This special episode is a recording of an hour-long keynote address I gave in the fall of 2016. The title of the talk is, "Learning To See In The Dark: Reclaiming Our Power, Transforming Our World".

It's a deep dive into the Dark Woman archetype, how she shows up in our lives, why she is so feared and what her purpose is in transforming our lives and our world.

For further reading:

Charlene Spretnak

Jean Shinoda Bolen

Demetra George

Caroline Casey

Carol Leonard & Elizabeth Davis

Peggy Reeves Sanday

Marije Gimbutas

In this final episode, I talk more about the spiritual void underpinning the abandonment wound.

I also provide a framework and suggested exercises that clinical hypnotherapists and other healing practitioners might use to support clients in their journey from abandonment to healing. This framework is based on Susan Anderson's model of the Five Stages of Abandonment.

In Part 2, I dive deeper into Attachment and Addiction.

Additional readings I suggest in the introduction to this episode are linked below:

The Attachment Parenting Book, by Dr. Sears
Hold On to Your Kids: Why Parents Need To Matter More Than Peers, by Dr. Gordon Neufeld and Dr. Gabor Maté
Hold Me Tight, by Dr. Sue Johnson
Attached, by Amir Levine and Rachel Heller
The Opposite Of Rape Culture Is Nurturance Culture, by Nora Samaran
The Will To Change: Men, Masculinity and Love, by bell hooks

A therapist I once worked with said it best:

Abandonment is the gap between what you need and what you get.

Abandonment arouses the primal fear of infancy and childhood, that of being left alone to fend for ourselves.

This kind of wound is cumulative: every loss, betrayal, disappointment, rejection (perceived or real), break-up or death can trigger the primal Abandonment Wound. Rather than dissipate, feelings incubate.

Everybody has an Abandonment Wound. The issue is not whether or not it exists within us, it’s how well we’re coping with it.

In 2014, I delivered a lecture at the Canadian Association of Clinical Hypnotherapists Conference called, "Healing The Abandonment Wound: A Five Step Process". This is a special Numinous Podcast three-part mini-series that expands on that lecture with additional readings, resources and thoughts about how this work has evolved in the three years I've spent focussing the client work in my hypnotherapy practice in this area.

Resources cited in this episode include:

The Roots of Addiction in Free Market Society, by Bruce K. Alexander

Rat Park, by Bruce K. Alexander and the comic it inspired by Stuart McMillen

(not mentioned in this episode but equally entertaining work describing Rat Park is the video, "Everything We Know About Addiction Is Wrong")

In The Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters With Addiction, by Dr. Gabor Maté

The Journey From Abandonment To Healing, by Susan Anderson

You can explore this work with me further at: www.carmenspagnola.com/abandonment-therapy/

Lindsay Rose is a Reiki Master and intuition development teacher who has experienced more than her fair share of loss and tragedy in her life. In this episode, Lindsay shares the intimate story of her healing journey along with a host of techniques and tools that helped her cope when the sadness, pain and anxiety was overwhelming. This is an excellent episode for anyone who's struggling with the pain of death, a break-up or any form of abandonment.

Learn more about Lindsay Rose at her website or on her blog.

Find out about Love School at Locate Your Soulmate.

I chat with living occult encyclopedia, John Michael Greer, author of popular blogs, The Archdruid Report and The Well of Galabes.

John is Past Grand Archdruid of the Ancient Order of Druids in America and current head of the Druidical Order of the Golden Dawn, and the author of more than thirty books. (Makes you wonder what the heck you do with your time, doesn't it?)

In this second conversation with John, we talk about why ritual sometimes works and sometimes doesn't. I ask him about the placebo effect in relation to ceremony and healing. He tells me about a Druid communion ceremony (???) in more detail, including a description of the use of solar and telluric currents of the cosmos. We talk about the impact of reclaiming the gods of nature. And then he schools us on "decensus" and genetic drift.

It's a broad, sweeping and thought-provoking conversation about how and why the universe works the way it does and how humans behave in relationship to the greater realms. Whew!

My marketing crush, Carrie Klassen, shares the story of a heart-wrenching experience that occurred while she was volunteering at a shelter for abused girls and women in India.

How We Met

I first came across Carrie's work some time around 2009. When she released her workbook, How To Write a Loveable Homepage, she became the go-to adviser that I recommend to any entrepreneur who feels icky when it comes to sales and marketing.

When she was 19, Shayla Logan was homeless and suffering from severe depression with suicidal tendencies. For six months, she lived on the street while working her way through the court system to take control of her life. A near-death experience changed everything.

What is the size and shape of the wound of absence? When she was 11 years old, Sheila Webster's mother died of cancer. With tender open-heartedness, Sheila shares her story of navigating her mother's death and the impact it had on her life as she became a woman and a mother. This show was created in response to a previous episode on the Mother Wound. Sheila commented that she couldn't really relate and I was intrigued.

How We Met

I'm not sure I remember exactly how I met Sheila - I think she saw me speak at a conference and then booked an appointment with me. I know it was about four years ago and we've since woven in and out of each other's paths. When I think of Sheila, the word "alignment" comes to mind. She's one of those people you meet and instantly know she's a good, solid, dependable person with a strong moral compass. Considering her story, that seems quite a feat, no?

International energy and finance analyst, Nicole Foss, breaks it down for us: what is really coming down the road in terms of systemic financial collapse and how do we personal prepare and cope with it. Can we talk for a minute about the escalating consequences of debt? How about the unsecured loans we're making to the banks (ie: keeping our savings there)? We run some scenarios.

We also talk about the importance of social capital in the midst of a long drawn-out crisis. This conversation is definitely thought-provoking. For more in-depth review, read the cited post, How To Build A Lifeboat.