experiences we go through, and the unique abilities we possess.

Being human is a journey filled with both joys and sorrows, with both success and failure, with both love and loss.

It is a complex and often confusing existence that requires us to embrace and appreciate our humanness, both the light and the dark.

What no one is talking about: This episode contains powerful information about identifying the difference between being triggered and deeply uncomfortable.

If you are struggling to understand why we are constantly accusing people of triggering us, this episode is for you.

In this beautiful conversation with the lovely and talented Cat Barnard we talk about the 3 things you must do when confronting death and dying.

Cat poses the remarkable question, “How would I want people to be with me in my final hours?”

Plus, we talk about social media, broadcast squawking, creating space for silence, and how to listen well and be present.

This is a GORGEOUS episode that left me in tears.

When kept separate some bits of the Bible are a tad easier to swallow.

Together, they become a damnation against those who are not white..

Are not Christian.

Are not male.

And this must be why people struggle with Christianity.

It is built on the premise of conquering those that do not. Do not fit. Do not believe.

Are not. Are not appropriate. Are not relevant. 

Join me as I explore it all in this episode...

We are love.

So simple, and yet, when things get difficult in our communities we do not react with love, we react with venom and anger.

We lash out and attack our differences, rarely ever seeing our similarities.

As Christian witches, we have a theological imperative to recognize real barriers and obstacles to inclusive, inspired worship for all the people in our communities, both Christian and pagan.

We are the remnants of the divine.

We are made in his image.

In the holy image of love.

Here, in the core of our soul, in the heart of our hearts, we are not deserted.

Here we are full, and vibrant, and whole, we are not desolate.

We are love and we are loved.

Why are we so focused on being afraid?

What if faith and trust is where it is at?

What would change if you knew that you could just BE faith?

This message came to me when I was working with a client and I am curious what your thoughts are about it.

Have you ever wondered why we never talk about men when we talk about ancestral healing?

Do you find yourself wondering how the patriarchy also deeply impacts men?

In this episode I present some uncomfortable truths and I ask you to go with me on a journey of exploration and wonder about men and healing.

I see you there confronted with your own crap.

Today I pray that we are granted grace within our hearts and that honey is placed on our tongues.

This episode is a spell for magic and a prayer that we will confront the cancel culture within our hearts.

Jesus didn’t expect perfection...Jesus was a rebel.

What do sparkly caftans, personal mantras, desire, and the holy spirit have in common? More than you think!

Say it with me, “I am here!”

Dr. Bird is back with an amazing episode inviting you to be more uncertain, question how you can be a beacon of open radiance, and to remind you that when you run from your own power, you deny the ancestors and you deny yourself.

What happens when we release the need for control and restriction?

In this beautiful conversation with Rabbi Nancy Kasten we explore:

• The things used to keep people feeling afraid.
• We talk about the Holy Land and what it means to feel at home.
• And we get messy with the idea of understanding people that we find to be despicable.

“This is God’s world, we just live here.” MIC DROP moments y’all. 🎙

Links to Check Out:

Faith Commons: CLICK HERE

The Good God Podcast CLICK HERE

The Revolutionary Love Project CLICK HERE

Rabbi Nancy's Bio:

Rabbi Nancy Kasten is a Reform rabbi, a community educator, volunteer, and activist, as well as a certified Jewish Mindfulness Meditation Teacher. Since moving to Dallas in 1990, Nancy has led, taught, consulted, and organized in Jewish, interfaith, and secular settings locally, nationally, and internationally. She chose her title of Chief Relationship Officer when she joined Faith Commons because she has the most fun when making connections with and among others.

Nancy currently serves on the Boards of T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights, and the Ackerman Center for Holocaust Studies at UTD. She is a member of the U.S. Advisory Committee for Polyphony, a Nazareth-based organization that connects Arab and Jewish communities in Israel through music. She is also a member of Reform Judaism’s Commission on Social Action and serves on several national and state-based committees and core teams within the Reform Movement. 

Reinforced and informed by her participation in the 2020 OpEd Project Public Voices Fellowship, Nancy strives to provide thought leadership in influential forums through her words as well as her deeds. 

Nancy is married to Rabbi David Stern, and they are parents to three adult children.

In this exceptional interview with Muslim Faith Leader and public speaker Hurunnessa Fariad we talk about how advocating religious freedom is rooted in the Muslim faith.
She and I explore the perfection of God and what happens when we stop basing faith on people (HINT: life becomes simpler).
When we love and respect each other we can live in a multi-faith world and that is exactly what Hurunnessa is working to accomplish focusing on women and bringing opposing viewpoints to the table.

Episode Links:
Hurunnessa’s LinkedIn: CLICK HERE
The Multi-Faith Neighbors Network: CLICK HERE
Adams Beat Children’s Choir: CLICK HERE

Guest Bio:
Hurunnessa Fariad is the Director of Outreach for Multi-Faith Neighbor’s Network where she works to build mutual trust and respect among clerics through civic engagement, authentic relationships, and honest dialogue. She is intentional in making sure women’s voices are heard and amplified. Serving as the Secretary of the Board of Directors at Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy a Member of the Board of Directors of Lutheran Social Services and involved with many other faith-based organizations Ms. Fariad is the founder & Music Director of America's first and only Masjid Choir, The ADAMS BEAT Choir. She is also the founder and co-host of the Sister Act Podcast, a former child refugee from Afghanistan and currently resides in Sterling, Virginia with her 4 daughters.

Do you ever have something strike you while you are in the shower?

Today, I am getting raw and vulnerable with you about my ah-ha shower moment.

This episode is great if you want to hear me cry and have a live epiphany about why money and I have struggled for 43 years.

Today I am joined by the amazing Chosen (aka: ChristianWitchHTX). WHOEE!

When I first found Chosen through the hashtag ChristianWitch, I knew there we were in for some shenanigans.

In this episode we talk about:

How there is no lack
How we are all doing mystical arts, we are just speaking different languages.
That holy spirit is the ultimate level of love and so much more!

I had full body chills at the end of this interview!
This is SO GOOD!


Links To Check Out:
Chosens' Podcast 

Chosen's FB group


Chosen's Bio:
Chosen is an Internationally Certified Professional Psychic Medium dedicated to the highest quality of Healing & Lightwork driven by authenticity, compassion & understanding. Host of The Christian Witch Podcast, Chosen’s impact on reconciling spiritual beliefs with the supernatural is specifically of interest to anyone who has been marginalized, abused or survived religious trauma in any form. Serving as Associate Pastor to the 10k+ members of the private facebook group Christian Witch & the Craft, he has an extensive history in Christian Ministry, Worship Leading, Spiritual Education, & Witchcraft.

In this interview with Dr. Luhui Whitebear, we talk about Indigenous relationship to land, familial and land based ceremonies and federal policies that don’t allow Indigenous peoples to practice their religion. Here we explore what happens when we dig deep and connect to land, how Indigenous people live in relationship to the land and waters we live on, and how the federal law limits who is allowed to practice their religion.

Useful Links
Here is the link to a timeline of atrocities against Indigenous peoples, which includes the Code of Indian Offenses CLICK HERE
Here is the link to the 1978 American Indian Religious Freedom Act CLICK HERE

Dr. Luhui Bio:
Dr. Luhui Whitebear is an enrolled member of the Coastal Band of the Chumash Nation with Huestec and Cochimi ancestry. Luhui is a mother, poet, and activist engaged in community-based work. Dr. Whitebear received her PhD from Oregon State University (OSU) in Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies; MA from OSU in Interdisciplinary Studies; BS degrees from OSU in Anthropology and in Ethnic Studies. Her research focuses on California Indigenous studies, Indigenous feminisms, Indigenous rhetorics, Indigenous activism, MMIW, national law & policy, and Indigenous land & water rights.

In this interview with the Rev. Jennifer Hawks, we discuss living Micah 6:8 as a form of social justice and how there is a theological spectrum that weaves the beauty of Christianity.

Here Jennifer and I explore what Christian Nationalism means for all of us and how we can embody a life that explores faith and freedom for all.

Discover more:
https://bjconline.org/,
Campaign Link:
https://www.christiansagainstchristiannationalism.org/.

Jennifers Bio:
Rev. Jennifer Hawks, originally from Germantown, Tennessee, is the associate general counsel at BJC. She provides legal analysis on church-state issues that arise before Congress, the courts, and administrative agencies. Hawks also assists in education efforts and responds to pastors and other constituents who have questions about church-state matters.

In this interview with LGBTQ+ human rights activist Jason Jones, we explore how internal strife is reflective of external strife and how queerness was subjugated by white colonists in the name of God. This beautiful conversation is about how many spiritual practices are reflective of the same thing and how the LGBTQ+ community finds our humanity.

Jasons Bio:
Jason Jones is an LGBTQ+ human rights defender originally from Trinidad & Tobago who has lived and worked in Britain for over 30 years.  He refers to himself as being “Tringlish”, Queer and as a person of colour. His activism in LGBTQ+ human rights spans 4 decades beginning  as a student newly arrived to London, marching in the anti-Section 28 marches of 1988. He then returned to Trinidad in 1992, and was the cofounder of the first LGBTQ+ advocacy organisation in the Southern Caribbean, “The Lambda Group '' & he also founded “I Am One” in Trinidad in 2012.

Join me as I explore how you can unclench your spirit and connect with your anchoring point.

This episode is your invitation to recognize how your own intuitive action creates flow.

Poem Link: https://www.poetrybyheart.org.uk/poems/the-force-that-through-the-green-fuse-drives-the-flower/

When we love a little more and resist a little less, great holy enlightenment ensues. 

This episode is a story of the ancestors and why their message is critical to my work.

This is your invitation to join me for the revolution.

https://www.drmelissabird.com/tgr

One of the greatest ways to shift your energy is through music. 

In this episode I explore how you can change your mind to become more present in your spiritual life.

Look at the culmination of your life not with regret.
Acknowledge everything you have done and celebrate it.
Change your mind and shift your energy.
Here is how to anchor into that energy.

ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE WITH GOD!
Oh what a RELIEF!

Now we can disrupt.
Now we can dismantle.
Now we can surrender.

It is possible for us to live together in peace, joy, and justice.

Share yourself and make what seems impossible possible.

We are woven, interconnected parts of nature and an integral part of Mother Earth. Connection to God and spirit brings you closer to your true self. Listen to what is possible when you see with your heart.

In this epic conversation with my friend Cat Barnard we talk about how individualism breaks our collective nature, how grief and loss is being felt at a cellular level, and how sometimes the listener doesn’t want to hear our emotional turmoil.

DO NOT MISS THIS EPISODE!

OHHHH! This episode is so GOOD! Chock full of messages from Creator for YOU! The divine doesn’t want you to be perfect, the divine wants you to let that *bleep* go!

Beautiful divine human, do not doubt in your ability to change, to learn, to experience ecstatic joy. 

For you know not when it will come, yet arrive it always does and never in the way we expect it.

I have absolutely no idea what I am doing. Not a damn clue. I hope you will join me in sharing the stories of what you don’t know and how you have just done it anyway. From changing a diaper to building companies, faith and risk is the way to get it done.

In the midst of all this chaos we are meant to be happy and experience joy.
In this episode I explore how the little soul deaths we experience throughout life transform us into joyous human beings.

During this season of wintering we are being called to look within ourselves.
Our desire is to live into the journey through the way of love.
This episode is a spell for internal connection and a prayer for sacred grace.

What would it take for you to deep dive into the ritual of magic?

What does it mean to be in the action of ritual?

Right now at this very moment, you are being called to learn how to heal to make space to thrive and I invite you to explore this with me during this episode.

I was really excited to read that wisdom is a woman. I mean, I knew it in my heart yet I was still gratified to read it in the Bible. Join me in this episode as I invite you to rethink everything you know about Mother Mary.

Do you worry about stepping into the unknown without a plan? In this episode I invite you to join me on a journey of spiritual wonder to embrace transition as a natural part of life.

In this episode, Dr. Bird shares the first sermon she ever gave.
Here she explains how being all the things “traditional” religion defines as sinful, kept her away from believing in her spirituality and her magic.

Welcome to The Thinnest Veil Podcast!

This episode is a friendly "Hello!" from my heart to yours. I can't wait for you to join me each week as we explore the journey of self-discovery by weaving stories, sermons, and conversations into a tapestry of personal growth and transformation.

If you enjoyed this episode please share it with your friends and family far and wide.

Ever since my ex wife left me on August 16, 2010 I have engaged in an almost daily journaling practice. I have collected many journals over the years.

In this episode, I am going to dig into the wisdom found in my old journals and share it with you.

Come, join me in the archives of my soul.

Welcome to the light! WHOOHOO!

In this glorious episode I celebrate the coming of the light, talk about what it is like to grieve at Christmas, and explore the glory of noticing the world around us while we anticipate what is coming next.

Life is a series of moments of clarity about who you want to be in the world and how you want to operate.

As you reflect back on where you were a year ago, remember that what is a massive shift now is radically different from what would have been a massive shift a year ago.

Imagine how big those changes are over a lifetime.

This episode is a joyride through my thoughts on this and more.

When you stop drinking through the firehose of information you stop drowning and can hear your intuition more clearly. You begin to realize that there is too much information available to us. Too much chaos and upheaval.

Our spirits cannot drink from a firehose of chaos.

In this episode, I ask you to remember that you don’t have to carry it all. With faith you can set all the crap down and take action from a space of grounded faith and remembering.

There is no need to rush your life.

Ronna Detrick and I had so much fun last episode that we decided to get together to talk about Mary Magdalene and ancient, divine love. During our conversation we talk about how radically dangerous love can be, how to connect to the sacred in community and what would happen if we held grief and love simultaneously.

Ronnas Bio:

Ronna Detrick left the church and its dogma nearly twenty years ago but took the stories of women with her. She has combined her love of writing with a diverse and winding career that has included coaching, spiritual direction, professional development training, corporate leadership, and entrepreneurship. She shocked and delighted her audience in a provocative TEDx presentation on an Eve who inspires and empowers women instead of shaming and silencing them. She holds both a Master of Divinity degree and a Certificate in Spiritual Direction from The Seattle School of Theology and Psychology and a B.A. in Business and Communications from Whitworth University. After living most of her life in the Pacific Northwest, she is now just minutes from the Atlantic Ocean in Hampstead, NC, where she continues to write, drink strong coffee, have beautiful conversations with her clients, and cannot be dissuaded from the belief that her two daughters are the most amazing humans on the planet. Learn more at ronnadetrick.com.

Episode Links:

Website: https://ronnadetrick.com

Facebook: https://facebook.com/ronnadetrick 

Instagram: https://instagram.com/ronnadetrick

Subscribe to my writing on Substack: https://ronnadetrick.substack.com

Book Info: https://ronnadetrick.com/rewriting-eve