Welcome back to 🌿🌙 THE EARTHY WRITER: My Rewilding Year 🐝✨
This is episode 12, where we explore the harvest season and share eight valuable lessons for the eighth month of the year. As we enter August, we’ll dive into the wisdom of both Aboriginal culture and the Pagan Wheel of the Year, discovering how these traditions can help us reconnect with nature and ourselves, and I’ll share eight lessons I have harvested since the beginning of the year.
In this Rewilding Episode, you’ll learn:
- The significance of Djilba, the Wadandi people’s “season of conception”
- How the Pagan harvest festival Lughnasadh relates to our modern lives
- The importance of understanding women’s unique needs in relation to nature and health
- How to interpret and respond to opportunities the universe presents
- The value of embracing failure in personal growth
- Why music is a powerful tool for rewilding and self-expression
- The balance between personal authenticity and others’ expectations
- Understanding life’s seasons of effort and reward
- The shift from competition to collaboration in nature and human society
About your host:
Hi 👋, I’m Gisele Stein. I’m a novelist and a nature-lover, writing magical women’s fiction from my cosy cabin on Wadandi Boodja in Western Australia.
Get my free novella ONE WILD EMBER, the prequel to an intoxicating new urban fantasy series. ‘Practical Magic’ meets ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ in this rich and rebellious story of magic and matriarchy, love and loss (series title & full blurb tba)❤️🔥
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Episode Links:
Episode Transcript:
Happy New Moon, everyone. And thank you for being here with me today.
Let’s take a moment to acknowledge the Wadandi People, the traditional custodians of the land I’m speaking from today.
And it is August now, which means the Wadandi here in the South West of Australia have moved into the season of DJILBA.
It’s a time when the days slowly start to warm up again, and we get an explosion of wildflowers over the next couple of weeks as we move towards Australian Springtime. Yonga
This is a transitional time of year with some cold and clear days mixed with rainy, windy and the occasional sunny days.
Djilba is also known as Season of Conception.
And this is actually very much in line with the Pagan Wheel of the Year, where witches in the northern hemisphere celebrate “Lughnasadh” – the harvest festival. And while most of us might not technically be harvesting the fields anymore – many of us don’t even have a garden these days – this is still a time to look at the metaphorical seeds we’ve planted earlier in the year, a time to take stock, and also a time to allow ourselves to believe that everything we’ve worked so hard for will come into fruition, possibly even during this harvest month.
And I was out hiking this weekend, spotting the first wildflowers and catching the first rays of sunlight after what felt like a constant cover of cloud and rain… which is a direct quote from Twilight, isn’t it? — Anyway, I was out hiking and actually fulfilling my monthly rewilding challenge that I didn’t announce during the last full moon, so I thought I’d do so now:
My current challenge is to start a nature journal. So, I’ve vowed to draw and study one local plant a day, and I will share the lessons I learnt from this in two weeks.
But I was contemplating this time of conception, of harvest a lot and reflected on a couple of lessons I’ve learnt this year. And I thought for this new moon episode, and the eight month of the year, our harvest month, I’d share eight lessons I’ve truly taken to heart this year with you.
I hope these will inspire you just as much as they continue to inspire me, and without further ado, here they come:
Rewilding Lesson 1: Women’s needs cannot be measured or compared to men’s.
I learnt this lesson during my wild swimming month, when I felt that the ice-cold water might actually do more harm than good, at least during the second half of my cycle when, really, what I crave and need is warmth and cosiness rather than that ice-cold shock therapy.
I have since been looking into this a lot more and have begun to question a lot of what modern medicine and society has taught us. For instant, recent studies have actually shown that women on average need much more sleep than men, think 9-10 hours each night, and we also require a lot more rest throughout the day. We also need about 26-28% of body fat for a healthy cycle and ovulation each month, to eat different kinds of foods to support our hormonal health and not be under too much stress because we are just that much more sensitive to it.
And this relates to something I explored during my toxic social media episode, where I compared the female egg with the male sperm. The sperm is racing to get to the egg, it’s a hustle, it’s a race – but the egg actually has no part in any of that. The egg simply sits and rests peacefully waiting for all the goodness to arrive. The feminine is a magnet htat attracts, rather than a race car that chases.
Sometimes, the most productive thing to do is to rest.
Rewilding Lesson 2: When you ask the Universe for something, she will never just give you the thing you want, but instead ask “Are You Ready?”
When you ask for courage, health, money, love, the universe doesn’t just give you all those things. It gives you the opportunity to be courageous, to get healthy, to make more money, to fall in love.”
When you ask for something to happen, you will get the opportunity to get it, but you still have to make the effort to go out and do it.
I learnt this during my month of animal communication when, as soon as I said, I would like to learn how to talk with nature, I got all these opportunities to talk with nature. Suddenly, animals appeared in my orbit and I got the chance to try it out. When you ask for something, the next thing you need to do is not to ask for that thing to appear in your life but to look for the opportunities you’re given to draw that thing in your life on your own accord.
Rewilding Lesson 3: Give yourself permission to fail
Like so many people around the world, the first half of my 2024 was spent being constantly in awe of Taylor Swift. I wouldn’t call myself a Swiftie by any stretch, but I have been following her journey and I think the way she keeps re-inventing herself and keeps rising from her own ashes is truly something to be admired and to learn from.
“Imagine a world where women feel as safe as they do at a Taylor Swift concert?“
But it’s one particular quote of her that I have relay taken to heart this year, and I will link a video to it on my blog, but for now, let me read it to you. This was after she’d just received an award, and she said:
“But I do want to say that the thing with these exciting nights and moments and specifically this award that I’m so lucky to have gotten is that they’re shining a light on the choices I made that worked out, right? The ones that turned out to be good ideas, but I really, really want everyone to know—especially young people—that the hundreds or thousands of dumb ideas that I’ve had are what led me to my good ideas. You have to give yourself permission to fail. I try as hard as I can not to fail because it’s embarrassing, but I give myself permission to, and you should too, so go easy on yourselves and just make the right choices that feel right for you and someday someone one day might thing you’ve been innovative.”
So, that’s what I’ve really tried to embrace during my rewilding year: To fail, to make mistakes and not be scared to show that I’m not perfect, that I don’t have it all figured out and that I’m struggling with certain aspects of my job but also certain aspects of how the world works and what is expected from us, especially as women.
Rewilding Lesson 4: Music is one of the most powerful tools in my arsenal.
- Creating Pattern Interruptions: Music has the unique ability to break us out of our routines and thought patterns. When we introduce music into our day, it can instantly shift our mood and perspective, helping us see the world with fresh eyes.
- Inviting Playfulness: There’s something inherently playful about music. It encourages us to let loose, be silly, and embrace our inner child. This playfulness is crucial in the rewilding process, as it helps us shed the seriousness that often comes with adult life.
- Dance Breaks Boost Endorphins: Moving your body to music, even for just a few minutes, can have profound effects on your well-being. Dance breaks release endorphins, our body’s natural feel-good chemicals, helping to reduce stress and improve mood.
- Feeling Heard and Understood: Music has a way of expressing emotions that we sometimes struggle to put into words. When we find a song that resonates with our feelings, it creates a sense of being heard and understood, which can be incredibly comforting and validating.
- Singing Releases Stress: The physical act of singing, regardless of your vocal abilities, can be a powerful stress reliever. The vibrations produced when we sing can help release tension in our bodies and minds.
Conclusion: Incorporating music into our rewilding practice can open up new avenues for self-expression, stress relief, and joy. Whether it’s through listening, dancing, or singing, music offers us a direct path to reconnect with our innate wildness and vitality.
Rewilding Lesson 5: People are going to be the most pleased with you when you do what’s best for them, not necessarily for you.
I’m the type of person who constantly reinvents herself.
Joan Didion once said “I have already lost touch with a couple of people I used to be…”
And I feel so seen in that quote because I have lived what sometimes feels like three or four different lives, and I know that this can be a challenge for the people around me.
And I think that’s why many of us are scared to start something new, to change or to go after the thing we truly is — is, you know “us”. But ultimately, this is your skin, and you are the one who needs to live in it, day in and out. The one person who should be utterly and unconditionally in love with yourself – is yourself. And it doesn’t matter how silly or messy or not in line with who you were five years ago it looks to all the other people. The only way to find your own magic and let it sparkle is to do whatever it is you want to do.
And then other people will be drawn to that, and they will be the people who stick around.
Rewilding Lesson 6: Some years are for paddling, other are to ride the wave.
Last year, I wrote this caption for an instagram post, and it’s something that’s actually way too valuable to me to just drown out there in the social media flood, so I wanted to read it to you again today:
“Three years ago, I started a secret journey. Tucked away in quiet corners with a notebook, or up late at night with my laptop’s glow, I was writing. No fanfare, no announcements. Just me and my dream of making up stories. It was my silent pact with myself.
I was paddling.
Every stroke, every word, was a testament to that dream I held close to my heart: to be a writer, telling stories even if the world wasn’t watching.
It’s the paddling, not the ride, that makes you stronger.
It’s all those long nights, those rewrites, those moments of doubt. But in all that time of quietly making things, I was so engrossed in anticipating the wave, that I never really considered what would happen next.
It’s terrifying, sharing something you poured your heart into. And – every creator knows this – once your creation is born, it’s no longer yours. You have to let it go.
You have to let go…
And so, as I sense the swell beneath me, as that wave begins to catch, I somehow find my footing and learn to trust the swell. Because once I stand on that board? It’s time to ease into it and bloody well enjoy the ride for a while.
Knowing I will fall off eventually — but with a smile — and then paddle back out and do it all over again.
Rewilding Lesson 7: The natural world runs on collaboration, not competition.
Darwin’s taught is about the “survival of the fittest”, and that has been the rule for human behaviour for centuries. Competition has become the basic feature of all life, something unshakeable, universal… But more and more research from different fields is throwing this concept into serious doubt.
And two of my favourite reads during my rewilding year deal with this very idea, that our earth does indeed not run on competition (or at least not alone), but just as much on collaboration, community and connection:
The two books I’m referring to are:
Why this matters:
Competition might indeed not be so natural, or at least not more so than collaboration, and this insight could hardly come at a more opportune time. With our ecological crisis mounting, we urgently need new ways to think about our relationships with the other beings of this world.
We, as a species, have internalised Darwin’s idea that nature (and thus, our human society) runs on the survival of the fittest, so that’s how we show up in this world every day, and that’s the lens through which we interpret everything we see: We believe, in order to thrive, we must get ahead, be better than others, fight our way to the top. No wonder humans have all but forgotten that we are part of nature — you cannot be a part of something greater if deep down all you know is to compete with your environment.
You see how important this shift might actually be? To acknowledge that competition is not the whole picture means acknowledging our role in the greater web of life. To solve the ecological crisis, we need a new story (which, of course is really an old one…)
Rewilding Lesson 8: Adventures are great, but they mean very little if you don’t have a home to return to.
That’s what this rewilding year is truly shaping up to be for me, it’s an opportunity to connect with my forever home here in Western Australia. I used to travel a lot throughout my twenties and thirties and it’s only recently that I have settled down over here, and I’m here to stay for good. And I am truly embracing the excitement of getting to know a place throughout its seasons, noticing the changes, learning the weather patterns, noticing the first whales coming down the shore and the first wildflowers set are blooming right now. And it’s something that has been missing from my life for a very, very long time. And I always said that I travelled that much to find a place like that because I can’t tell you why but I always knew it was not going to be my home country, Germany where I was born. I was always looking for for a place where I could lay my hat, so to speak. It’s like I love to travel and I’m so grateful. It was such a privilege to travel as much as I did. But now to have found this beautiful little cabin looking out into nature and my desk from where I’m speaking right now with all my favourite things. I haven’t had that in a very long time. And it was worth the search, that is the conclusion I’ve come to and I’m enjoying it so much to be out here in this wild part of the world that’s so peaceful in so many ways. And I feel like I belong for the first time and I’ve got so many plans for things to do in this area. And yeah, it’s that’s probably the biggest lesson of them all. Adventures are great, but you have to have that place to return to that sense of home and belonging and cosiness and comfort.
So thank you for being on this journey with me throughout its ups and downs and changes all over the spectrum. I feel *so* blessed and grateful that you’re here. And now I’m going to go sit out on my porch, watch the rain and draw my plant of the day for my nature journal, and I’ll tell you all about that in two weeks from now.
Until then, do something wild this week. Bye bye.
Hi ♥️, I’m Gisele Stein, author of feel-good novels with a little magic and places like characters, which i craft from my cosy cabin on Wadandi Boodja in Western Australia. Have a look at my books here. I’m also podcasting as The Earthy Writer, to document my rewilding year: Every new moon, I set a new rewilding intention for the month, and every full moon I share my learnings with you…