Episode 61: Leading a Soft and Intentional Life, with Yarrow Magdalena

"Yarrow Magdalena lives a soft, slow life in Scotland and creates rituals and ceremonies for the big and small milestones in life. They also write, make textile art, host a podcast, swim in the sea all year and do a lot of queer dreaming.

Yarrow shares her practices as an offering that you can receive and make your own – they are woven together from independent celebrancy, European folk magic, expressive art and exploratory weirdness. She feels that ritual is healing and healing is always political, which is why she is offering sliding scale programs."

In this episode, we talked about:

Softness encompasses many of Yarrow’s values: slowness, textures, intentional life, sustainable and regenerative pace of living, environments that feel creative, open and nurturing
“Softness is often feminised and seen as ‘not strong’, but the ability to soften into grief and change is powerful”
Being inclusive to anyone across a wide gender spectrum
“Untangling and unlearning productivity culture is a deep and exciting process”
Burnout as a catalyst for change
Yarrow feared student debt, and worked as she studied with The Open University
Accessibility including people with chronic illnesses or disabilities
Sliding scales so people can afford her services and she receives a fixed income to be able to feel safe on a basic level
Monthly memberships with Patreon so she doesn’t constantly have to be in ‘launch’ mode
Tools for economic justice such as sliding scales and scholarships
We can’t take on the burden of collective structural problems as individuals
Redistributing wealth in a fair way
Being open to uncomfortable conversations about money
“Healing is Political” - Jennifer Patterson and Alexis Cunningfolk
Social, political and environmental issues affect us on a deep level
Eco-grief
Sophy Dale, founder of ‘The Writer’s Studio’
Yarrow wrote her book ‘Rituals: Simple and Radical Practices for Enchantment in Times of Crisis’ in 6 weeks during lockdown (she also states that for the first few weeks prior to that she didn’t do much more than crying, lying down and eating comfort food!)
Cultural appropriation
Permission for fluidity, and making practices easy
Altars as a focal point for spiritual practice
Discipline, commitment and play
The gentle dance between listening and fluidity, and structure
Taking a break from social media, to become intentional with what’s being received from the phone
Clear boundaries to own what is good/ true for ourselves
The body already knows
Tarot to access information that’s already known in the body
Working From Home can enable you to find what works for you
“Exploration suggests that we’re off the beaten track and we’re not taking a given path for granted”
“Weirdness - embracing differences, allowing us to follow what’s true for us”
“It’s easier to follow what everyone else is doing”
Being effective rather than productive
“Efficiency isn’t exclusive to capitalism”
Redistributing care work more fairly such as cleaning, child-rearing
Rituals to create intimacy, process, anchor and make space. Three stages of ritual: beginning (separation/ stepping away), middle (liminal/ reaching beyond), ending (integration/ coming home)
Magic as a way of valuing the unseen just as much as the seen
The healing potential of small business
Working from home tips: rhythm in the morning to transition from dreamspace to starting work, clearing her inbox daily, allocating space in her calendar rather than to-do lists, moving around