Embodiment Series Week 4: Attachment Spectrum and Ancestral Song

Welcome back to Week 4 of my Spring-Summer series called Embodiment as Sacred Force for Change!  Today’s episode was recorded under the Last Quarter Moon in Capricorn amidst Aries season, and we use the energy of balance ~ holding release and rebirth as vital forces for growth to ask a direct question: what structures, habits, and colonial mindsets are ready to be released so they can be composted into what we’re here to build next?

We acknowledge how the universe and the Divine is always providing what we need, and who we need, in aligned timing.  I share the exciting training opportunity in 2026 with Dr. Jennifer Mullan, Psy.D, author of the national bestseller "Decolonizing Therapy: Oppression, Historical Trauma & Politicizing Your Practice," which is the first Fellowship training, and is a "Four-Part Professional Evolution for Psychologists, Therapists, Social Workers, Healers, Teachers & Space Holders."  This is for the dream builders and space holders who want to name what so many mental health spaces avoid: intergenerational and historical trauma, structural oppression, soul dehydration, rage, disenfranchised grief, collective care, boundaries, and repair.  Next training is on June 18, 2026! We look at the colonial soul wound and why decolonizing therapy is a necessary return to truth, people, land, and integrity.  We also talk about the learning community, Embodied Astrology, and their powerful 12 week cohort, At the Heart of Conflict, which provides aligned containment for building capacity and awareness of conflict patterns and how to change them for more authentic intimacy with self, others, and the collective.

Then we ground into a brief review of the autonomic nervous system; including polyvagal theory, neuroception and interoception, and I describe the Modern Attachment Regulation Spectrum from queer partners, Sue Marriott and Dr. Ann Kelley: the green zone of secure relating, the red zone of preoccupied dysregulation, and the blue zone of dismissing shutdown. The goal isn’t perfect safety. It’s building enough safety cues through your body, your environment, and your relationships so you can come back to connection.  We layer in the essential context that is always informing our bodies and relationships, which live in the deeper patterns of our ancestral, historical, and intergenerational lineages and how colonization has impacted HOW our experiences get shaped over time.

In our embodiment practice this week, we explore Draíocht Ceoil, an Irish magical tradition of Sound and Music, pulling from native File (Poet), Geraldine Moorkens Byrne’s class at the Irish Pagan School and her new book out May 1, 2026, Draíocht Ceoil: The Sound of Magic in Irish Traditions.  Together, we use sound to attune/amplify our environment, or to change it!

Thank you for tuning in.  If you’re ready for more then join me each week, and get ready To Dare, Together!  If this resonates, subscribe so you don’t miss out, share it with someone who needs body-based, spirit-centered support right now, and leave a review to help more people find this resource. 

Check out the links below to connect with the brilliant people and their work mentioned in today's episode:

https://irishpaganschool.com/p/draoicht-ceoil

https://www.celebratingwords.com/

https://www.embodiedastrology.com/

https://www.decolonizingtherapy.com/

https://www.decolonizingtherapy.com/dtft/

https://www.stephenporges.com./

https://therapistuncensored.com/secure-relating/

Transcript

Welcome And Intentions

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Hello, friend. Welcome. My name is Erin O'Brien, and I'm daring to create and hold space for decolonized healing, transformation, and collective liberation. I'm a licensed psychotherapist for over 20 plus years, a relationship counselor, a spiritual intuitive, shadow worker, and witch. And I believe that true therapeutic practice calls for right action and remembers all the ways of well-being. This is a place that will remember the old truths and reconnect them to their land and to their people. Together, we will unite the relational, social, spiritual, psychological, ancestral, scientific, I added that one, environmental, political, and magical, because it is most powerful when working as a sacred whole. As are we. 2026 is a time to dare to create the world that we've been dreaming of, to

Last Quarter Moon And Release

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dare to be the dream we have been waiting for. Let's do it. Okay, it is April 10th, 2026, Friday, and I am recording on the last quarter moon, and the moon actually made its uh shift into the last quarter phase officially at about 1240 a.m. this morning. So like while we were all sleeping, at least those of us on Turtle Island and I'm on the east coast in the Delaware area, the traditional Lenape, Nanticoke, and Powhoutan lands. And today the last quarter moon is in Capricorn. And that brings a grounded strategic energy, and it's squaring the Aries Sun. So we've got some very action-oriented influences happening right now, and asking us to re-evaluate and release, because that's what last quarter moons invite us to do. That's sort of the working, the invitation, is to review and refine what are the structures, habits, patterns, systems, colonial mindsets that are in need of being released so that they can be composted for what we are going to create, what is going to be reborn, if you will. And as we know, release supports rebirth. They are necessary forces that work together. And so as we move into today's episode, what I want to speak about is the magic and power of how the universe, synchronicity, the divine is always calling us in, always responding to our

Decolonizing Therapy Fellowship Overview

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needs that are both conscious and unconscious. And so one of the things that I want to speak to has to do with that incredible work that I was introduced to not too long ago, a couple weeks ago, I spoke about decolonizing therapy, the book and the work and the podcast by Dr. Jennifer Mullen. And this book has been out. This work has been out for several years now. I think 2023, the book was published. And I'm a little surprised that I haven't come in contact with it because I'm connected with liberation psychology and social justice, intersectionality, feminist movements, anti-racist movements, integrating that into therapeutic practice. So I was like, how in the world did I not meet this human who is channeling all of this truth that is the medicine that we all need right now to acknowledge the impact of colonialism and the wounds that we carry inside us? And then that, of course, offers a path forward. So I just found out that there's going to be an offering that the decolonizing therapy, and in specific, Dr. Mullen is putting on that starts next week, folks. And I'm sort of just filled with the gratitude and blessings of how what you need arrives right on time when and how you need it. If you are in right relationship with your integrity and your purpose and just trying, right? It's not about being perfect, just trying to heal and grow and be more conscious and do your part. And everybody's part matters. That's the beauty of the collective. There is not one part that matters more than another part. They all work together in a symphony of song. Okay, I've got a lot of song music stuff on my brain that I'm gonna speak about in a minute. So I will post this 2026 year-long fellowship, and I'll just read a little bit right off the website. It's the Decolonizing Therapy Foundation's training series, and it's a four-part professional evolution for psychologists, therapists, social workers, healers, teachers, and spaceholders. And what it's going to offer is an in-depth embodied exploration and revolution, really, around restructuring and dismantling the structures that be to create more healing, holding space that is embodied and that uh moves in truth and recognition of the past, the political, the psychological, and the people. So there's four uh four parts. Training one focuses on the past and it's intergenerational and historical trauma without overwhelm. This takes place on April 16th, 2026, and it's a half-day virtual training. It goes from 11 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. And the next one is on June 18th, 2026. Again, same time, 11 to 3.30 p.m. I'm sorry, Eastern Standard Time. And uh this training too focuses on the political. It's called Structural Oppression, Ethics, and Mental Health. The third training is about the psychological. It takes place on September 17th, 2026, and it too goes from 11 to 3:30 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. And this uh third part is called Soul Dehydration, Rage, and Disenfranchised Grief. And the fourth and final part of the series is called The People, and that takes place on December 3rd, 2026, 11 to 3:30 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. And that is called Collective Care, Boundaries, and Repair. And then I love, I'm just gonna read this piece here. This work is not about escaping systems, it begins with dismantling the oppressor within ourselves. And I love that because that's very aligned with what I want to be offering here. So, and it came in the most synchronistic moment as I'm trying to get these embodiment weekly practices out and integrating

Breaking Out Of Identity Silos

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all the things that matter. And up until this point in my, I'll I'll call it colonial mindset, was imagining them sort of existing in silos from each other, like um being a therapist exists over here, and being a witch exists over here, and being a spiritual person exists over there, and being a queer person exists over here, and being an activist who cares about decolonization exists over there, right? Like that these all had to sort of be, oh, and I forgot, being a very science-y, all about the body-brain connection through polyvagal theory, interpersonal neurobiology, attachment science, relational science, all that that I deeply love and feel is revelatory to the practice of therapy had to exist kind of over there. So I feel like coming in contact with Dr. Mullen's work and decolonizing therapy and putting the spirit back in healing space has really been the catalyst to integrate all of this that has been cycling through my being. And even as I needed to decide who my audience would be on Apple Podcasts, you know, through these podcast platforms, you have to pick one, you know, what's your category, right? And even that in and of itself felt so colonial and kind of binary. Like you have to pick one category, and that's the audience that's that you're relevant to. And I've kind of just like changed it up every week. Like I'll pick the, you know, self-development or personal development, and then I'll pick like culture and society, and then I'll pick mental health, and then I'll pick spirituality. And I've kind of just been like changing the category because the truth is when you're coming from an integrated, more whole, decolonial place, you don't fit in a category because there's an understanding that we're all connected and coming from a place of wholeness in reverence to the ways that things move and impact and connect and are relevant to each other, uh, are happening all around us. And that's the paradigm shift for me that I'm kind of like, well, you know, fuck the categories. Like, we're not supposed to belong in a category, right? We lose all the nuance and complexity and the true vibrancy of who we are and what we're here to offer, and then what the collective actually is. Anyway, I want to speak about another piece that's been revelatory for me and really supportive, which has to do with connecting to communities that are in this paradigm shift, in this place of embodied practice and intention and integrating all parts of who

Finding Community Through Embodied Astrology

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you are and spirituality. And I started last week with a 12-week workshop called At the Heart of Conflict. And this is a workshop that is put on by Embodied Astrology, which is a learning community and podcast that I talked about frequently here. And I've been listening and tuning in to this community for years. And I've always felt this tug, like you need to um join this learning community. You need to get more involved. And it just wasn't, I didn't have the time, or I didn't make the time, or it just it didn't, you know, the tug I kind of uh wasn't able to respond to. And so I finally did. And again, it kind of all came together. I got this email and I just had this really strong tug, like join this, do this, apply for this, and found out that I was invited to be a part of this workshop and it's their final of four installations. They've been doing this whole year, these 12-week workshops. It's the final one they're doing. So it's really exciting to be a part of this completion and also full circle stage of the work that they're doing over there. And I just felt such connection and resonance in that first workshop experience and felt such a deep rightness in my body. And this learning community also puts on a weekly somatic space every Monday that you can do drop-ins and it's all about embodiment practice for all bodies with the inspiration of astrology. So I'm really kind of like fan personing out on embodied astrology and all that they have to offer. But my point in bringing this in, and also naming how this four-part training series is happening on uh decolonizing therapy, and how I'm gonna be participating in that. It's sort of this moment of what you need and what you're calling in will meet you. The people, the community, the villages that you are seeking are there and want to meet you. And I've just been really feeling this energy of connection and collaboration and being in challenge together and being in difference and conflict. And how do we create a new way of being connected while holding space and respect for places where we are different? And so far, the colonial mindset and the colonial movement has obliterated ways of being in relationships that are both about connection and respect for difference and celebrating all of it and recognizing that sincere, deep connection actually exists in the space of ways that we are different and ways that we can learn from each other and grow with each other and resonate with each other, right? Like all

Polyvagal Basics And Safety Cues

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of it. So I want to leave that there, and we're gonna do a little concise overview of some of the science and the autonomic nervous system and polyvagal work. And I'm gonna go into a touch more depth on something that I referenced briefly in the last episode where I was talking about the different colors and like being in the green zone. And I want to expand on that and also give credit to the the folks who developed that, which is called modern attachment regulation spectrum. And that was developed by Sue Marriott and Dr. Ann Kelly. And they are two therapists and healers that specialize in relational science and modern attachment. And they have come out with a book called Secure Relating, Holding Your Own in an Insecure World. And they also co-host the podcast Therapist Uncensored. So they're great and they're queer, so that's even better. Um anyway, I will go into the vocalization practice for today, which is actually going to be a combination of sound and also music, and I'm gonna root it into my ancestry. And this is Irish traditional folk magic, and it's called Dryukul, and I might not be getting that totally right, but I've just completed a class through the Irish pagan school, which I've talked about before, on Driukul. I'm trying again here to get it right. Maybe if I just keep practicing it. And that is an ancient Irish tradition of music magic from mythology exploring how sound and words harness natural magical energy for spiritual practice. And the class was taught by Geraldine Mork-Byrne. And again, she's an Irish native, and she also is coming out with a book on May 1st of 2026 called Dio Cool, The Song of Magic in Irish. Sorry, the sound of magic in Irish. So that's a bit of an overview of what we're going to kind of get into in some more depth, and another piece that's been revelatory for me in my synthesizing all these different parts of me and all these different offerings and these things that actually work best when they're moving in harmony with each other has to do with my colonization wound and my Irish ancestry and what happened to my people of Ireland when the British invaded and colonized the island. So this has been a real personal invitation for me to do some deeper embodied grieving and sacred rage and being with the impact of that on my lineage and what it did to my ancestors, and being able to connect to ancient traditional Irish folk practices and magic and healing and sound has been really empowering for me and feels like an act of decolonizing my very being by remembering who I am and where I came from and the power that lives in me from them and from that land. So a quick review and then on to Driuk Kule. All right, so the autonomic nervous system is our doorway into being embodied, being in alignment, integrating our uh various parts of self, and it is the key, as I've been saying. And I want to give a very concise little overview. So the autonomic nervous system is comprised of the sympathetic and the parasympathetic. But here is what we discovered. Well, Stephen Porgius and likely not him solely, but many other contributors and ancestors and ancients. But I don't need to get into all that because I did it already. Different episode. So the parasympathetic actually had two branches, the ventral vecle and the dorsal vecle. The ventral vacal is our social engagement system. That is how we're able to attach and we need enough safety cues, not complete safety and not perfect safety, but enough safety cues that come from three vital dimensions. Number one, from inside us. Number two, from the external world around us, our environment, our context, and number three, the people, the beings that we are in relationship to. And so we're constantly getting these cues and this process of interpreting cues is neuroception. And that is detection without awareness. It's an unconscious process that we're doing all the time. So we are picking up cues. Of either safety or danger. It really is that simple from all of our senses, from the environment. And the process that is the way that we interpret from the inside what these cues mean, kind of we synthesize it, it's called interoception. So we could also call it lots of things: internal attunement, being more conscious of the automatic, unconscious processes that our biology and body are doing all the time. So neurosception and interoception. And I will put little links so that you can learn more about this. And this complements the next piece of what I want to go into with a little more depth, which is the modern attachment regulation spectrum that Sue and Anne developed. And I mentioned that they were queer earlier. They're also in a partnership together, which is pretty cool as well. So I'm gonna just describe really from this very concise guide that they came up with. They recognize that attachment is fluid and can dynamically change based on context, experience, and relationships. Attachment patterns are not fixed, but part of a spectrum where individuals shift over time. And because Sue and Anne really integrate and weave in polyvagal theory and interpersonal neurobiology and all of the attachment relational science and social science, they speak to that sense of attachment security as being states of mind, meaning they are in context with those three dimensions I named a moment ago. Your internal body cues of safety or danger, which can come from, let's say you're feeling some physical pain, let's say you have a migraine, let's say you didn't get enough sleep, let's say you're hungry. Those are cues that signal to your body, uh-oh, our needs are not met appropriately for us to have enough energy and internal resource to function on a very basic level, right? So that can get communicated and how we understand it in terms of interoception is it feels like a danger cue. It feels like maybe a threat cue. And so that's a part of one of those three dimensions. And then, of course, in relationships, if someone is giving you a frown or they just responded with a sharp, loud tone, that can very quickly send a signal that gets interpreted through neurosception of threat or danger, and then the external world, all that's going on in our world right now, the horrors that are happening to life and to the land and to communities. So that certainly sends signals of threat and danger. And I would also add that ancestral trauma, intergenerational trauma, historical trauma, that also is a part of the context or the environment, both internally and externally, both in present time and the past. And so I'm adding these layers to the dimensions that are always providing us with a sense of safety and belonging and connection to our lineage and its wisdom and power and strength and magic, and also the traumas, the experiences of colonization and being forced to leave your land and your home and your family and your children. So, I mean, this lives in our bodies. It's a part of our inheritance that also informs how interoception and euroception and all these, you know, modern science terms are describing this way of synthesizing a sense of safe enough or overwhelming threat, right? I mean, this is the enormous piece that does not get acknowledged in a lot of the modern science. You don't hear about the colonial wounds, and in particular,

Colonial Soul Wound In The Body

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pulling from Dr. Jen and her work in decolonizing therapy, the colonial soul wound, which, and just to quote directly from her work, she describes as the colonial soul wound is the impact of colonization on the psyche, spirit, and soul of a people plus persons, leading to disconnection, disembodiment, and fragmentation of the collective and the self, as well as over-reliance on Western ways and the colonial mindset, right? So our work is to balance that because the key is not that you don't have any cues of threat or danger. That's impossible. Living in this world, living in a body, being in relationship with other humans that are also living in a world and living in a body, right? It's, I mean, it's sort of more about the practice of returning to the present, using your breath, tuning in with conscious awareness, trying to give yourself cues of safety through embodiment practice, like what we're doing in this series, and also co-regulating with beloved others that you trust that you can seek safety and comfort and nurturance from joy, pleasure, all of that matters, collaboration, co-conspirators, all of that energy of we are in our courage, we're moving for the greatest good, and we stand up for what is true. We confront challenge with compassionate heart and fierce force, I'm going on whole thing now. Okay. So let me return to what I am reading, what I'm sharing. So because Anne and Sue integrate all of this physiological state awareness, and I would add uh relational energetic awareness and looking at the individual as connected to the collective, although they don't make that explicit, that is the vibe. So they talk about three different possible states, and these are attachment states of being in that moment. And again, this is about not having no cues of danger. That's impossible. It's about having enough safety cues coming from those three dimensions: yourself, important others, uh, the environment, like going out and laying under a beautiful tree. That's receiving cues of safety from the environment, using nature to support you, nature magic, let's say. And so the key is safety has to outweigh danger. So that's the key. It's not no danger, it's not all safety all the time. It's being able to feel the empowerment in your practice of being more embodied to return yourself back to the ventral vagal system. Like I said, it's we've got the sympathetic, which is upregulation, hyper-aroused states, and we've got the parasympathetic, which has those two branches, the ventral vagal, which is social engagement system safety with others, or the dorsal vagal, which is another survival physiological state. And that is the state of life threat in polyvagal theory. It's the state where there's no escape, there's no way for you to run away or flee or fight. You are in a place of submitting to the reality that you don't have control or power to change it in that moment. And so this can look like depression, it can look like deep fatigue, it can look like exhaustion, it's dissociation. And so this, again, I've I've talked about it's the mercy of our body in these moments where we can't protect ourselves or beloved others. And so we have less ability to remember what's going on. And this is real perceived life threat experiences and certainly happens within trauma and abuse and assault, where maybe even fighting back or trying to run away would be a threat to your life. So it's sort of this way that your nervous system responds accordingly. And there's a lot more depth to this. It's way more nuanced than this. And while we want to honor these survival states that are the sympathetic and that are the dorsal vagal, we also want to be able to have some consciousness and awareness when they're happening so that we can self-regulate. That's the power that we have. Being able to become aware when we start to check out or detach or dissociate or go numb? How do we bring ourselves back into a ventral social engaged state? We could call a more secure state. That's what Sue and Anne refer to it as. How do we do that? Do we take a big deep breath in, a quick breath that tends to bring someone up out of dorsal because it's a bit energizing. It's an energizing breath. Do you use movement to shift your state? Do you start to hum to yourself? Because that is fierce magic. And I'm gonna get into more about that in a minute. And so I went on, I said a lot. So I'm trying to keep this episode a little shorter, well, like within a 45-minute range. And let me sidestep for a moment or go on a thing for a minute. I'm actually recording this half of the episode on April 15th because as technology is, my laptop crashed while I was in the middle of editing the episode that I recorded on the actual last quarter moon. And so here I am recording the second half today. And so I'm a little behind and I appreciate, you know, just shit happens. So I'm doing, I'm, I'm trying to try to make this work. So there will be another episode for week five coming out on Friday, which is the new moon in Aries. All right, getting

Green Red Blue Attachment Zones

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into Anne and Sue's modern attachment spectrum. So the green zone, the way that they talk about being in a secure state of mind, you're regulated. You value yourself and relationships, you trust yourself and others. You're able to balance thoughts and emotions. You're kind of in this window of tolerance where you can think and feel at the same time, and you're able to express yourself. You can self-reveal, you can communicate in a way that is in alignment with your integrity and the dignity of everyone at the table that you're speaking to. You are flexible and adaptable, and you're comfortable with vulnerability. So those are the things that they name that indicate that you're in a secure state of mind, that you are regulated. They call it the green zone. And I'll speak about the they call it the preoccupied, dysregulated zone or state of mind or attachment state. And when you're in this part of the spectrum, you tend to maybe value relationships and you trust others over yourself. So maybe you lose yourself a bit and negate your own reality for the reality of those around you. You tend to maybe be more of an intuitive or a feeler when you're in this state and you're kind of more also in the right brain aspect of your experience. You may struggle with boundaries. Where do I stop? And this person begins. This is the losing self-piece where you might start to merge with the group or the people around you. And you are able to express emotion, but maybe in a way that you're not uh fully in your integrity and it's coming out more reactively, right? So you're maybe more in a bit of a sympathetic state of mind as well. So you've got that activation, and that's the red zone, you know, hot pink zone. And then the other state of mind, the other side of the spectrum is dismissing dysregulated. And some of the qualities of this state of mind, this attachment physiological experience, is you value autonomy and you trust yourself over others. Like you're really not open to being influenced by other people. You kind of ground into like this sense of self-reliance, independence, all of that vibe. You tend to intellectualize more, you get really analytical and you're kind of moving away from emotion. You might avoid emotion. People often experience this state of mind as feeling cold, or the person is feeling cold, whereas preoccupied dysregulated state of mind is a bit more warm, hot. That's why it's red. And this dismissing dysregulated state of mind tends to shut down and withdraw. So this can be a bit of that dorsal veil. You're dissociating, you're detaching, you're shutting down, you're retreating, you're turning the dimmer switch on connection and almost feeling like there's no point, maybe. People aren't to be trusted. I mean, all that kind of stuff. So, how to shift into secure relating. Number one, develop awareness of your attachment and nervous system patterns. Notice how your body feels in different contexts without judging yourself. You're just bringing your awareness to it. Recognize that all attachment states serve a purpose. So we're gonna honor them and respect them. They're part of our survival, and that they are adaptations that help you cope with challenges, right? Number two, if you are in blue or red states of experience, know you're not stuck and your attachment patterns can change. Your nervous system is always looking for cues of safety from the environment and other people through body language, facial expression, and tone of voice. When you feel safe, your brain and body support social engagement. When your nervous system perceives a threat, your attachment responses shift toward blue or red states. Okay, so this is very much mapped onto the polyvagal theory and the autonomic mapping, the ladder. So looking at when you feel safe, you're kind of at the top of the ladder, you're in that green zone. And again, not perfect safety, but the safety cues outweigh the danger, right? So you're still experiencing both safety and danger all the time. But the key is that the safety outweighs and even if it outweighs just a little bit, that still is going to keep you in that ventral, that green, that secure, regulated state. So when your nervous system perceives a threat, your attachment responses shift toward blue or red. This explains how attachment responses can fluctuate depending on contextual cues, right? These are not fixed things, which is how attachment and adult attachment in particular was initially conceived of. And that's just that's just not the jam. We know way more now. And we also know that we're always evolving and integrating and healing and we're in constant dialogue with the world around us and our internal world, right? As above, so below. They're existing in this reciprocity with each other, in this ongoing conversation and relationship. So by understanding your nervous system, you can increase your capacity for secure relating and move toward the green state. Attachment security can also be cultivated over time, regardless of early experience. This is another amazing aspect. We are not defined by what's happened to us, it's our relationship to it. Have we given it the space to be with, to understand it, to feel it, to put it in its rightful place in our embodied narrative, right? Have we dismantled all the harms and lies that

Shifting States Through Regulation Skills

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come with those experiences? Okay, number three, build your self-regulation skills. That is what this series is hoping to do. Deep breathing, gentle body movement, meditation, and other simple exercises can help your nervous system return to safety. Number four, this is the last piece here I'm gonna share from this guide. Practice secure attachment and co-regulation. Attachment shifts happen in safe relationships. Practice co-regulation with trusted friends, family, or I could add, people who are holding space for decolonized healing. So that could be any care worker, helper, one who wants to facilitate healing in relationship with you. Your care person can advise what kinds of embodiment practices and somatic work can be supportive to you, right? If you decide to engage more formally in a relationship that is therapeutic in nature and holds a decolonized frame. Okay, so now we are going to shift into a bit of the ancestor embodiment practice that I want to share.

Irish Folk Magic Of Sound

SPEAKER_00 41:46

And this is more than just an embodiment practice. As a lot of embodiment practices are, they transcend. And so they're also using energetic magic, and they're also working on your subtle bodies and integrating all levels. We just don't always name it that way or even know that that's what's happening. And so I'll give you an example. And that is Irish folk magic that is rooted in the deep Irish history and mythology and the literature that was not destroyed by the British Empire as they were colonizing the island. And so it's rooted down deep. So what I didn't know was that I have been practicing my people's, my ancestors' folk magic for years. And that's so exciting, and likely a lot of you have been too, because folk magic is a daily practice, and in Irish culture and tradition, they recognized magic as put very simply energy. And the way that sound, in its most simple definition, is objects when vibrating, right? So and that creates movement and energy and pressure that moves through different mediums, which are air, water, wood, and metal. And so I'm pulling this information forward and sharing it here with the intention if you are interested in learning more about Irish folk magic, please. Please, please, this is not a class, and I am not an expert. And I did not grow up in Ireland. My mother's mother's mother did. And a lot of my lineage also is connected into Ireland. So the majority of my ancestors are from various parts of Ireland with a splash of Lithuanian and Polish heritage in there, too, for me. So what I'm trying to direct you to as I'm introducing you to Drie Kule is to please learn more about it. And I can recommend the Irish Pagan School and in particular a Geraldine, whose class I recently took. And I was blown away because so much of what I was learning I sort of already knew. And it was, again, right on time as I'm doing this embodiment series and focused on vocalization in specific. And I didn't know that Dreek Kuhl was a part of the tradition of Rosk poetry and sacred speech and the Phillies, which were the Irish poets and the beings that would speak truth to power. And so what I continued to learn and reconnect to and remember is that Ireland holds such a deep history and culture and relationship to the magic of sound and word. And using it in everyday context, like to heal pain, or to connect and attune to an energy, the energy of a place, or for more formal workings in groups around battle magic and political justice and revolution. And so it's pretty amazing because what I learned from Geraldine in her class was that the way that the Irish continued to hold the dream of them being a sovereign country, a sovereign nation in the midst of British uh imperialism and colonization of their land, you know, a lot of their language was outlawed. They were forbidden to gather in groups. Certain instruments were forbidden because it was recognized that in Irish culture, there was a lot of power that could be raised through sound and music and unity of the people. So I feel excited about learning about this and remembering this because I use sound every day and I didn't quite know what I was doing. It was sort of more intuitive. So I'm gonna kind of get into a very brief overview of the Diacule. And in the Irish Heritage, there were three forms of this. And I'm gonna do my best to say this in the language. So the first was Gantri. And that was the sound of happiness and joy and delight and celebration, sweet music that was uplifting. And then there was the second dimension, which was called Gautri, and that was the sound of sadness and needing comfort and soothing. And the third was sound tri. Something like that. And that was the sound and music of meditation and peace and sleep, also. So what was done in folk magic and in the history is that you would recognize that a place has energy. And so you had access to it if you could attune to the sounds around you in the environment. And so there was sort of two practical steps in practicing the cuel. The first, and importantly, was uh is joc. I'm gonna hopefully I'm getting that. And that was the uh understanding that you had to listen and slow down and attune to a place, and that was the act of taking in, taking in and attuning to the sounds around you and the environment. And the second part of the cule is called amak. That means out, that means you are expressing sound out into the environment. So typically the cuel involves both the in ischok and the out amak. And so, again, if you really want to learn this in a deep and meaningful way, I direct you back to the Irish pagan school and I will link that info if you're interested. So, what we're gonna do here in our embodiment practice and pulling forth Irish folk magic is we are going to practice some of this.

Listening Then Sounding Into Space

SPEAKER_00 49:50

And a way that you can do this is wherever you are, I want you to just listen. And maybe you have earbuds in or something, and so really all you can hear is this podcast right now. So, what I want you to do is take out your earbuds and pause this and give yourself about 30 seconds. And I want you to attune to your environment, sounds around you, because all sound vibration holds energy, which in Irish folk magic is magic, pure and simple. And so it's for all of us, and it's quite powerful to use in the daily. So go ahead and attune and pause this podcast, and then when you're ready, you'll just turn it back on. Okay, so now that you've attuned to your environment and you've listened to the sounds around you, you are going to amok. Now that is the expression, the sound that rises up from you. And there's a couple different ways that you can use this. And one way is you can attune and connect with the environment to experience maybe you're in a calm environment and you want to attune and be with, and sort of in a reciprocal way, use that calming energy and offer it back, and then you're feeding into it and it's feeding you, and there's sort of that resonance there. So maybe you can vocally create sound that has resonance with your current environment. And that is you attuning to it and being with it. And when you are just resonating with the current energy and you're not trying to change it, you can amplify it. You can amplify that energy by making sounds that are in harmony with the current environment. So you can amplify its effect, or a different way you can work with it is to influence or change the environment. And this is really cool. And I didn't know that I was doing this in a conscious way, but of course, hello, I will often hum, like pretty much all the time. And sometimes it's conscious, sometimes it's not. But in particular, when I'm dropping my child Sonny off at school. So I drop Finn off first, my seven-year-old, and then I drop Sonny off my five-year-old. And when I walk Sonny into the building, I'm often humming, I'm making low noises, and I will regularly hear people say, or they'll stop me, and they'll comment on, they might say thank you. They might say, Oh, you're making me want to hum, or maybe they were walking towards me and they sort of were a bit in their own mind, in their own thoughts, kind of, you know, not in a relational space. And then they'll hear this lady just humming, like, you know, whatever. And they'll look up and smile and say, oh, that sounds so nice, or whatever. And again, I'm not a trained professional music maker, singer, anything like that. So I didn't realize that what I was doing was shifting the environment. And of course, right, from a modern science polyvagal understanding, you are sending out signals of safety through sound, which is magic. And these things are all connected. We just don't always conceptualize them that way. So, what I want you to do for your practice right now, the amok part, I want you to decide if you want to change or influence the environment through sound. And I literally mean the space, like you will raise the energy and change the vibration of the environment you are in. And if there are people there, them too. And so you can shift the environment or you can resonate with the sound that is already there and connect into it and replicate it in your own way, create this synergy or this connection point. And I didn't mention a lot of what happens in Irish folk tradition is they would use, I mean, there's sort of these guiding principles and understanding that certain sounds carry natural energy, certain sounds amplify energy, you can aim energy, and there's a recipe to this. It's words, music, rhythm, chant, repetition. And some words have inherent power. And so you can, with intention, reinforce certain words for spell work, for grounding. If you need to send cues of safety to your body from the environment, you can pair the sound that you make in the amok, in the amok. Sorry, it's more of a, I think. You can pair the sounds and say some words that might really mean healing for your body. And you can also send healing to other people. And that's a little bit more complex, so I'm just gonna keep directing you back to the class. And so do the amok now. I want you can pause, you can stop the podcast altogether, and decide if you want to amplify the current natural energy of the environment that you just attuned to, or if you want to shift it or change it. So you can kind of play around with that and we'll reconnect in a moment when you are finished. Just press play. Okay. So well done. If you did just do that exercise of practicing Irish folk magic, do you

Lilting For Comfort And Resistance

SPEAKER_00 56:45

awesome. I'm so excited. And one of the pieces that is really cool about this is you know how we often will sing lullabies and we might make certain sounds to soothe people. So now I'm kind of focusing in a bit on the second dimension of Dri, which is the Gautri, the music of sadness. And so this can be the music of healing and comforting when someone is in pain, physical or emotional. And I'm thinking about something that I have done with my kids, and it's often it's words that aren't words. And again, in Irish music tradition, they call it lilting. And I don't know much about this. I'm learning so much right now, which is really cool. But I would, I've been doing this when wanting to soothe my my kids if they fall and hurt themselves or they're upset about a limit or boundary or something that's happened, right? But in specific, if they hurt themselves, I would lilt. And these are words that are not really words, they're like non-lexical words and sounds. So I would I would do this. Oh, owie, owie kajowie, owie, owie, owie. Oh, owie. That really, oh, owie, owie, owie. Oh my sweetie, owie, owie kaj, owie. And I didn't know that I was lilting. That's, I mean, it's owie kajowie. Like, what the heck is that? It's kind of just a kind of a silly sort of word, uh, saying, phrase, whatever. But it would work like a charm, like magic. And I understand now that I was doing something that was ancestral and in my blood, in my lineage, that I didn't even know I was doing. I didn't know I was lilting, but how cool to know that now. And not lilting in a very beautiful way. And it doesn't really matter. It's this way of pairing sounds and words that are rhythmic and with the type of sound that we know is healing and comforting to pain. So that's really cool. And for next episode, we're gonna shift a bit away from vocalization and we're gonna move into a different dimension of embodiment practice. And I haven't quite decided whether we're gonna do body work and breath work or if we're gonna do movement and dance. So I'm still trying to figure that out, but we are going to be shifting. So this is the last episode, at least for a little, where we're gonna be really focusing in on vocalization and sound and the act of listening. And even with the cule, I was just so blown away in the two-part process of it: the listening, the in, the ischok, and then the out, the making noise, the amak, pushing sound energy out to create change. I mean, this is just so amazing. And I'm thinking about all the ways that you can use it and the ways that in Irish folk tradition, they oh, this is what I was trying to say earlier, and I think I got off on another, you know, neurotype association and lost my path. So let me come back to the path. The Irish, when they were in a experience of being deeply oppressed and colonized and forbidden to speak their language, do their rituals and practice their spirituality. I mean, all the things, right? They were forbidden to do any of this. Because there was some awareness that that their magic as a collective, that their unity using sound and their words, their native words, could create change. And colonizers don't want people unifying. They don't want you connecting to your ancestral power and the earth and the ground beneath your feet to create change. They don't really want you to do that because then you are a real force. You are a real force, and you can't be held down. So what the Irish brilliantly did was they wove in the dream of their sovereignty through song and words and secret words, things that were encoded, and they would use a lot of metaphor, similar to in Rosk poetry, using imagery and metaphor. They would talk about Ireland, the island being colonized by the British Empire. They would sing songs together about the mother who her cattle was stolen or her children were taken away, or the ways that there was deception that happened to a certain group of people. And I mean, it was all encoded. And they would sing songs about their sovereignty, to hold on to the dream, even though they couldn't say it out plainly, or they would be brutalized, killed. So they found a way to practice the magic of their sovereignty and hold on to the dream of their liberation through song. And that kept them united as a collective. That's the power of folk magic. You can practice it in plain sight. And so people would be churning butter and singing into the butter, or they would be washing their clothes or sowing the seeds for the next season or the next crop, and they would be weaving song and sound into it. So this is real practical embodiment practice and also magic

Closing Blessing And Next Steps

SPEAKER_00 1:03:15

from my tradition. So I think that this episode may be a tad long. So I'm gonna just leave it here. Thank you very much for tuning in, and I will see you in the next episode. As above, so below, as within, so without, as the universe, so the soul.