Poema Podcast

Today my friend, author Sarah 'The Human', joins me to tell her story of deconstruction and spiritual awakening. Sarah talks about what led her to begin questioning her faith, and where this path led her and the challenges she faced along the way. She also shares how the more she asked questions, the more she moved away from what she'd known, the more she saw how she'd been 'borderline brainwashed' by evangelicalism and toxic religion. Sarah also shares how this impacted her relationships, with family, her husband and other communities - and how in the process she discovered a deeper, wider spirituality, and more of her true identity. 

My friend, tarot reader & eclectic witch Cat, joins me today to talk about an important and not often discussed issue - spiritual capitalism.  Sharing their own experiences and insight, Cat unpacks what spiritual capitalism is, and how people can be & have been exploited by certain groups or individuals as they seek support and guidance on their spiritual journey, using some prominent examples. They explain how we can discern the difference between truly wise and gifted people who genuinely want to help us on our journeys, and those just looking to manipulate us. 

TW: spiritual abuse, emotional abuse, domestic abuse,  **** In this episode my friend Kacey tells their story. They share their experience of growing up in an evangelical home, the expectations and demands, and their experiences of several types of abuse, in particular from their ex-husband.  They talk about the impact this had on them physically, mentally and emotionally.  Kacey then talks about how they finally began to break free from this environment, in the process deconstructing their faith and their very identity. They tell us the challenges this brought, what they discovered about themselves, and how they've finally discovered freedom and embodiment in this process. Kacey is both inspiring and courageous, and I'm so grateful they shared their story today. Please Note: Since this was recorded Kacey has come out as non-binary. When this episode was originally recorded they had yet to do this and were using different pronouns (including she/her). As such different pronouns to their current ones are

I'm honoured today to be joined by best-selling author, novelist, educator and activist Rashid Darden.  Rashid tells us his story, and his lived experiences growing up and living as an LGBTQI black man raised by a single mother, and how this influenced his writing and his activism. We explore together how pop culture and black & LGTQIA representation, past, present and future, and why it continues to be increasingly important.  We also touch on examples from the MCU, Superman and even Doctor Who (a mutual love) where we are seeing more representation and his hopes for this. Rashid talks about his own experience of watching Black Panther, and the significance of that movie and the metaphors & messages within it.  Rashid has so much wisdom and insight on all these important issues, and it was an honour to chat with him.

**TW: conversion therapy** Today I'm joined by writer, PhD candidate and lecturer Luke Wilson, to hear his story of deconstruction, as well as his experience with and escape from conversion therapy. Luke lays bare his lived experience of conversion therapy and how he broke free of this and how this impacted his own mental health, his spiritual journey and his work. He also tells us about the advocacy and writing he does now, against conversion therapy and other practices which hurt the LGBTQIA community.

Special bonus episode today, with my friends Kevin Nye and Emma Morrison where they and I chat together about the award-winning show, Wandavision. We explore the themes of processing grief, certainty and how this show gives us an echo of the roots of fundamentalism and oppressive systems. We explore some of the deeper themes and story arcs and reflect on what the story means for us, and what we can learn from it. This is also a semi-preview of my second podcast, launching this coming week, "The Kryptonian, the Princess and The Avenger", where all three of us (me 'the Kryptonian', Emma 'the Princess', and Kevin 'The Avenger) and others will be chatting every fortnight about the stories which shape us, talking about movies, TV shows and other geeky stuff which inspires us.  You can follow the new show on IG and Twitter @KalElLeiaKevin and it'll be on all podcast platforms soon. Meanwhile the Poema Podcast will continue every week...with some great guests coming up in the next few months!

Today author Holly Smale, author of the bestselling Geek Girl books, joins me to share her story and talk about the lived experience of being autistic.  She talks about her writing career, and how creating geek girl actually helped her discover she was autistic and get a formal diagnosis. We discuss together our shared lived experiences of being autistic and the challenges autistic people face living in the world as it is - and the stigma and lack of understanding which still exists.  We also talk about how we've found solidarity and support in fictional characters such as Tony Stark (we're both MCU fans) and what we can do to create a better world for autistic people. 

Today is the 300th episode of the Poema Podcast (despite some numbering issues with iTunes), and to celebrate, my friend Becky Castle Miller is acting as host, in a semi-fun ask me anything! Many listeners and friends sent in questions, and I had no idea what they were before recording. Questions on podcasts, how the podcast started, on my dreams, on creativity, spirituality, curiosity and a whole lot more. This episode was so much fun and a perfect way to end 2021 on the podcast. I'll be back in January 2022 with lots more incredible guests and episodes. 

Today I talk with fellow singleton Kristyn DeNooyer about the challenges of singleness and stigma around this, and the importance of hospitality to and by single people in order to have healthy support networks.  Kristyn shares her own story and the challenges she's faced and how its impacted her mental health. She also discusses the stigma single people can often face in spiritual communities and even society and how it can affect us. And she gives us hope and insight into how we can make the world and churches more welcoming, and accepting of singleness.

Today my friends Trace Bell & Tina Olsen join me to talk about everything spiral dynamics - and how we can apply the concept of spiral dynamics to our every day living and grow in awareness and consciousness.  We talk about what spiral dynamics is, and Trace and Lisa unpack some very practical lessons they've learned about how we can use spiral dynamics as a tool. They explain how living the spiral can help us live more creative, healthy lives, as well as growing in our own level of consciousness. 

My geek philosophy series continues today as writer Doug Humphries and I spend time reflecting on the season one of 'Loki' and the lead characters personal journey.  We explore how Loki confronts his past, his actions, and his grief and goes through an incredible personal deconstruction & transformation, and how his journey is often reflected in our own. We also talk about the similarities between TVA and evangelicalism/capitalism, - a system we are part of and seems friendly, but has a sinister side - and a lot more too. This is one of my favourite shows, and one of my favourite episodes in this series.

Today my geek philosophy series continues, as my friend Drew Brown and I sit down to discuss the series 'Falcon and the Winter Soldier'. We explore the character arcs of the two central characters, their processing of grief and trauma from the events of Avengers Endgame and loss of Steve, and how this journey helps them discover themselves.  We also explore the issues around systemic racism and white supremacy in the US and how these manifest themselves in the show, and the lessons they can teach us.  This was a fascinating conversation which covered a number of important topics, and Drew has some great insights to share. 

Today on the podcast, another in our occasional series of deconstruction / spiritual transformation journeys, this time blogger and author Deborah Brunt.  Deborah shares with us her experiences of growing up in a toxic religious environment and the spiritual abuse she experienced, and how it impacted her faith & her mental/emotional health. She tells me how in order to follow what she believed to be a call to ministry and be free of this abuse and toxicity, she had to make tough choices, and let go of everything she'd known in relation to her life and faith. **TW: Spiritual abuse, toxic religion**

Today my friend Marie joins me to tell her deconstruction story. She talks about how she and her husband found their way into evangelical culture as adults, and how she slowly began to feel trapped in toxic religion. She shares her experience of purity culture and how this impacted her marriage & her faith. Marie then tells us how she began her journey out of of toxic religion and purity culture, and found true liberation on the other side.

**Trigger warning: Narcissistic abuse, spiritual abuse, emotional abuse** My friend Ana returns to the podcast today, to share her lived experience of narcissistic abuse within Christian fundamentalism.  It's a powerful, discomforting story which shows us the depths of narcissism within evangelical Christianity and patriarchy, and how challenging it is to break free of it.  Ana tells us how she found a way to freedom, her deconstruction, the challenges she faced along the way - and still does - and how she discovered freedom to be fully herself & embrace her identity an LGBTQIA native woman.     

Today I'm joined by John Howey, otherwise known as Bridge Livwat, who shares with us his personal, spiritual and creative journey. He talks about his faith deconstruction and the journey from aspiring worship leader into creating his own music, and his creative and spiritual journeys intertwined and interacted. We talk about our shared love of the work of Rob Bell, and how he's impacted each of our lives and journeys, including the principle of sabbath, and time. Ultimately, it's a story of how John escaped from a God and life which was caged and restricted, to a an uncaged life and spirituality, with a divine who is not contained by religion or structure.

My friend Cat, tarot reader, joins me today. They tell their powerful, challenging story from evangelicalism through deconstruction into tarot and spellwork, and coming out.  They also tell us about how they discovered the transformative power of tarot and spellwork, and the impact it's had on their life.  It's a discomforting but honest story, of Cat's experiences within an evangelical cult, the struggles of leaving it behind and the freedom from discovering & embracing their true identity. ***** My podcast is free, but if you want to support my work financially, you can do that either on PayPal or CashApp: PayPal: https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/jamesprescottwriter  Cashapp: @£JamesPrescott77

Today I'm joined by podcaster, creator, artist and spiritual mentor April Kling Meyer. April tells us her own story and talks to us about the intersection between creativity and spiritual journey. She shares through her story and experience how our spiritual and personal journeys inform our creative journey. Finally, we discover how we can use the energy of grief and trauma to transform our lives, our spirituality and allow us create something fresh, new and life giving.

I'm honoured to be joined again by my friends Jenna DeWitt & Holly Stallcup today, to explore healthy sexual ethics in the church and being sex positive. We explore topics like masturbation, sex toys and other things which rarely get discussed in church environments. We also go on to explore different sexual ethics, and how we should honour and respect each others sexual ethics, even if they're different.  We discuss how harmful it can be to force one sexual ethic on everyone, and how sexuality in our culture is very static. We share about how this static view differs from our basic biological make ups, which are all very different and how every ethical expression of sexuality - including things like abstinence and asexuality and waiting till marriage  - all belong.  Holly and Jenna have such wisdom in this area and talk with such honesty, in a way which is reassuring, inclusive and encouraging, without shame. 

I'm honoured today to be joined by Suzanne and Declan DeWitt Hall, authors, activists and Christians. They tell us their story as a couple, and in particular the journey of Declan to embrace his gender identity. Declan talks about his own journey of coming to terms with his true gender identity, being honest about this with herself, before God and the world, and beginning the transitioning into that identity.  It's a powerful, courageous story, which shows once again the divine loves and accepts us as we are, for who we are, and is fully inclusive of the LGBTQI community.