A Chairde, Friends,
Áine’s light is upon us—the radiance of the summer solstice over the unfolding days. We have reached the apex of the season of Bealtaine, of the ‘mouth of fire’ when solar flames will ignite the longest day of the year here in Éire, Ireland, and the northern hemisphere, amplified by a full-bellied strawberry moon and a lunar standstill. Big cosmic energy is upon us! ✨
Today, I share a conversation with a bright flame, a radiant soul, Marisa Goudy, author of Myth is Medicine here on Substack. Brew yourself a cuppa or some other pleasurable nourishment and join myself and Marisa as we chat about all things myth and magic… Here’s a little about what we explore:
Marisa invites a trailblazing Creative Ancestor into our space, someone who greatly inspired her creativity in her early 20s and now has returned, dreaming herself back into Marisa’s creative life
Being a “myth-hungry” child and the yearnings that awoke within Marisa that invited her to live into her soul’s call
How threshold moments of birth, grief and loss over three generations constructed a passageway—crossing Marisa over from the world of academia into creative entrepreneurship
How Marisa finds people and stories for the KnotWorking Storytelling podcast and how stories and people find her
Advice on incorporating mythical themes into our writing (or craft) and how the archetypes so often become the guides for our work, not only the subject of our work
A myth that Marisa would willingly walk into
How we can become good Creative Ancestors for the generations to come
About Marisa
The land itself is Marisa’s greatest guide and solace. The mountains and rivers of the Hudson Valley where she now lives, which once were home to the Lenape People. The ocean and beaches of Cape Cod where she was born, which were home to Wampanoag People. The rocky cliffs and green fields of Ireland where she lived in her early twenties, which was home to her Celtic ancestors.
Marisa studied at the National University of Ireland at Galway and got her BA in Irish Studies and English at Boston College. She received her MA in Anglo-Irish Literature and Drama from University College Dublin. Most of her academic writing was focused on the mythic dimension of contemporary Irish women’s poetry.
A Reiki Master since college, Marisa has continued the path as an energy healer and a mystic through over fifteen years at the Sacred Center Mystery School. There, she studies Chumpi Illumination, a unique form of physical and spiritual healing that integrates principles of sacred geometry, shamanism, and the sacred Chumpi stones of Peru. Marisa has co-written two books with her longtime teacher and mentor Eleanora Amendolara, including Divine Embodiment: The Art & Practice of Chumpi Illumination.
All this creativity and magic is rooted into the love (and all the endless, practical details) that come with creating a home with her husband, two children, and a grumpy cat named Little Dude McCool. The latest addition to the family, a golden retriever/poodle mix named Fionnuala Hazelwood (Nuala for short, named after Marisa’s favorite poet) is Marisa’s beloved animal familiar.
Connect with Marisa
Substack: Myth is Medicine
Website: marisagoudy.com
Instagram: marisagoudy
Book: The Sovereignty Knot: A Woman’s Way to Freedom, Power, Love, and Magic
Podcast: KnotWork Storytelling
Do let us know in the comments how this conversation lands for you, myself and Marisa would love to hear from you!
Croí isteach,
Jen x
PS: A gentle reminder that I am offering two movement classes for creatives next week. This is free for members, you can discover more here or for non-members, you can book in directly here. I hope to see you there. 💚
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