Home to Her
Death and the Divine Feminine with Rev. Angie Buchanan
Episode Summary
On this episode I'm joined by Reverend Angie Buchanan, Founder and Spiritual Director of Earth Traditions, a Pagan church, and of Gaia's Womb, an interfaith spirituality group that has been producing spiritual retreats for women since 1998. Angie is a life-long pagan, an animist, and has been an experienced magical worker and ritualist for over 40 years. She served on the Board of Trustees for the Parliament of World Religions from 2002 – 2010, offering programs internationally at convenings in Barcelona, Melbourne, and Toronto, and nationally in Salt Lake City and Chicago. Rev. Buchanan is currently a Spiritual Advisor for Pagan students at the University of Chicago, Campus Ministry, and a Certified Death Midwife. During this episode we discussed: * Angie’s experience growing up in a pagan, animistic household, and how it gave her a grounding in the Sacred Feminine from an early age * How she relates to the Sacred Feminine via archetypes as opposed to through specific deities * Why she views birth and death as the two most important human rites of passage, as well as the similarities between them and how the Divine Feminine intertwines with both * Angie’s own practices for honoring the dead *Why she feels strongly that the “veils” between the living and dead are thinner at certain times of year, such as Samhain and Beltaine
Episode Notes
On this episode I'm joined by Reverend Angie Buchanan, Founder and Spiritual Director of Earth Traditions, a Pagan church, and of Gaia's Womb, an interfaith spirituality group that has been producing spiritual retreats for women since 1998. Angie is a life-long pagan, an animist, and has been an experienced magical worker and ritualist for over 40 years. She served on the Board of Trustees for the Parliament of World Religions from 2002 – 2010, offering programs internationally at convenings in Barcelona, Melbourne, and Toronto, and nationally in Salt Lake City and Chicago. Rev. Buchanan is currently a Spiritual Advisor for Pagan students at the University of Chicago, Campus Ministry, and a Certified Death Midwife.
During this episode we discussed:
- Angie’s experience growing up in a pagan, animistic household, and how it gave her a grounding in the Sacred Feminine from an early age
- How she relates to the Sacred Feminine via archetypes as opposed to through specific deities
- Why she views birth and death as the two most important human rites of passage, as well as the similarities between them and how the Divine Feminine intertwines with both
- Angie’s own practices for honoring the dead
- Why she feels strongly that the “veils” between the living and dead are thinner at certain times of year, such as Samhain and Beltaine
Show Notes
- If you’d like to know whose ancestral tribal lands you currently reside on, you can look up your address here: https://native-land.ca/
- You can also visit the Coalition of Natives and Allies for more helpful educational resources about Indigenous rights and history.
- Please check out my latest course offering! Returning to the Well: Sacred Feminine Wisdom for Your Motherhood Journey, begins Sunday, October 29! This 5-week online course explores the divine journey of motherhood and what it means to parent in partnership with the Sacred Feminine, and is offered via Home to Her Academy, a school dedicated to seekers of Sacred Feminine wisdom! Learn more and register here: https://www.hometoheracademy.com/course/returning-to-the-well. And while you're there, don't forget to sign up for my newsletter to stay up to date with upcoming classes.
- My book, “Home to Her: Walking the Transformative Path of the Sacred Feminine,” is available from Womancraft Publishing! To learn more, read endorsements and purchase, please visit https://womancraftpublishing.com/product/home-to-her/. It is also available for sale via Amazon, Bookshop.org, and you can order it from your favorite local bookstore, too.
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- You can learn more about Angie and her work at the following websites: www.giaswomb.com; www.earthtraditions.org and www.deathmidwife.org
- Angie mentioned Margot Adler, a Wiccan priestess and NPR correspondent. This obituary provides more details about her life: Margot Adler was a Wiccan priestess and author of Drawing Down the Moon; more info here: https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2014/07/28/336081618/margot-adler-an-npr-journalist-for-three-decades-dies
- You can learn more about the Mountain Valley pipeline, which I mentioned, here: Mountain Valley Pipeline information: https://appvoices.org/pipelines/mountain-valley-pipeline/
- You can also learn more about the concept of providing legal rights to rivers here: https://www.equationcampaign.org/dispatches/the-river-is-my-kinfolk-it-deserves-more-rights-than-dirty-pipelines
- Angie mentioned India guaranteeing rights to dolphins; more details here: https://www.dw.com/en/dolphins-gain-unprecedented-protection-in-india/a-16834519
- More info on the dumb supper, or silent supper, here: https://www.crowsbone.com/blogarchive/the-silent-supper