#3-005: Aligning with Earth’s Winter Energy + The Deer Mother: A Tale of the Winter Solstice by Amy Kietzman with Michael Jamanis
Join Aminata Desert Rose Plant Walker, Fire Woman, on the Mother Tree Network podcast as she discusses the importance of embracing winter energies.
This episode, divided into two parts, first explores the seasonal insights from traditional Chinese medicine and encourages introspection and connection with one's inner guidance.
Aminata emphasizes the value of confronting personal fears and utilizing the winter months to reflect and renew.
The second part features 'The Deer Mother Story,' a winter solstice tale written by Amy Kietzman, accompanied by soulful violin music from Michael Jamanis.
Check out the Winter Solstice Soul Journey:
https://www.dramandakemp.com/offers/gAbzgDnx
Chapters
00:00 Introduction to Inner Guidance
00:16 Welcome to the Mother Tree Network
00:32 The Journey into Darkness
01:05 Winter Energies and Traditional Chinese Medicine
02:19 Embracing Winter's Call for Rest
02:49 The Buffalo's Winter Survival
03:29 Reflecting in the Darkness
05:19 Facing Fears in Winter
07:11 The Importance of Inner Guidance
07:40 Disconnecting from External Noise
08:55 Trusting Your Inner Guidance
09:16 Connecting with Ancestors
09:45 Winter Solstice Soul Journey
10:43 The Power of Community
13:01 The Deer Mother Story Introduction
13:49 The Deer Mother Story Begins
16:54 The Deer's Brave Journey
18:38 The Sun's Return
19:09 Honoring the Deer Mother
20:36 Conclusion and Farewell
Transcript
Going with the Darkness of Winter
[00:00:00]
Would you be willing to go into the darkness if it meant that you would come back out with gold, that you would come back out with conviction, with connection to your soul purpose, and with the knowledge that you are surrounded by love all the time? Would you be willing to go into the darkness for that?
I hope so. I'm Aminata Desert Rose Plant Walker, Fire Woman, and I am so happy to have you here with us on the Mother Tree Network podcast today. This is a episode where we focus on the winter energies in part one. And in part two of this episode, we share a telling of the deer story. This is a story of the winter solstice, and this rendition is offered and written by Amy Kietzman, who's a member of the Mother Tree community.
Soulful violin [00:01:00] accompaniment by my beloved Michael Jamanis. So stay tuned for this episode and I will see you on the other side.
Hey gorgeous, it's me Aminata and I am with you today to talk with you about the winter energies. According to traditional Chinese medicine, we are now in the season of winter as of November 7th ish. And I'm recording this on November 22nd and we're having our first snowfall in the Northeast in my small town in Pennsylvania.
So I want to talk about winter Because I've been getting some queries from you, people who care about justice, who are empathetic and who really want to have a whole new paradigm come into being. If we look at winter and if we pay attention to what our bodies want to do in winter, naturally we want to sleep more.
We want to be indoors more. [00:02:00] We want to get warm and cozy. And that is an instinct you should go with. If you're feeling like you need more sleep, you need more sleep. If you're feeling like you need more rest, you need more rest. When I think about winter I think about the buffalo in North America and how what the buffalo do to survive winter is they hunker down.
They put their backs to the wind, they gather and they they endure. This is not the time to be running around exposing yourself. This is the time to go within. That's the other thing that now that I'm a woman in my late fifties that I really enjoy is using the winter as a time to descend into the darkness to get the gold.
I want to encourage you, [00:03:00] gorgeous, to go within this winter, to use the darkness as your time to reflect on yourself, to reflect on where you're feeling fear, resentment, to reflect on where you feel wounded. Going into the darkness, into difficult feelings, gives you a chance to come back out. in the springtime with the gold.
And by the gold, I mean renewed energy, renewed vision, conviction, confidence in yourself, a strong connection with your mission, your sole purpose in this life. If you don't go within now, if you don't take that time to connect with your inner guidance, your guru, inside of you, your ancestors, you will be susceptible to these winds that are blowing out here [00:04:00] right now.
The winds of panic, the winds of, um, blaming each other for the situation we have with Trump as president. You'll be susceptible to the winds of fear of a world war the winds of fear of deportation. What we know is that life here on planet earth is not easy. So how do you meet the challenges?
As you dig in your deep roots, you get restored yourself. You take the time to reflect on how you are contributing to the difficulty. so that you can make wise choices. In traditional Chinese medicine, they say winter is the time to deal with the emotion of fear. When I think about that, that makes sense [00:05:00] to me because it's when things are really dark, I'm afraid.
I'm afraid of it never becoming light again. I'm afraid of dying in the dark. I'm afraid of losing my loved ones. Winter is a time when we have the space to confront our fears. And when I say confront, I don't mean in a mean, I'm going to root you out kind of way, but more like in a loving, inquiring, curious kind of way.
If you're human, you have fear. It's part of our inheritance. It's part of the condition of living on this planet. If you're human, you have fear, but that doesn't mean your fear has to rule your choices. And, I have found that [00:06:00] I'm more reactive when I don't have a handle on my fear when I am swamped by my fear.
And if I take this time to voluntarily go with the earth into the darkness to be curious and comforting to myself, the parts of myself that feel fear. Then it doesn't have to rule my choices. It doesn't have to sweep me off my feet.
I say this now, gorgeous, because some of you are feeling like you've got to go out there and do something. Someone has been elected president who's just ringing all kinds of alarm bells. And what I want you to do is to pay attention to your fears, but to go within. [00:07:00] To tune out everyone else and to find out what is happening inside of you.
What is happening with your inner divine guidance or with your ancestors. Some people think that I am cuckoo. Because instead of relying on CNN or MSNBC or any number of resources out there who are clamoring for my attention and my email box, I'm saying, no, I want to go within. I trust that there is guidance for me within.
We were in the Mother Tree community in our apprenticeship group and one person said, she said, you know what? I'm not watching the news right now because nothing in it is new. And I had to laugh at that. The news is not new. It is all bad almost all the [00:08:00] time. It is almost all engineered to trigger your alarm bells.
And I'm not saying that. In quote unquote reality, bad things aren't happening, but I'm just saying that I know that quote unquote news is a profit driven industry whose job is to get me to click and buy and stay on their sites. So for my sovereignty. I think it's important for me to go within and for your sovereignty, I think it's important for you to go within, to learn, to trust your inner guidance.
For some people, you're going to go within and you're going to connect with a beloved ancestor who's going to help you to calm down, who's going to tell you to take it slow, or who's going to tell you to get up and get out there. It's [00:09:00] okay if the message you get is different than the message that someone you love or who you respect gets.
So going within takes some courage and it takes some patience and I think it takes some guidance and companionship just because you're going within to get your truth or you're going within to find your deep fears or to heal. It doesn't mean you have to do that alone. In fact, it's better if you have some kind of community.
in which other people are also engaging in that kind of inquiry. It's better if you have community to do that with together. It's so much easier if you have a guide, someone to check back in with when you come back out from your journey, or who can help you find the right tool for [00:10:00] you that will help you to go within.
We're not all the same. The meditation that works for me might not work for you. The Yoga Nidra that I love and that helps me to find deep rest. Maybe the one that works for you, or maybe you might need one with music. A guide can help you to find the tools that work for you. Community can help you to listen or examine what you got and affirm its value or question.
It's relevant. So this thing about darkness doesn't mean it has to be lonely, but it is your responsibility. Gorgeous. And this time you came to planet earth. You came here with a sole mission [00:11:00] to help uplift the whole planet. I know this because you listen to this podcast. So that sole mission needs support.
If it's going to trump. Whatever fear you're carrying inside, so I encourage you to reach out for that guidance, to reach out for that companionship. I do have space available inside the mother tree community for folks like you who want to go within, who want to do it with a guide or with some companions.
I'm calling it the winter listening session. This is a way for you to have a little time with me and discern your path to go [00:12:00] within how you can find your own answers. What kind of support you need. to hold your fears without being swamped by them or overwhelmed.
All right. I want to get to one of my favorite traditions that we have in the Mother Tree community, which is to share the deer story. The Deer Mother story is a story that originates with indigenous peoples of Eurasia. And this version of it. It is, has been told by my friend and Mother Tree member, Amy Kietzman.
Amy's beautiful rendering is complimented by the soul stirring violin of Michael Jamanis. So enjoy this dear story, take with it the medicine [00:13:00] from the story, and I'll see you on the other side.
