Shows
Falling Into SoulEp. 42 Staying Close to the Gift (Letting This Podcast Rest and What's Next)This is not the episode I thought I would make. This is the episode it was time to make. And so goes the soul. Tracking where it leads is an ongoing commitment. But I know of no better way to keep the magic alive. In this episodeSeeing and dreaming with the soulA heartfelt thank you as I share why I'm moving away from making episodes here for now and where I'm going nextHow to stay connectedSubscribe to receive my occasional (but oh so soulful) writings to your inbox via The T...2025-02-1814 minFalling Into SoulEp. 41 Why It's Hard to Create with Soul (And How We Can Learn)Western culture is rich in ways to keep us chasing the outer dream and pitiful in ways to facilitate the actualization of an inner soul vision. Our ability to dream with soul and bring forth what lies deep within us has been hijacked by the cultural delusion that tells us we can have whatever we want, when we want it, how we want it--an affront to nature.How to create, heal, and live with soul in a culture that's done its best to cut soul out of the picture is the work and obsession of my life. 2024-10-1625 minFalling Into SoulEp. 40 With Love for the EgoWhat happens to the ego through the processes of alchemy?In this episode let's explore:the progression of ego from Tyrant to Team Playerthe job of a healthy, alchemized ego in sacred alignmentthe partnership between ego and soulhow to navigate the ego disappointment and dissatisfaction that comes with soul alignment With love,M‣ get the "disappointing and lovely" stickerSupport the show Read The Terrible, Beautiful Truth on Substack Stay connected through my Email List Get a copy of my NEW book Down from the Mountain dire...2024-06-1524 minFalling Into SoulEp. 39 What the Fire Leaves BehindAlchemy is a terrible but brilliant series of processes that burn, drown, rot pressurize, and distill every extraneous thing out of the way so you can see what is there. What the fire leaves behind is who you really are. What the fire leaves behind is all the things about you that cannot be left behind. What remains when all else fades is how we know what's ours to live in a new way.In this episode:the threshold between being initiated to the true self and the pressing need to integrate the true self in...2024-05-0119 min
Soul Over the BonesEpisode 43: The Initiatory Journey InwardWelcome to your weekly Women Who Run With the Wolves bookclub! It does feel that way sometimes doesn't it? In this episode we're delving into the archetypal story of The Handless Maiden and discussing how we all go through cycles and seasons of slowing down and going inward--whether we want to or not.
Women Who Run With the Wolves
Episode 6: Body Reconnect Meditation
Episode 26: Cycles and Seasons
Episode 39: Mother Wild with Carmela Fleury and Karryn Miller
Episode 40: Mother of Exiles with Shauna Wood
McCall Erickson...2024-04-0152 min
Ultimate Vibe Audio Music ProductionsStill PluggingSend us a textHello and how is everybody? Me myself I'm just trying to shift this goddam cough I recently picked up. Bloody pain in the ass when one gets sick. But the good news is that I'm composing more Music in my studio for another album. I don't know I just keep getting the vibe to create. In the meantime listen to this latest Podcast and support it plus support the Independent Musician who plays an Instrument. There's so much crap on the radio nowadays that it just pisses me off. But let me...2024-03-1933 minFalling Into SoulEp. 38 New Book, New Journey: Down from the MountainAnnouncing my new book Down from the Mountain: On Being Human after Spiritual and Alchemical Initiation now available for preorder. In this episode, I go over the table of contents for the new book so you can get a feel for what it's all about.Whether you’ve read The Second Half of the Mountain and are ready for more or you’re just stumbling upon me now, Down from the Mountain holds its own as a book exploring the delicate coming-back-to-life work many of us face after undergoing the alchemical initiation required to uncover, alig...2024-01-0919 min
The QTS ExperienceEpisode 177: Anna Erickson2023-08-301h 17
Pro Politics with Zac McCraryDemocratic Pollster Lisa Grove on the Power of a Question MarkSend us a text[EPISODE ORIGINALLY RECORDED FEBRUARY 2021]Lisa Grove has been a leading Democratic strategist and pollster for 25+ years, helping elect a President, Senators, Governors, and more. She also developed a reputation for winning tough ballot measures and helped refine messaging to advance the cause of marriage equality. In this conversation (recorded February '21), she talks her roots in Oregon politics and activism, being drawn to polling, her early days in the business, starting her own firm in the mid 90s, and stories & insight from a successful career that has spanned several decades.2023-08-0845 min
Musitations™: Exploring Music, Meditation, Creativity and WisdomMusitations™ - Burnout and Soul Renewal with McCall Erickson (E18)I was so honored to be interviewed on McCall's podcast Falling Into Soul: An Exploration of Inner Alchemy on the subject of Burnout & Soul Renewal, a subject near and dear to my heart. Having burned out 3 times in my life, I knew this would be a deep dive and it was! She graciously agreed for me to post it on my youtube channel and included it on my own Musitations podcast since this was the third in our series of soulversations.
In McCall's words for the episode:
In this episode, Michael DeMaria and I explore the rich...2023-06-111h 16Falling Into SoulEp. 37 How to Recognize the Will of the SoulWhat we think we want and what we say we want might not be the same as what the soul wants. The will of the soul is not always immediately known. It's the unconscious continually made conscious through astute listening to body aches, dreams and synchronicities, strange intuitive pulls, deep watery feelings, and life itself. We live in so much mystery, so much magic, so much unknown.In this episode we explore ways the unconscious (will of the soul) attempts to make itself conscious in our lives:Loss of motivation or focus for things you...2023-05-2623 minFalling Into SoulEp. 36 Burnout and Soul Renewal - A Soulversation With Michael DeMariaIn this episode, Michael DeMaria and I explore the rich, complex, and paradoxical themes of burnout and renewal central to our lives as empaths, recovering codependents (over givers) and creative types.Speaking from our personal experiences with burnout and how-not-to-burn-out, Michael and I explore: The importance of the soul (water, earth) in tempering the creative fire and air of spiritHow to honor and be in conversation with instead of pathologizing processes of the soul that feel dark, slow, and counter to creative productivityLearning to differentiate between the ego being fed and the soul being fed through c...2023-05-091h 14Falling Into SoulEp. 35 The Journey After the JourneyNo amount of alchemical death and rebirth cycles can change who you are. It can only reveal it. And then the task becomes to live it, to anchor the unchangeable essence of Who You Are into your ever-changing human existence. Wildness and form. Dancing.So far in this podcast, I’ve talked a lot about what I call the Second Half of the Mountain Journey–the dark nights of the soul, dark nights of the spirit, and distillation. These alchemical processes are necessary to carry us from initial awakening to permanent alignment with the core self. But...2023-04-0127 minFalling Into SoulEp. 34 The Great White Nothing and the Thread That Carries ThroughThe alchemy of inner transformation is not a self-improvement project. It’s a participation in the soul’s evolution. It may not improve your life at all at first. It’s a rather destructive process–dismantling your beliefs, identities, small hopes and dreams, tearing your life at each carefully stitched seam to reveal what’s unbreakable underneath. It gets worse before it gets worse sometimes, so faithless and consuming, leaving you hanging by nothing but a single thread–your own breath tethering you to life in a place it feels like you never intended to be. And at some point, you r...2022-12-0724 min
The QTS ExperienceDr. Anna Erickson; Episode 143One of the most important conversations we can be having today is energy. What type should we use? Its impact on the environment, the economy, its impact on politics, on our independence, and nuclear energy sits right in the middle of that discussion. Fair or unfair, it generates the most controversy.
But should it? Silicon Valley is betting on the future of nuclear energy. Our entire naval fleet runs on nuclear energy. NASA has even sent probes to space with nuclear energy. So with that in mind, I invited Dr. Anna Erickson to come and help us t...2022-11-301h 19Falling Into SoulEp. 33 Letting Your Best Hopes Go"One of the hallmarks of maturity is to let some of what seemed like your best hopes go, especially if the tide of life is actually taking them from you and turning your face in another direction." -David Whyte, What to Remember When Waking, The Disciplines of Everyday LifeIn this episode, I explore:When hopes can be helpful and when they can get in the wayWhy following your heart might not be enough sometimesHow to identify actual flow Learning to recognize the tides of life, the seasons that are ours to liveThe hopes and dreams of...2022-11-1021 minFalling Into SoulEp. 32 Connecting With Your Innate Worth (It's Complicated)Why is it sooo hard to connect with the worth that is inherent in our existence? Why isn't awakening to our true nature, to our spiritual and creative gifts enough to heal this wound and actualize our inherent worth? And why do I have such issues with how we use the words "deserve" and "worthy" in the trendy spiritual lexicon? Let's explore.In this episode:Where the worthiness wound originates (bigger than personal trauma)One of the biggest obstacles to connecting with core worth that I've observed in us spiritually awakened humans How...2022-06-1525 minFalling Into SoulWelcome to Falling Into Soul (If You Can't Help It)Did I just make a trailer for this podcast after two years of doing this podcast? Yeah, I guess that checks out. It usually takes me awhile of doing something important before I understand it enough to say what it is.Such is the way of soul. You don't have to understand the magic for it to be happening. And I'm getting so much better and letting it happen and seeing what happens. With love and deep thanks for being here,McCall--Click here to read or listen to my...2022-05-2405 minFalling Into SoulEp. 31 To Be a Mystic--so F*cked and So BeautifulTo be a mystic means to want One Thing more than any other of the things. Mystics have an intense and unyielding desire to know and unite with the divine, god, love, beauty, soul, truth, the core of all cores in this life, not in any other life or time. And so, they willingly burn through the fire of any moment to find it.This is why I say mystics are so fucked and so blessed. The mystic heart can't settle for anything less than what it knows it's here to be and do--what can't be said...2022-04-2118 minFalling Into SoulEp. 30 The Original Lovers, the Original War (And Yes, Peace)Why do we have to fall into soul? Why can’t we fly or rise into soul? Why is the way of soul paved by disappointment and disillusionment? Isn’t there a way to skip all that? Surely we can outsmart the fall, if we could just tap into our highest and best selves and only act from there, we’d be okay, right? Rise above. Choose love over fear. Light over dark. Afterall, you are only one choice away from a whole different and better life, right? All you have to do is make that choice. What are you wa...2022-03-2419 minFalling Into SoulEp. 29 What It Means to Trust Your Direct Experience (And Why It's So Hard)When the maps you’ve been given don’t match the territory you find yourself having to navigate, you trust the terrain itself and your direct, unique experience with it. This is how to honor and live the soul in a world that gives you a million ways not to.What does it mean to “trust yourself” or “trust your intuition” or “trust the process.” We hear these cliches about trust so often in the spiritual growth and development lanes. But what does it mean to trust? Join me as I unravel these cliches and lay a more realistic g...2022-02-1820 minFalling Into SoulEp. 28 Distillation and the Secret Medicine"There is a secret medicine reserved for those who hurt so hard they can't hope. The hopers would feel slighted if they knew." -The Essential Rumi, Coleman BarksIn this episode I explore the dreadful stage of alchemical distillation--the final and brutiful cleansing before the formation of the Philosopher's Stone within. Signs of Alchemical Distillationin a holding pattern, not be able to get any traction or footing, false startsthe rug keeps getting pulled out from under youintense death and rebirth cycles in quick successionexperiencing your highest highs and lowest l...2022-01-2226 minFalling Into SoulEp. 27 Dealing With ExhaustionIs it okay to take a break from alchemy and the inner healing work? It's so exhausting and there's always something more to transmute and heal. Does it ever end? Let's explore causes for and ways to mitigate unnecessary exhaustion.Piecing ourselves out half-heartedly in too many different directionsGiving ourselves to relationships and endeavors that aren't giving back to usExpecting the outer results to match the inner efforts in proportionI also explore what it means to rest, not only as a way to recover the physical body and energy but as a way to a...2021-12-1822 minFalling Into SoulEp. 26 Transmuting Fear and Insecurity to ConfidenceWhen we face and transmute fear, we gain confidence. Confidence that doesn’t depend on things happening in a way we are sure they must happen, but confidence that comes from being insecure, facing the unknown and allowing support and grace to find us in unimagined ways, letting go of certain hopes and trusting that what we can’t yet see or know is there to hold us if we take the frightening steps far enough into the dark for it to find us.In this episode:How to transmute fear to confidence The difference between confi...2021-11-2924 minFalling Into SoulEp. 25 Alchemizing Difficult Situations (Without Knowing Much About Alchemy)An alchemist is one who takes everything as it comes, transforming the harmful into helpful, the ordinary into extraordinary, and the painful into beautiful. Not by way of bypass, but by way of engaging in deep and, at times, disruptive processes. Alchemists turn their back on nothing, knowing that every life circumstance, desired or not, is the critical base matter needed for making gold.Alchemy can be an overwhelming esoteric topic with weird words, cryptic symbols and images, and various interpretations. But you don't have to be a scholar of any of that to transmute and transform y...2021-10-1620 minFalling Into SoulEp. 24 Space to Be (Song: A Better Me)Allow, allow, allow. Everything, every being, every process has its own wisdom and magic. I am learning to not interfere, to let it be, let it work its magic. I honestly think this is love: space to be. Love is when you let it be. Let it be, allow, receive.I built this episode around a song I wrote when I left my music career in 2010--specifically the line "I just need some space to be who I am." I call this The Song That Started It All because it set me on the final...2021-09-1821 minFalling Into SoulEp. 23 Separation Brings Us Closer (Song: How Some Stories Go)Space is hard space is good you need it, but you don't want to be misunderstoodIt's not easy to make it or take itbut something's nagging and you just can't shake itYou want to look but it's scary to see everything's choking and you need to breatheIf you stop for a moment, the image you've been trying so hard to hold together might shatter and fallWouldn't it be better to keep it all in and love through these pretenses and walls? You know there...2021-07-2819 minFalling Into SoulEp. 22 "The Messy Reality of Embodied Living""Perfectionism is the attempted tyranny of a concept over the messy reality of embodied living." -Anthony LawlorIn this episode I explore the progression of perfectionism in my alchemical journeyFirst as a way to survive and cope with trauma. Then as a way to buffer me from the raw experience of life and perhaps try to control how other people saw me so I could ensure their approval and love. Next as a tension to constantly transmute in order to keep me in creative flow with my soul.I get real about how making th...2021-07-0317 minFalling Into SoulEp. 21 Doing The Same Things Differently (Song: Once Upon a Time Again)The same things keep happening, and we have to figure out a way to do them differently. Doing the same things differently. That’s how we grow. In the spirals. Sacred geometry of the soul. In this episode I discussthe spiral nature of soul growthwhy some issues and wounds never go away completelythe difference between a cycle and a spiral how to break a cycle and enter the spiral I share my original song "Once Upon a Time Again" at 15:45With love on the path of spiral unfolding,McCall...2021-06-1221 minMusitations™: Exploring Music, Meditation, Creativity and WisdomMusitations™: Emotional Sobriety - A Soulversation with McCall Erickson (E10)In episode 10 I'm thrilled to have the talented musician and author McCall Erickson back on Musitations™! I first read a quote 5 years ago by McCall that touched me deeply, “Soul work is not a high road. It's a deep fall into an unforgiving darkness that won't let you go until you find the song that sings you home.” It was a beautiful distillation of what I have found to be true on my own journey. In Episode 6 you can hear more about her book The Second Half of the Mountain: A guide to Personal Alchemy After Awakening.
Since our...2021-05-251h 08Falling Into SoulEp. 20 Emotional Sobriety - A Soulversation With Michael Brant DeMariaIn this episode, I share a soulversation Michael DeMaria and I had on his podcast Musitations. United in our longtime commitment to healing codependency in our own lives, we explore emotional sobriety and how it relates to the well-being and creativity of the soul. Topics explored:What is emotional sobriety?Our personal journeys with healing codependency and learning to transmute feelings and emotionsFeeling vs. Emoting and how they're both necessary Our work to live beyond the drama triangle Forming secure attachments outside of the drama triangle Attachments vs. connections Click here to watch the video...2021-05-221h 07Falling Into SoulEp. 19 Born From Nothing--Magical WillMaybe you keep finding yourself in the unknown because the unknown is the only thing big enough to hold you.In this episode, I dive deep into Magical Will and how it works. Magical Will is born from the nothingness we become through the alchemical processes of transformation. It's how we create, build, live and navigate in the unknown while remaining in alignment with soul and spirit.What is Magical Will?How does Magical Will work?Points and keys to remember when working with Magical WillTrust now, understand why laterFeeling states and body pulls, spirit and...2021-04-3023 minFalling Into SoulEp. 18 Becoming Nothing (Song: Nothing At All)You can know you are free when the alchemical journey of transformation has successfully turned you into a nobody and delivered you to nothing. Wait...what?!In this episode:Why we have to become nothing in order to know our true nature and to activate the soul codes of purpose within The dismemberment journey it takes to get thereReincarnating into your own lifeThe magic and usefulness of the Nothing Space Hint: Becoming nothing is not the end, it's the truest beginning, the center of the spinning paradox, the core of the philosopher's stone.Performance of my...2021-04-1717 minFalling Into SoulEp. 17 When Nothing Saves YouOne of the things that has been pried from the grips of my poor ego through the processes of alchemy and spiritual maturing is the idea that I could crack the code. That I could somehow figure out how to save myself from the perils of life. That somehow, my righteousness, my chosenness and my wisdom set me apart from the rest of humanity, and I wouldn’t have to suffer in the ways other humans suffer. The idea that being “good” and doing the right things was somehow related to my level of suffering was deeply, deeply...2021-03-2715 minFalling Into SoulEp. 16 Spiritual Margaritaville...and BeyondSpiritual disillusionment is a huge part of soul awakening. But it's not always easy to decipher whether spiritual practices, rituals, modalities, and beliefs are helping or hindering on the path of soul growth.In this episode I explore Spiritual Margaritaville--the "love and light" base camp we encounter upon spiritual awakening.What is Spiritual Margaritaville?What roll does it play in the journey of spiritual and soul awakening? What are the pitfalls of Spiritual Margaritaville?Is all that "love and light" stuff just a bunch of woo woo?Easy quick tests to discern the good shit from t...2021-03-1322 minFalling Into SoulEp. 15 Outtake: It's Impossible to Be PerfectAn outtake from the end of episode 15 when I realized I recorded and edited the whole podcast without the right mic settings turned on. This spurred me to throw myself on the bed in exasperation with expletives flying and saying to my partner, "This just proves that it's impossible to be perfect."With imperfection and heart,McCallSupport the show (https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=5JJ6968QC4LZ4&source=url)2021-02-2402 minFalling Into SoulEp. 15 Why You Can't Heal, Create, Manifest Everything You Want ToYou can follow the protocol and do all the right steps, and it can still not work for you. Because you can’t predetermine or outline the wild, unpredictable factor of the soul. You feel, discover, and live the truth of it every step you go. In this episode I share about my lifelong obsession with the unpredictable, the mysterious, wild factor of life and the soul.Burning questions of my life that set me out on the path of alchemy:Why do certain healing modalities, st...2021-02-2417 minFalling Into SoulEp. 14 Fear and Shame--Gatekeepers of the Soul (Song: How We Grow)There’s no level of self-actualization that can exempt us from having blind spots. The willingness to be softened and see in ourselves what we have not yet been able to see is how we grow. Again and again. In this episode, I explore:The role of fear and shame in keeping us locked into the Codependent Drama TriangleThe necessity to face fear and shame to transmute out of the Drama Triangle and get to your own soul sourceSigns that fear and shame are pulling you into the Drama TriangleTools for addressing them Grace we can...2021-02-0622 minFalling Into SoulEp. 13 More Than Love (Song: Somewhere in Between)Maybe what the world needs isn't more love, but better love. Love that doesn't feel good and light all the time. Love that doesn't brush hard truths under the rug, but helps us face them, knowing that moving through the valley of the shadow gifts us with an inner richness beyond words.Join me in this episode as I explore moving from the Codependent Love paradigm to what I call the More Than Love paradigm. Topics:Codependent Love paradigm vs the More Than Love paradigm Transmuting my "Self Righteous Bitch" energy Learning to hold con...2021-01-2420 min