So many of us take the notion of exchange for granted – we pay for something, for example, and we receive a good or service in exchange. But what if our true nature isn’t based on equal exchange at all, but rather gifts given and received, as demonstrated by an infant’s earliest relationship with their caregiver, typically a mother? On the latest episode I discuss this fascinating idea and its implications with one of the leading champions of the Maternal Gift Economy, Genevieve Vaughan. Genevieve is an independent researcher, peace activist and a feminist who has long advocated the concept of the "Gift Economy," where goods are given among people rather than bought and sold. The Gift Economy uses the matriarchal mother-child paradigm as a key basis of its structure. She is the founder of the Foundation for a Compassionate Society, a multicultural all-women activist foundation which, during its time, initiated many innovative projects for social change based on the political use of ‘women’s gifting values’. Genevieve is also the author of several articles and books, including “For-Giving: A Feminist Criticism of Exchange,” and “The Gift in the Heart of Language, the Maternal Source of Meaning.” She is the founder of the Temple of Goddess Spirituality, located in Nevada, USA, as well as a co-founder of International Feminists for a Gift Economy and the Maternal Gift Economy Salons. On today’s episode, we explore: • Gen’s spiritual background, and how she evolved from Catholicism to atheism and eventually Goddess spirituality • How an encounter with the Goddess Sekhmet while in Egypt inspired her to build a temple in Sehkmet’s honor, just miles away from a nuclear testing site in Nevada • What the Maternal Gift Economy is, and how our earliest experiences with language reflect gift-giving and receiving, not necessarily an exchange of information • How gift-giving is always happening in our capitalist society, even if it’s not necessarily discussed, acknowledged or valued • How we can begin to champion a gift economy in our own lives (hint: it begins with paying attention to the gifts we’re already giving and receiving every day, whether it’s a friendly glance from a stranger or the gifts of the Earth)