Nature, Culture and the Sacred with Nina Simons

On the latest episode I'm joined by the inspiring Nina Simons, co-founder and Chief Relationship Officer at Bioneers, an innovative nonprofit organization that highlights breakthrough solutions for restoring people and planet. Nina has worked with nearly a thousand diverse women leaders across disciplines, race, class, age and orientation to create conditions for mutual learning, trust and leadership development. She co-edited "Moonrise: The Power of Women Leading from the Heart," and authored the book "Nature, Culture, and the Sacred: A Woman Listens for Leadership," which won Nautilus awards in the categories of Women in the 21st Century and Social Change & Social Justice. During our conversation we discuss:

• Nina's awakening to the wisdom of the Divine Feminine, or "Mother Life," as she says, via the groundbreaking documentary "The Burning Times"
• Why she feels like so many of our cultural problems can be traced back to an imbalance between the masculine and the feminine
• How her work through her 30+ years of co-producing Bioneers has been informed and guided by Indigenous allies, and what's she's learned in the process
• How her own understanding of gender bias has helped deepen her understanding of racial bias
• How deepening with the wisdom of Sacred Feminine has also invited her home to herself

Show Notes

• If you’d like to know whose ancestral tribal lands you currently reside on, you can look up your address here: https://native-land.ca/
• You can also visit the Coalition of Natives and Allies for more helpful educational resources about Indigenous rights and history. 
• I'm so excited to announce the launch of the Home to Her Academy, a school dedicated to seekers of Sacred Feminine wisdom! To learn more and register for my upcoming class, "Home to Herstory, Home to Your Story," please visit www.hometoheracademy.com. And while you're there, don't forget to sign up for my newsletter to stay up to date with upcoming classes. 
• My book, “Home to Her: Walking the Transformative Path of the Sacred Feminine,” is available from Womancraft Publishing! To learn more, read endorsements and purchase, please visit  https://womancraftpublishing.com/product/home-to-her/. It is also available for sale via Amazon, Bookshop.org, and you can order it from your favorite local bookstore, too.
• Please – if you love this podcast and/or have read my book, please consider leaving me a review! For the podcast, reviews on iTunes are extremely helpful, and for the book, reviews on Amazon and Goodreads are equally helpful. Thank you for supporting my work!
• You can watch this and other podcast episodes at the Home to Her YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@hometoher
• Got feedback about this episode or others you've heard? Please reach out on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/hometoher/ ), Facebook  (https://www.facebook.com/hometoher)
• You can learn more about Nina at her website, https://www.ninasimons.com/. You can also find information about her book, "Nature, Culture and the Sacred: A Woman Listens for Leadership" at bioneers.org/ncsbook, follow her on twitter at ninabioneers;  Facebook: ninasimons; and  Linked In: Nina Simons

Here are a few of the many wonderful resources Nina referenced during our conversation:

• The Arica School: https://www.arica.org/ (you can also find information about the Enneagram here)
• Changing of the Gods:  https://changingofthegods.com/
• Cosmos and Psyche, by Richard Tarnas
• The Burning Times: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34ow_kNnoro
• Nina referenced epigenetic trauma. This Scientific American article provides more information: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-parents-rsquo-trauma-leaves-biological-traces-in-children/
• "Women Lead the Way," by Linda Tarr-Whelan
• Lyla June's article, "Reclaiming Our Indigenous European Roots": https://moonmagazineeditor.medium.com/lyla-june-reclaiming-our-indigenous-european-roots-64685c7fc960
• Some excellent information on Decolonizing Thanksgiving, from Bioneers: https://bioneers.org/decolonizing-thanksgiving/

Related podcast episodes:

• The Healing Power of Art with Arla Patch: https://hometoher.simplecast.com/episodes/the-healing-power-of-art-with-arla-patch
• The Opportunity of This Moment with Jyoti Ma: https://hometoher.simplecast.com/episodes/the-opportunity-of-this-moment-with-jyoti-ma

For more Sacred Feminine goodness and to stay up to date on all episodes, please follow me on Instagram: @hometoher.

To dive into conversation about the Sacred Feminine, join the Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/hometoher 

To go deeper in your Sacred Feminine explorations, check out the course offerings via Home to Her Academy: www.hometoheracademy.com 

And to read about the Sacred Feminine, check out my award-winning book Home to Her: Walking the Transformative Path of the Sacred Feminine (Womancraft Publishing), available wherever you buy your books!. If you've read it, your reviews on Goodreads and Amazon are greatly appreciated! 

Mentioned in this episode:

We Are Sovereign: A 9-Month Transformational Leadership Program for Women

We Are Sovereign is a 9 month transformational leadership program designed specifically for women who are ready to claim full authority and power over their own lives. The program includes a deep dive with: • Powerful Sacred Feminine figures, drawn from history and mythology, who will serve as our sovereignty guides along the way • Transformational practices rooted in creativity, play, energy work, ritual, ceremony and even magic • Embodiment practices, including dance, yoga, and other intuitive movement exercises to tap into the wisdom of the body • The Enneagram as a tool for understanding the human psyche and our individual personality types • Yogic philosophy, creative writing and journaling exercises, and much more • The power of the group field that we cultivate to dive deep and be witnessed fully for who we are, allowing the property of emergence to support our becoming The journey kicks off with an opening retreat on the beautiful Big Island of Hawaii, September 12-15, 2024. From there, we’ll gather twice a month over the next 9 months via Zoom, and we’ll wrap up in June 2025 with a closing retreat at Hestia Magic Retreat Center, located in the shadow of majestic Mount Shasta, California. To learn more, apply, and/or book a discovery call, visit: https://www.hometoheracademy.com/course/we-are-sovereign