Library
Podcast: Episode 79: 2021: A Retrospective
On this episode, Laura Chandler takes a look back at a collection of interviews from 2021. She explores the idea of how we create a more inclusive experience of dharma with Spring Washam, the difficulty of growing up as an interracial adoptee and the healing power of music with cellist and clinical psychologist Mia Pixley, and reflects on Michael Schauch’s experience of karma in the mountains of Nepal and his uneasy relationship with yak butter tea. She also revisits her talk with renowned empath and channel, Paul Selig, their discussion of his bestselling book, Alchemy, and how his guides describe the nature of these times and the function of the current pandemic from the perspective of spiritual evolution.
Our featured musical artists are Christopher Tait, Home Learning, Mia Pixley, and Sapphron Obois.
Blog: Reflections on the Winter Solstice
By Isa Gucciardi, Ph.D.
As the nights have been growing longer as we approach the winter solstice, I have been reflecting on the relationship between light and darkness from a new perspective. We often think of light and dark as being opposite of one another. In some cases that is true. From one point of view, the light of day is the opposite of the dark of night. But from another vantage point, dark and light are moments of the same cycle of change. That cycle of change determines our experience of reality in utterly fundamental ways. The sun rising and setting is basic to our experience on earth. Yet, we don’t often think about the fact that the sun rising and setting dictates when and how we do almost everything we do. We may not often think about how our lives might be structured without this baseline rhythm the play of light and dark creates.
Podcast: Episode 78: Lisa Broderick: All the Time in the World
Description: On this episode of the Sacred Stream Radio Podcast, Laura Chandler speaks with author, senior executive, and founder of the non-profit Police 2 Peace, Lisa Broderick. Lisa is an accomplished senior executive whose career has been defined by understanding how technology impacts society and changes behavior. She teaches that life is about constant change, in which energy and matter are the basis of transformation. Her passion lies in helping others with little or no scientific or spiritual training master their innate abilities with practices designed to improve their lives, their relationships, and the world.
On the Air: Birth Ease Loss Support Podcast: Episode 24: Grief, Loss, and The Great Mother with Isa Gucciardi
In this interview with Birth Ease Loss Support Podcast host Michelle Smith, Isa Gucciardi provides insights from her over twenty-five years of experience in supporting the bereaved. She shares the initiations that women experience throughout their lifetime which include our own birth, puberty, menses, the first sexual experience with another person, giving birth, menopause, and death. Isa explains the Great Mother as a source of wisdom, creative intelligence, and nurturing that can bring comfort and healing into the journey and complexity of grief. Isa and Michelle also discuss holistic ways to support the grief process such as plants, herbal sprays, homeopathic remedies, and meditation.
On the Air: Our Birth Journey: The New Return to the Great Mother
On the Air: Our Birth Journey: The New Return to the Great Mother In this conversation with Our Birth Journey, Isa Gucciardi discusses the topics covered in her newest book, The New Return to the Great Mother, which include understanding birth as an important initiatory moment and understanding the importance of a connection to inner […]
Podcast: Episode 77: Mia Pixley: Margaret in the Wild
On this episode, Laura Chandler is joined by composer, musician, and clinical psychologist, Mia Pixley, who has just released a new album, Margaret in the Wild. Mia has a degree in cello performance from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology. She has performed in award-winning off-Broadway musicals, on GRAMMY award-winning records, and she has collaborated with HERE Arts in NYC, Pixar Studios, and The de Young Museum. Most recently, she performed on Barbara Higbie’s latest album, with whom she tours regularly on the annual Windham Hill Winter Solstice Tour.
Video: Shamanic Paths to Inner Experience: The Shamanic Journey
The shamanic journey is an ancient method of altering consciousness using a repetitive sound such as a drum beat in order for the shaman to connect with their helping spirits. In contemporary times, people are turning to the shamanic journey to assist them with healing the earth and its inhabitants. In this talk, Isa Gucciardi, Ph.D. discusses the shamanic journey and the guidance that is available in the complex inner cosmography of the shamanic initiate. Isa is the author of three books, creator of the therapeutic model Depth Hypnosis, and the Founding Director of the Foundation of the Sacred Stream.
On the Air: APPPAH Monday Live: The New Return to the Great Mother with Isa Gucciardi, Ph.D.
APPPAH Monday Live host Catherine Lightfoot is joined by Isa Gucciardi to discuss Isa’s acclaimed book, The New Return to the Great Mother. Offering a fresh perspective on birthing as a sacred initiatory process, The New Return to the Great Mother confirms the healing implications of this viewpoint with inspiring true stories, and offers up helpful tools and exercises for connecting with the wisdom and power of the Great Mother.
Video: Fall Equinox Talk & Meditation with Isa Gucciardi and Laura Chandler
Since 2002, Sacred Stream has provided a place for diverse groups to gather in community. Since the pandemic, our quarterly solstice and equinox drum circles have not met, until now, in this special YouTube Live Fall Equinox Talk & Meditation.
This is the time of year when the veil thins between the world of the seen and the unseen. It can be an emotional time for people and an opportunity to reflect and set new intentions. In this talk, Isa and Laura explore ways of navigating these complex times, answer your questions, and share a meditation. This recording was streamed live on September 21, 2021.
Video: Shamanic Paths to Inner Experience: Mediumship
From Tibetan oracle traditions to Christian mysticism, mediumship has long been part of the esoteric teachings of mystery schools. In many shamanic cultures, the phenomenon of medium-ship was an import role played by the shaman who would act as a bridge between the spirit world and the mundane. In this talk, Isa Gucciardi, Ph.D. discusses the phenomenon of mediumship and explores the requirements of the shamanic initiate to be able to act as a medium. Isa is the author of three books, creator of the therapeutic model Depth Hypnosis, and the Founding Director of the Foundation of the Sacred Stream.
Video: Shamanic Paths to Inner Experience: Psychotropic Plants
Plant medicines like ayahuasca, peyote, and iboga have made their way into popular culture as more and more people seek transitory experiences to find healing and direction in their lives. However, the use of plant medicine dates back to ancient Egypt and even earlier and is an important part of many shamanic practices and indigenous cultures. In this talk, Isa Gucciardi, Ph.D. discusses how the ingestion of psychotropic plants provides valuable education in the shamanic initiate’s development. Isa is the author of three books, creator of the therapeutic model Depth Hypnosis, and the Founding Director of the Foundation of the Sacred Stream.
Blog: Reflections on the Fall Equinox
By Isa Gucciardi, Ph.D.
Around the fall equinox of 2018, as I was doing the fall garden clean up, I realized that a small California Live Oak had planted itself in the center of the garden at the Sacred Stream Center. I was very excited to have the oak choose our garden, but everyone else was worried that the oak would get too big and block out the other plants. I knew there was no way I would interfere with the oak’s plans, as we are visitors to its habitat – not the other way around.
Only 200 years ago, the land on which the Sacred Stream Center sits was covered in California Live Oak. The hills throughout California were dotted with these majestic trees, which can indeed grow very tall and spread their canopies widely. An oak taking up residence in that patch of ground would have had the flowing water of Strawberry Creek nearby and lots of laurel and bay trees keeping it company.
Podcast: Episode 76: Christopher Tait: Passenger Recovery
On this episode, Laura talks with Christopher Tait of Passenger Recovery and Detroit rock bands Electric Six, Belle Ghoul, and Palace Pier. Chris has been with Electric Six since 2002 and has earned a gold record among other accolades. Sober since 2011, he formed Passenger Recovery in 2016, a small non-profit based in Detroit, to help sober artists and crew that are on the road connect with resources for traveling in recovery, including transportation to meetings locally. Since its inception, it has grown into an international organization helping artists worldwide.
Video: Shamanic Paths to Inner Experience: The Vision Quest
Vision quests have long been part of the shamanic experience, particularly as initiatory rites of passage. Most involve undertaking a difficult task and take place in nature and often lead to transcendent life-changing experiences. In this talk, Isa Gucciardi, Ph.D. discusses this process of seeking guidance within the world of nature that is found in many different cultures and can be practiced by modern people today. Isa is the author of three books, creator of the therapeutic model Depth Hypnosis, and the Founding Director of the Foundation of the Sacred Stream.
On the Air: Well, Actually… Podcast: A Conversation About The New Return to the Great Mother with Author Isa Gucciardi
Isa is the author of The New Return to the Great Mother: Birth, Initiation, and the Sacred Feminine and I had her on the podcast to share more about how we might implement these incredible tools and perspectives into the work we are doing as mothers, doulas and midwives. Join us as we explore Isa’s background, including her experience during the ’70s and ’80s during the renaissance of home birth, her birth experiences as a medical interpreter, and how her meditation for connecting with The Great Mother has impacted many thousands of women already. I am really excited to have her book to hand out to clients at the first visit, so that she can come to her second visit ready to more explore her relationship with her body, her spirituality, and the initiations she has already been through. All so that we can help her ready and steady herself as she prepares for BIRTH, one of the most intense initiations of all.