As we approach the season’s end, Autumn’s theme of decline is getting more potent. We all know that we should be doing less during this time, but we also don’t hibernate, so how can we keep living life, but in alignment with this point in the cycle of the year? In this episode, I’m sharing three ways we can surrender to this time and actually find a nobility of purpose in the midst of so many endings.

If you enjoyed this episode, please help get it to others by subscribing, rating the show, or sharing it with a friend! You can also pitch in to support the show once or monthly at: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/meganleatherman 

To purchase a “Living the Seasons” Winter journal, click here: https://awildnewwork.com/shop 

136. Finding Nobility in Decline

The Winter Solstice takes us into the wild hinterlands of a new season. In this episode, I’m exploring how letting go of what we know and embracing mystery is essential to living lives that are deep and interesting to us. 

If you enjoyed this episode, please help get it to others by subscribing, rating the show, or sharing it with a friend! You can also pitch in to support the show once or monthly at: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/meganleatherman 

To purchase a “Living the Seasons” Winter journal or my book, Winter at Work, click here: https://awildnewwork.com/shop 

137. Winter is a Hinterland

Fear isn’t bad or useless, but when it grips us regularly, it can be helpful to learn how to thaw.  In this first episode of the Winter 2025 season of the show, I share an overview of how we can relate to the sensation of feeling frozen and find natural, generative ways to move through it. 

If you enjoyed this episode, please help get it to others by subscribing, rating the show, or sharing it with a friend! You can also pitch in to support the show once or monthly at: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/meganleatherman 

Other resources mentioned: 
*One on one and small group guidance: https://awildnewwork.com/guidance
*Winter Visioning class on January 30th: https://awildnewwork.com/events/2025/wintervisioning 

138. Natural Ways to Unfreeze Fear

In these troubling times, how can we offer ourselves in service to Life? In this sparkling and vast conversation with Manda Scott, we discuss what it means to do what needs doing and let go of the outcome, where we are in the human story, and the more-than-human support available to us in this important juncture. 

Manda Scott is an award-winning novelist and host of the acclaimed Accidental Gods podcast. Her latest novel Any Human Power is a Mytho-Political thriller which lays out a Thrutopian roadmap to a flourishing future we’d be proud to leave to the generations that come after us. With degrees in veterinary medicine and a Masters in Regenerative Economics, Manda’s life is oriented towards creating radical new narratives that will pave the way to the total systemic change our culture–and our world–needs.

You can connect with Manda at:
www.accidentalgods.life 
www.mandascott.co.uk
www.thrutopia.life 

If you enjoyed this episode, please help get it to others by subscribing, rating the show, or sharing it with a friend! You can also pitch in to support the show once or monthly at: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/meganleatherman 


139. In Service to Life, with Manda Scott

Edgewalking is a gift desperately needed in these monochromatic times. If you're here, you're probably an edgewalker. In this deep-Winter episode I'm talking about the necessity of edgewalkers, Deer as edgewalking mentors, and what it might mean to move between worlds and make medicine from our journeys.

If you enjoyed this episode, please help get it to others by subscribing, rating the show, or sharing it with a friend! You can also pitch in to support the show once or monthly at: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/meganleatherman 

Other resources mentioned: 
*One on one and small group guidance: https://awildnewwork.com/guidance


140. To All the Edgewalkers

A seed holds everything it needs to know within its tiny being. They are a symbol of Life's potential, and we need to sit and learn from them right now. In this lively and eye-opening conversation with regenerative farmer Elizabeth Buckingham, we learn about seed keeping traditions, what seeds want, and how we can align with their interests.

If you enjoyed this episode, please help get it to others by subscribing, rating the show, or sharing it with a friend! You can also pitch in to support the show once or monthly at: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/meganleatherman 

About Elizabeth:
Elizabeth Buckingham is a small-scale regenerative farmer in the high-plains desert of western Colorado. She focuses on seed saving and heirloom dry beans. She's very conscious of capitalism and its effects on agriculture and is also very thoughtful in how she connects with the land, particularly as someone who is not Indigenous to the place she farms. You can learn more about her and her work at https://findingquietfarm.com/.

Other resources mentioned: 
-Living the Seasons: A Journal for Surviving Capitalism and Bringing the Medicine of Spring into Your Life: https://awildnewwork.com/shop 
-https://sierraseeds.org/
-https://www.nativeseeds.org/
-https://www.safeseedpledge.org/
-https://osseeds.org/
-https://seedsavers.org/
-https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/garden-how-to/propagation/seeds/seed-bank-information.htm
-https://publiclibrariesonline.org/2015/01/simple-steps-to-starting-a-seed-library/


141. Seeds Are True Wealth, with Elizabeth Buckingham

In this final episode of the Winter 2025 season of A Wild New Work, I'm offering a vision of how things could be. May this vision be a seed that nestles inside us this Spring and may it grow to give us the heart and courage to live in a good way. Enjoy!

If you enjoyed this episode, please help get it to others by subscribing, rating the show, or sharing it with a friend! You can also pitch in to support the show once or monthly at: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/meganleatherman 

Other resources mentioned:
The "Living the Seasons" Spring Journal can be found at awildnewwork.com/shop 


142. How Things Could Be

The Spring season is a masterclass in how to grow, and on the podcast, we'll be exploring the theme of "Growing into Village." In this first episode of the Spring 2025 season, I'm exploring what Village is, where it went, and what The Fool can show us about how to step toward a new way of living in a good way. 

If you enjoyed this episode, please help get it to others by subscribing, rating the show, or sharing it with a friend! You can also pitch in to support the show once or monthly at: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/meganleatherman 


143. Answering The Fool's Call

In this conversation with renowned midwife and pre- and perinatal somatic psychology guide, Mary Jackson, we explore our earliest imprints and the impact they have on us as we grow. 

If you enjoyed this episode, please help get it to others by subscribing, rating the show, or sharing it with a friend! You can also pitch in to support the show once or monthly at: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/meganleatherman 

Resources Mentioned:
*A Wild New Work events: https://awildnewwork.com/events 
*Meghan Schoneberger's energy healing work: https://www.cosmicharmonyhealing.com/ 
*The Ray Castellino Foundation training: https://castellinotraining.com/ 
*Mary Jackson's website: https://birthinconnection.com/ 

About Mary Jackson:
Mary Jackson has been married since 1987, is the mother of 2 children who were born at home, and has been featured in 11 books and 5 movies. Mary has been a home birth Midwife since 1975. She has attended over 2,500 births in the Santa Barbara, Ventura, and Ojai, California areas and is now attending the home births of her second generation of babies. She is a certified Castellino Process Workshop Leader and co-teaches the Castellino Pre and Perinatal Training. In the first year after incorporating these pre and perinatal approaches in her midwifery practice her home to hospital transfer rate went from 20% to 6%. Mary is participating in cutting edge research about imprints that occur around the time of conception, pregnancy and birth and how they affect us throughout the rest of our lives and what it takes to heal from challenges in these experiences. She is a frequent speaker at national and international conferences and leads trainings throughout the world.

144. Growing into Village: Birth, with Mary Jackson

Rites of passage are essential functions of healthy human communities, but what are they, really? And how do they work? In this conversation with one of my own rite of passage guides, Tina Burchill, we discuss rites of passage and their role in village life, the specific kind of rite of passage that Tina guides people through, and the power of "the well sealed vessel."

If you enjoyed this episode, please help get it to others by subscribing, rating the show, or sharing it with a friend! You can also pitch in to support the show once or monthly at: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/meganleatherman 

About Tina:
Tina Burchill trained as a wilderness vigil guide with leading mythologist Dr Martin Shaw, graduating in 2018, the same year she gained an MA in Myth and Ecology. She has continued to work under the umbrella of the School of Myth in Devon, where she is also a member of the core faculty team. She also has a small homeopathic practice (she qualified in 2005) alongside working as a consultant in event management, and writing work. Her previous career in journalism included working as a freelancer in the UK for national magazines and newspapers.

Read Tina’s article, "Seeking defeat and growth through wilderness vigils" here: https://adventureuncovered.com/stories/seeking-defeat-and-growth-through-wilderness-vigils/ 

Learn more about Dr. Martin Shaw and the School of Myth here: https://drmartinshaw.com/

145. The Well Sealed Vessel, with Tina Burchill

Welcome to A Wild New Work. You'll learn about the Seasons, how the natural world "works," capitalism, animism, and what it can all mean for you and your life. Hosted by Megan Leatherman, a writer, mother, and teacher in the Pacific Northwest. Learn more on Instagram @awildnewwork or at awildnewwork.com.

140. To All the Edgewalkers

A Wild New Work

Related tracks