Sophie Strand writes wild and glorious essays that upend everything we think we know about our myths, legends, stories, and beliefs. Maybe Jesus isn’t who we’ve been told he is. Maybe Mary Magdalene is far, far more important in the story. Maybe we’ve been so bamboozled by patriarchal religion that we don’t even know who she is anymore. Or what her name is. In this rich conversation, Sophie unravels story after story about The Magdalene and brings her alive in her own time—a time when her people and her land were ravaged by the Roman Empire. Then, Sophie invites us to come along as Magdalene flees, but not to where you’ve been told. This is the Magdalene, you’ve never met before.

Praying at the Speed of Love

Meeting Mary Magdalene again for the first time

Thanks to the bible story, Jezebel’s name became a slur that strikes terror in a woman’s body. Being called a “Jezebel” smears a woman as slut, harlot, whore. But how did that happen? Because there’s not one word in the bible about Jezebel being unfaithful. She and her husband Ahab, the king of Israel, were married for 30 years and had 1 daughter and 2 sons.  So how did her name become the worst thing a woman can be called? Guest Allison Charron is the 9th great-granddaughter of Susannah Martin North, who was hung as a witch in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692. Who better to bring the first witch in The Return of the Witches Jeanne d’Arc Pilgrimage to life?

What if Queen Jezebel wasn’t a jezebel after all

As I researched the 13 witches for The Return of the Witches pilgrimage, I started learning about the witches in Scotland and sensed deep in my body that Scotland had an essential place in the pilgrimage. I began to read about the Burning Times in Scotland and stumbled upon an organization called Witches of Scotland which is seeking an apology, pardon, and memorial for everyone persecuted as a witch. One of the founders introduced me to Sheila Gaul of RAWS, Remembering Accused Witches of Scotland. When I told Sheila about the pilgrimage, she told me to stop what I was doing and contact Cali White in England immediately. And OH was she right! Cali has done the work: explored the history, found the wounds, led women’s healing circles across the UK and Ireland, and created the Silver Spoons Collective to honor women murdered as witches. In this powerful healing conversation, Cali shares: how the collective unconscious from the Burning Times emerged in her body why she was obsessed with the Standing Rock community in South Dakota what happened at Stonehenge when a voice said, “You have your own ancestors.” what she discovered in her 13 cycle Full Moon ceremony pilgrimage how the vestiges of fear, grief, sadness, rage, and terror still show up hundreds of years later the interconnection between colonialization, Burning Times, and the Land how the Burning Times shattered our natural feminine sisterhood how to find and heal the witch wounds in your body 

The Burning Times ended; the wounds did not

It’s been 9 months since the last show. And it’s not Covid’s fault. Or is it? In this episode, you’ll discover what happened last August that brought the show to a screeching halt, why Janet is proud to embrace the once-terrifying label “witch,” and who Joan of Arc—the greatest witch of all time—might have been. Listen as Janet and Perdita Finn discuss: what happened in quarantine when Janet began to listen—really listen—to her body why the podcast has been silent for 9 months what happened when Janet received a wild endorsement from Rabbi Tirzah Firestone why Janet had to fire her agent what happened when Perdita told Janet to watch Groundhog Day and name her “puddle” mysterious connections between Joan of Arc who was murdered in 1431, Clark Strand’s apparition in 2011, and Janet’s revelation last August why Joan of Arc’s name isn’t correct clues to some of the mysteries that swirl around Joan how Perdita fell in love with Joan what the court transcriptionist wrote in the margin about Joan Joan’s purpose today in raising an army of the dead and of the living how you can meet Joan and explore her mysteries with Perdita and Janet 

What if Joan of Arc isn’t who we thought—at all

This is a conversation unlike any other on Praying at the Speed of Love. Because the conversation isn’t really with Clark Strand. It’s with Ma Kali herself. And She’s quite the conversationalist! In the gentle hands of her boy, Clark Strand, we meander through some deep and even dark prophetic territory, hearing Kali speak in Her own voice and seeing Her in both her terror and beauty. Join our community and get your free gift at janetconner.com/31.    

Clark Strand: Now Is the Hour of Her Return

Prayer really comes alive in this conversation as we meander through the relationship with the divine as a relationship with a wise loving parent, a parent who wants nothing more than to give us all the mystical strength and vision we need to fulfill our tikkun olam, our contribution to the universal call to repair the world. And oh, does our world need repairing, does it not! Join our community and get your free gift at janetconner.com/30.  

Amy Grossblatt Pessah: Parenting on a Prayer

This is the perfect conversation for a time of pandemic and quarantine. Christine invited us to explore how the monastic view embraces all of life—treasures and sorrows, cygnets and compost. She offered rich insights into the practices of Stability, Wild Edges, Grief, and the paradoxical state of Holy Indifference. She took us into a gentle meditation of memory—a heart practice to rediscover the gifts in small experiences. Join our community and get your free gift at janetconner.com/29.  

Christine Valters Paintner: Earth Our Original Monastery

Phil Cousineau startled us with the dangers of medieval pilgrimage—half did not return! Then, he reminded us pilgrim in Latin means “to put the sole of your feet to the soul of the world.” Think of that as we embark on our internal pilgrimages. All that in the first minutes! This conversation is a feast of history, meaning, and possibility. Just the food we need to transform quarantine to radical pilgrimage. Join our community and get your free gift at janetconner.com/28.  

Phil Cousineau: The Art of Pilgrimage

Estelle Frankel kicked off the conversation with a prayer: “Open my heart, open my mouth.” And then our hearts and mouths were opened and the conversation dropped deep into The Mystic as Estelle led us into wordless prayer, cries of the heart including howling, the prayer of silence, and how the three octaves of unknowing. Then she told the Passover story and suddenly it has a whole new meaning for everyone at this moment. Join our community and get your free gift at janetconner.com/27.  

Estelle Frankel: The Wisdom of Not Knowing

We opened with a gorgeous prayer Robert Corman wrote years ago. Then we dove into Journeys and Awakenings: Wisdom for Spiritual Travelers. Reading any of the 48 profound offerings feels like meandering through a mystical forest hand-in-hand with a wise and warm guide. Robert introduced us to a few of those guides and left us hungry for more, much more. Join our community and get your free gift at janetconner.com/26.  

Robert Corman: Wisdom for Spiritual Travelers

Praying at the Speed of Love is a biweekly podcast filled with REAL conversations with REAL people about REAL prayer. After 5,000 years of prayer proscribed by patriarchy, we are ready for prayers that cherish the body, embrace all hearts, expand the mind, and enchant the soul. Join bestselling author and prayer artist, Janet Conner, as she and her famous guests dive into deep, intimate—even outrageous—conversations about their personal experiences with whole new kinds of prayer.

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Praying at the Speed of Love

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