Between the Moon - 9. Reimagining our Relationship with Winter with guest Natasha Deganello Giraudie

Episode Date: November 20, 2022

What if the grips of winter were the gifts of winter? What if our human rhythms were more like the rhythms of the seasons?In today’s episode I am joined by filmmaker and nature practice teacher Natasha Deganello Giraudie. She is a dear friend and colleague and someone I've had the pleasure of connecting with through being guided by the moon, seasons, and nature. Natasha has worked with the New Moon Calendar Journal for the past six years as an integral part of her work and personal practice.We talk about her creative process in bringing Opening to the Medicine of Winter to life and what is possible when we develop a deep trust of our intuition. Natasha mentions a book called “The Book of Houses” by Robert Cole, Paul Williams which is an amazing tool for connecting us with our own personal harvest cycles.In our conversation we explore the theme of how to become more receptive and available to the gifts we know are there for us during the cold dark months of winter.I love all the insights Natasha shares about our well being, the earth’s well being and the well being of future generations… especially in the way it relates to anchoring into rhythms and going against the grain of the discordant environments that rupture this rhythm.I have the pleasure and honor of being a part of Opening to the Wisdom of Winter and sharing my winter, new moon, and eclipse stories. Don't miss the chance to explore these beautiful themes in community in Opening to the Medicine of Winter with a diverse group of women from a variety of perspectives and backgrounds to help us experience the more of the nourishing, soulful side of the cold season.Visit bit.ly/medicine-of-winter-nature-practice to find out more about Opening to the Medicine of Winter which begins Nov 27, 2023.You can find Natasha’s work on her website: www.rosaguayaba.earth and on instagram: @rosaguayaba www.instagram.com/rosa.guayaba This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit themoonismycalendar.substack.com/subscribe

Welcome, dear listener, to Between the Moon, a podcast about self-study in relationship with cycles. I'm your host, April McMurtry, founder of The Moon is My Calendar. On today's episode, I'm joined by documentary filmmaker and nature practice teacher. Natasha DeGanayo Hirodi. Natasha is a dear friend and colleague and someone I've had the pleasure of connecting with through our shared experience of being guided by the moon and our deep love of nature in all of her seasons. Natasha found the moon is my calendar and began working with the new moon calendar and journal about six years ago. and she found it at a local market, and through the magic of the internet and Instagram,

we realized that we were in the same part of Northern California. So in this conversation, we explore the themes of becoming more receptive and available to the gifts of winter. And I was curious to have this conversation with Natasha because I know she grew up in Venezuela, And so she did not grow up with winter and snow and extreme cold. And so I wanted to know where the idea came from to create opening to the medicine of winter. And so we explore her creative process, how she followed her intuition, how she thought it was going to be one way, and then it became another way. and for anyone who is involved in creative work and bringing ideas into the world, I find it's very helpful to hear other people's process because often the final product

looks as if or gives the impression that it came out fully formed. When in reality, most of us have twists and turns and pivot and change and are guided in unique ways. So I hope you enjoy this behind the scenes look at opening to the medicine of winter and how it is that you may reimagine your own relationship with winter and how working with the lunar cycle and especially connecting with the new moon can be a practice throughout the entire year of practicing being in relationship with winter during that waning time, the dark of the moon, the new moon time. So that when winter does come around, there's an opportunity to appreciate the gifts that are there. Before we get started, if you haven't already, New Moon Calendar and

journals for 2023 are available in the shop and all these ways to be in relationship with cyclical time and these tools that Natasha has been working with and has supported her work and so many other people in in all different fields and that's really some of the beauty of this is coming together around these central themes about the rhythm of our lives and what can help us and support us to be more rhythmic and in relationship with the seasons but also being in season with ourselves. And so the calendars are available and we'll beacon shipping in early December. So you can hop on over to the moon is my calendar.com and order yours if you haven't already. And if you have, thank you, thank you, thank you. Your support helps to continue this work

and to bring you these conversations and tools and ways of being in relationship. Thank you so much for being here. So I'm here with Natasha and in this Between the Moon conversation, we're going to explore what it means to open to the medicine of winter and the new moon and what that's like in our own unique experiences. And I'd love to hear Natasha just where this, both where the idea came from for you and where you, where you realize there was a need. Yes. It was a few years ago.

I was teaching. I was leading mini nature retreat for a group from the United Nations. We were at the University of Virginia. And it was in the autumn. And there was an unexpected snowfall that happened right at the moment of the retreat. So they were very nice. The university offered some rocking chairs. And we put the rocking chairs in the lawn where we were having the mini nature retreat and just sat in the snow.

And so I just started. attuning to what was happening, which was basically winter. And we, we continued as planned. And at the end of the, of our time together, people started saying that they had hated winter their whole life. And this was the first time they felt like they could look forward to it. And those words, you know, I've hated winter all my life. They just, they just landed so deeply for me, you know, and they like landed in a troubling way. I grew up in Venezuela, born and raised in Latin America in the tropics of Latin America. I consider myself, you know, I'm very proud to be a full Caribbeania.

And my, you know, my adulthood has been mostly in San Francisco, so I don't really have experience with hardcore winter. But I just had trouble with this statement. I've always hated winter because I started wondering, well, what does this mean? Does it mean Haiti winter, a quarter of the year? Does that mean Haiti winter a quarter of your life? Like 25 years living in hatred? What does this do to your heart, to your body, to your mind, to your relationship? You know, it just went on and on.

And I just felt like this obligation in a way to continue to follow this thread of what had become this unexpected side effect of my nature practice offerings. And so for the last few years, I've offered this class opening to the medicine of winter to be able to explore this theme a little bit more deeply. But this year, when I started to tune into it, actually, what happened was that I was working with a book of houses, which you introduced me to. and I was in my harvest season, the House 10, and my harvest season has a flavor of Libra and Scorpio. And so there's a quality of partnership.

And I was really like attuning to my harvest and partnership. And in the book of houses, harvest is very much related with, with your offering. So you harvest and then you share that with the community. And so then this kind of circle of women, gathering a circle of women to be in conversation about this, instead of me just offering the class, that's kind of how it all came together.

Wow. So beautiful, just that description of the moment of seeing what's something that wasn't your experience, you know, not really knowing winter in this way, seeing that for others and and imagining what's possible to have a new relationship. And I love that description too of like feeling into your harvest cycle and something that I was curious about too because I know that there was these kind of stirrings for sharing a podcast. I mean, you share stories right through film. making through conversations and interviews and and telling stories.

And there's so many formats to do that. So I just, I love seeing almost the format of this like very intimate conversations that can come like this one in the form of a podcast, but actually bringing those conversations together to gather those stories and then be in a circle to relate on those themes. And see really like what windows open, what doors open, what other possibilities that maybe for someone who feels more shut down or closed off in this particular season to see what else is possible. And I'd love to hear just in choosing perspectives you wanted to share because it's a very

diverse group of women with very different work that we're all doing in the world. and yet we're gathering around this central theme. Yes. Well, I think what's central, you know, in responding to your question, is really like my devotion to being receptive to my intuition, my commitment to being in co-creation. That's really how this all unfolded. And so I had, you know, I had received this intuitive message that it was time for the podcast.

I had actually announced it, set a date. And then I received another message saying, oh, no, you know, change of plans. Now we're doing this. And then I started working on this and not really even thinking about the podcast. But I reached out the way that it worked out is that. There, and did it, it, I wanted it to be an experience where we could be facilitating the opening to the medicine of winter as, as it unfolded. And so I really didn't want people stuck on Zoom for a two-day summit listening video presentations. So that's how I thought, okay, let's turn these into audio pieces that people can listen to one with one earbud outside and still have the,

winter soundscape available and this will kind of support the experience that they're having in person so that's kind of how it unfolded and then and then as it was happening i recognized the podcast quality and it was like oh it's so interesting how like when you make yourself available for the co-creative process then it is just you know unfolds in ways that are just one dress. Right? So fun. It's really fun.

It's kind of like, oh, I heard the message podcast and I thought it was this. It's like, oh, no, come over here. You know, I still may have a podcast that becomes available, but this is very much, you know, like within that spirit of what I was received. The group of women, it was spontaneous. As soon as I thought of partnership, I made a list. actually I didn't make a list. I went and I grabbed pictures of 13 women that I just wanted to be in conversation with like 13 women that I would love to have in my house for dinner to have a conversation about this. And I just pulled pictures from Instagram and other sources and I put them

together. I'm like, yes, this is this is the circle that I would like. And I sent out the 13 emails. I got 13 yeses, except for one one dear friend. She had an accident. And so she's just focusing on her recovery. And so she won't be participating this time. So it's 12 women plus me. So we're 13 women in in conversation. And many of them when I asked them about this, they said, oh, but I'm not quite the expert in winter. You know, this is really like not my area of expertise. I actually have a bit of trouble with winter, if I can be honest. And I said, no, I think I think you have a really interesting perspective because of this,

this and this. And I'm like, oh, I hadn't really quite thought of it that way. And then actually the conversations as they are unfolding is offering healing in and of themselves. for us. And so that has been, yeah, it's been so beautiful so far. We've recorded four of the conversations and it's been amazing. Yes. So we have like a really broad spectrum of perspectives and experiences from like, you know, bringing in your intuition and like co-creating with your intuition to healing trauma with nature, to nonviolent communication, intimacy and sexuality, elephant conservation.

It's like, yeah, all these different ways of looking at it, but all of the conversations are centered around the theme of how do we become more receptive, more available to the gifts that we know are there for us during these cold. dark times during difficult passages in our life. Part of us know that there's gifts and lessons and gems for us. And so the conversations are all around, how do we open to them? How do we become more receptive, more available to integrating and living and benefiting from those?

So beautiful. And even in the way that this has come together and just your description of following those whispers of what you were opening up to and offering this and having something take one form and how when we're able to adapt or be flexible or kind of make turns that are unexpected because in co-creation, that which is being created also giving that agency to listen. And so, I mean, this feels just very both innovative and to create this thread of connection that each of us gets to tune into in our own time and creating a container for that. Yeah, it's just really inspiring and beautiful. And I'm so honored to be a part of this offering.

And yeah, I will say our conversation that we recorded for opening to the medicine of winter, it really deepened my own understanding of the gifts that have presented themselves throughout my life. even through very difficult and painful experiences in winter, to have the perspective now, to embody both those lessons and life experiences and accept them and receive them as a gift. And I understand even more deeply my own relationship with the new moon. I could have created a full moon calendar.

Who knows? You know, there's all kinds of options. the moon has many faces and phases but there was something that with the new moon that was both so mysterious the unknown um not visible possibly like misunderstood and sort of the part of the cycle that it seems like nothing's happening yeah i'd love to hear too what you've seen for you know and just people's transformations who've um who've been a part of this course in the past, what those shifts are, you know, what it is that that opens up or shifts to have a new relationship. And especially in, and I'll speak for myself, like, I have to work

at resting. I have to work at not doing and slowing down. And so the medicine of the new moon and that time of the lunar cycle of the waning and that resting period, that parisprits, that parallels that fall into winter time continues to be, I mean, I say work, but there might be a better word, practice to not overdue, to not just push through and to keep going, but actually to honor that stillness. So yeah, I'd love to hear some of what you've just seen from someone going from saying, you know, I hate. winter, which is such a strong word. Like, for me growing up,

but we weren't allowed to use that word in our house because it has such a charge and energy of, it just has a very strong energy to it. My mom just didn't want to hear that. Yeah. Maybe what softens that or, yeah, what you've seen. Very wise, mom, by the way, right? To have that sensitivity to that word.

I mean, our cells, receive the energy of our words and they go into that mode. So if you say I hate winter and winter lasts three months and winter lasts a quarter of your life, winter, you know, your cells literally go into that mode. And one of the things that we know for sure about hatred mode is that it completely interferes with any sort of healing that is possible. It's like a definitive block of healing. And the two cannot coexist. And so, so yeah, that's very wise. And thank you for bringing that up because it's a good reminder for all of us and mothers and for anyone really to kind of like make the request to like be more careful with our words. Yeah. You know what I've seen in terms of transformations have been small transformations and absolutely life changing transformations. And it all works in a spiral, right, which is this form that you are so interested in working with. And it's really about coming back each winter, each solar winter, and then each lunar winter and having an opportunity to revisit these themes.

maybe two of the themes that we work with are one central theme is like this commitment to stay in relationship regardless of the conflict that might be present. So the commitment is to be in relationship with nature, regardless of the difficulty that might be presenting itself. So if winter is challenging, then we don't say, oh, I wish it. were summer. I don't want to be in nature now. I'm going to wait until the heat and the light and the color and, you know, the stone fruit come back. But it means like, oh, this is hard. But my commitment is to stay in relationship with nature. So how do I support myself? How do I

attune to my own needs below the feelings. How do I extend compassion to myself in a way that can enable me to stay in relationship? And the other thing that has emerged as a theme, as a clear theme through the first four conversations of this experience that we're creating is the theme of rhythm and i just find it so brilliant it's coming out loud very strongly as a theme and so rhythm one thing that i have learned recently about rhythm is that if you want to be if you want to sing harmoniously in a melodic way you have to be in rhythm i didn't realize that i didn't i didn't realize that that that that the two were related so closely that that one depends so importantly on the other and so in a way if you look at like the broad brushstroke of

human existence right now the things that we're struggling with are our own personal well-being the well-being of the earth the well-being of future generations those are like the three top things that we're struggling with right now, we can think of those as like discordant expressions of ourselves. And if we are wanting to get into a more harmonious expression, a more harmonious experience of our well-being, the earth's well-being, and the well-being of future generations,

then it's critical that we come back into rhythm. So what rhythm? Well, the rhythm of nature, the rhythm of the earth, the rhythm of the moon, our own human rhythm. And so, of course, that requires, you know, work, as you said, or practice, because our current discordant environment are giving us a rhythm, right, that has nothing to do with that natural rhythm. And so the expression can only be discordant.

And so when we come back into rhythm, when we recommit to this relationship, then we start seeing things like, you know, really changing your patterns so that you stay in relationship. So I, you know, I have a person in my community and she got herself like this, you know, those umbrellas that are transparent, like clear, clear umbrellas that children have. Well, she got herself a tent like that. So she could sit in her yard in the rain to do her practice. There's another woman that lives in extreme winter in the Shetland Islands. And she wears a life suit to go outside, which is something I had never heard of. It's like this combination of like a wet suit and a sleeping bag that you wear. like an astronaut.

And so, but you can be outside with that. So there's things like that, you know, like figuring out creative ways to be outside to then really transformational experiences, like making very big changes in your life of in the direction of tremendous healing, healing of, of long estranged relationships, healing of aligning your work to what is important to you. So changing the way that you work, changing the way that you're educating your children and the school that they go to. I mean, it just like runs the gamut because once you start coming into rhythm and once you

start prioritizing this relationship, then it impacts all aspects of your life. Yeah. I appreciate what you said about staying with the discomfort, right, like not shutting it out or shutting down, but actually when that discomfort arises, staying with that, staying present, staying present with winter and actually being curious, what is coming up? Where is this, whatever might be a strong feeling? Like you said with the rhythm, when we're responding to only production, like overproducing. over extending, over scheduling, just like the moon helps us find that rhythm. That's that reminder. The reminder, because it does often feel like going against the current. It is going against the current to anchor that rhythm. And I'm hopeful both through, you know, this work with the moon and the work that you're sharing, like the more of us who can anchor that rhythmic way of being, the tides that can

shift. you know, and it's an ancient knowing. It's not like a new, anything to it. It's just new that it's against the current and that it's possibly more of a challenge to, to anchor into that. Yeah, we've, we've, I like to think of the last few hundred years as just like a detour. You know, like we started getting curious and experimenting in certain directions that are now clearly not our interest and so we just need to get back on track it's not really to go back to the past although

the ancestral wisdom provides a lot of information for us it's really about moving forward but like just getting back on track back into like our human track and our relationship with with nature and you know in terms of loving winter i think everybody who has experienced this work um shifts their relationship with winter um that has been my experience and and And, you know, each one of us has certain experiences or ways of experiencing in the world that are our own. And that's what we can share with others. So with this winter situations, it's so odd for me to be hosting this, like I said, because of my lack of experience with, you know, ice and snow and this sort of thing. But sometimes when you have a beginner's point of view, then you can offer a perspective that can be

helpful. And also, I have a, like, I have a natural disposition to appreciating the night, like, I'm able to fall asleep easily. That's something I was born with. You know, I can, I have a facility of attuning to the night. So I'm easy to fall asleep. I'm also, I also kind of have a tendency to really enjoy the new moon. I love that like dark creative, like moment of creative potential, like of choosing seeds, you know, and and also like I am drawn. to hospitals or to like when people are going through a very traumatic experience, I'm drawn into that in a way where some people have an aversion to them, right? Even if it's like their closest friend who's in the hospital,

it's like they can't even go in the hospital. For some reason, there's something that calls me in. And all of those are aspects of winter, do you know? And so because because I have that disposition, And I have difficulty with other areas on my life. Well, I can offer that. And so that has been, yeah, it's been so interesting, like how the turns that life takes in this way. And like the way that life calls on us to be of service.

Yeah. Wow. So beautiful. when you talked about just having that appreciation of the night, I remember something I heard about myself from my parents growing up was you're always burning the candle at both ends. And that's kind of the opposite. I mean, it's just a different experience of really consciously moving into winter

as I have myself each year more and more, as I've attuned to the seasons of the moon have helped me with the seasons of our solar year to go into winter more mindfully. And I think that's what you're offering as that opportunity for people to move into and see really what does come up and what are the potential gifts that when we're closed off we're just not able to receive. Exactly. I'm so grateful for this conversation and so grateful to be a

part of this experience, this innovative listening and connecting in community journey through this month. I will put links in the show notes and we can provide links so you can find out more about Natasha's work and your website. Do you want to share any other ways that people can can find you and connect? Those are the main ones. And I just I just want to say that. our conversation, the recording that you and I made was so meaningful for me. And I just felt very honored to be receiving what was a very tender and intimate story. And I'm just like, it just made me appreciate our friendship even so much more. I'm so happy to have you in my life, you've had such a huge impact and thank you so much for the beauty that you bring into the

world. Oh, it's, it's mutual. And I, when I proposed what I was going to talk about, for me, it's like I can't talk about winter without talking about death and acknowledgement of like winter and death are so intertwined. And I thought, who wants to talk about death? Maybe, you know, to actually trust me to go into those places, not just to trust me, but just to hold that space of it's okay to talk about death. And even to find what's, what is so tender there and what opens up to deep love and connection that's also there through loss. And so I just appreciate you holding that space for the conversation, whereas I did have that doubt or wonder of, Well, no one's going to want to hear about death. So let's talk about something else.

But we're talking about winter when a lot of other living plants, you know, it feels like being surrounded by death because of that process. That regeneration has to go through that phase as well. Yeah. So, yes. So so grateful. And yeah, just looking forward to this experience and looking forward to what opening up to this medicine and these gifts a winter can bring.

And I do feel like anyone who is attuned to the lunar cycle and working with the moon in a very deep and personal and intimate way, we're also working with the seasons. And we're also looking at what is my relationship to each one of the seasons and which ones are more of a challenge and which ones maybe just feel like they come so easily and smoothly. and it's like relating to all parts of ourselves as we are also an expression of nature. That's right. Yeah. Thank you, Natasha.

Thank you, April. All right. I hope you got as much as I did from this conversation. And if you'd like to learn more about Natasha's work, you can visit her website, rosagwayauba. That's rosa, rosa, rosa. guayaba g-u-a-y-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-E-A-Earth. If you like this podcast, please subscribe, leave a review, share it with a friend, all the things to help it reach more people who will benefit in some meaningful way.

I'm April, and I'll be with you next time on Between the Moon.