Alison Newvine is psychotherapist, singer, songwriter and a nature-loving, queer creative. She lives on Ohlone land in the San Francisco Bay Area. Her psychotherapy and consultation practice centers around trauma healing, spiritual inquiry, psychedelic integration, and empowerment work with women, gender expansive folks, couples and the queer community. Her writing is featured in Mago Books Celebrating Intercosmic Kinship of the Goddess as well as Pain Perspectives: Finding Meaning in the Fire, and Wounded Feminine: Grieving with Goddess‘ published by Girl God Books. She is a contributor to the healthcare website psychedelic.support, where she weaves Goddess themes and mythologies into articles exploring mental health and psychedelic-assisted therapy. Along with her band, Spiral Muse, she writes and produces music dedicated to the Goddess and to sacred feminist values and visions. Their newest album, “Fire of Hope,” explores themes of rebirth and healing. You can learn more about her psychotherapy and consultation services at alisonnewvine.org and you can find the music of Spiral Muse at spiralmuse.band.
RE Alison’s post 10/23/24 – I personally love Lorenna Mckenna’s All Soul’s Night and use it every year as I honor the three day Festival of the Dead – All Hallows – a festival that is celebrated by Indigenous peoples throughout the world but treated as a joke by Americans who only honor their killers publicly – memorial and veterans day. But this emphasis on witches disturbs me for many reasons. The first of which is that the word ‘witch’ is new – it first appeared in the 1600s in the king james version of the christian bible that was used to destroy women. Now the word witch has become universal even infecting Indigenous languages. So I guess I am asking why we feminists have become so attached to ‘witch’. Aren’t we identifying ourselves with a word that killed women? As a second wave feminist I am already aware of the usual reasons offered… I am suggesting that our identification may have more to do with patriarchy – and an unhealthy way to acquire POWER OVER –
beautiful but bears are very much in their bodies this time of year – mothers give birth in January and they are awake and busy nurturing their cubs… maybe not a spirit time?