Speaker 0
Into the wild, I'm going into the wild, I am. It's been a wild freedom challenge since I left my roots back home. Into the wild I'm good. Into the wild I hid. It's been a while, freedom child, since I left my roots back home.
Speaker 1
Welcome to the Free Birth Society podcast. This is a radical space for women who are ready to celebrate their autonomous choices in birth, motherhood, and beyond. Together, we'll learn about wild birth through personal narrative, we'll explore the politics of birth, and we'll analyze everything that relates to our lives as women from a feminist perspective. Here's your host, Emilee Saldaya.
Speaker 0
It's been a wild freedom change. Since I left my rules back home.
Speaker 2
I am joined today by the inspiring activist and my friend, Courtney Piper. Courtney and I share strategies on how to harness the courage to do social justice work, and we offer a call in to you, my listeners, to stand up and speak out against this war on women. We have power in numbers. We have truth on our side, and what we do or do not do now will affect generations to come. Sisters, come one, come all as we find our voices and stand for the healing of this planet through the liberation of women and girls. Alright. Welcome to the show, Courtney. Thank you for being here.
Speaker 3
You're so welcome. Thank you for having me, Emilee.
Speaker 2
So we wanted to actually before we before we frame the the whole episode and and get into our convo today, we we recently received news that a mentor to both of us, Carla Hartley has recently passed, and and we wanna dedicate this episode and this this time together, to acknowledge her life and her work and the ways that she has has touched both of us.
Speaker 3
Thank you, Emilee. I appreciate that so much. I'll try to fight back the tears.
Speaker 2
I know me too. I just started I've been crying all day, so let's just
Speaker 3
let's just Just to be here. Mhmm. Bless her. So, yeah, I wanted to make sure that we dedicate this broadcast to Carla Hartley, who is one of my most beloved mentors. She is an elder midwife in the birthing community, a devout devoted home birth midwife. She pioneered, and created the ancient art of midwifery institute and has trained thousands of women in the art of midwifery. She is, I believe she's Texas born and bred and she's, she's an early, early inspiration to me, not only in midwifery, but in truth telling. So, so bless her. And I and I hope that this reaches her, in some way. Thank you, Carla.
Speaker 2
Yeah. It's really beautifully tied to what we were just speaking on of this this passing on, you know, the big sister and and really how do we hold vibrations of love in, while also experiencing, you know, what what we both would call a a real war on women and girls and how do we, how do we truly learn the spiritual practice of getting up in light, you know, and and and and also in self protection in that in a way, those are those are kind of one in the same. Right? So it's it's it's kind of this beautiful wheel of time, you know, to acknowledge her and also really name that, you know, you and I both really hope to continue to be, mentors to our little sisters and to hold this space that women like Carla have held for us. And and, yeah, I guess that that kind of perfectly frames our intention today as as part of this three part series that I'm doing, to raise awareness around this executive order and and to, you know, help do what I can to promote the the women picket, DC event is is Yeah. I just I wanna name that this is part of what we're gonna be talking about today is getting into the the scariness of truth telling and getting into the courage of truth telling. And, this this episode really, I want I want it to be to call into the the women who struggle with that, the women who are on kind of on the edge, who are internally connecting with their truth, but they haven't quite come into congruence yet. And I just wanna name that I really get it, and I know that my audience sees me as a fierce truth teller, because I am, and it's still scary. Does it get easier? Yeah. In a lot of ways, it does. And and the hate mail and the death threats, lose charge. But it it is a space of of navigating that tension, and and doing it anyway and finding finding the integral path, within this fire walk that it means to be, a woman who stands, you know, whose loyalty lies with women and girls.
Speaker 3
Absolutely. And Carla couldn't be a better example of a woman who stood in her truth, who stood in her, authentic power as a mother, as a midwife, as a woman, as a survivor. You know, what she stood for was the autonomy and sovereignty of birth that women themselves own birth and no one else does. It was very simple, very, very simple. She was a critic of licensure. She believed that any entity or any organization that put itself in between, the heart and hands of a midwife providing care, to a birthing mother was an obstruction of that autonomy. And so her life's work, really influenced me heavily. She was the first person that I saw out on Facebook telling it like it is with no, no apologies, You know? And so in that, you know, there's some symbiotic things happening here, especially with your, with your target market, with your with your with your, with your circle of your community of birthing women, we know better than anyone the power that we behold when we are tapped into that matrix, that creatrix matrix that we, we possess in those really powerful moments when we're bringing our babies down from the ether and embodying them into our bodies and then birthing them into the world. It's a magical, ethereal, ecstatic, sexual, empowered embodiment. Okay? So we're talking about the magic and the power of the chalice and the power of that chalice to birth and bring forth the truth and the light, which is our children manifest in human form. But also when we tap into that power, we can extend it to other areas in our life. And that's why I think midwives, truly authentic midwives are so precious to our communities because they're the ones that are caretaking the comings and the goings, the beginning and the endings, you know, the birthing and the dying and all the things in between. And all the things and all the fortitudes and all the tenacities and all the self assuredness and all the confidence and all the embodiment that we, we necessitate to be ferocious and protective mothers. So these things are interconnected. It's an inner web of knowing and truth and light. And so I hope that this resonates with your your audience because women feel it in their bodies. They know what is right. They know what is wrong. They know what is truth, and they know what is a lie. Animals know the difference between the truth and a lie. They know the difference between a man and a woman. And so this agenda and this quote, unquote gender identity issue that has permeated, you know, the birthing community and every community, seeks to destroy and erode, our intuitions, our knowings, and our truths. So it's a it's a much bigger issue beyond birthing, but I think it's fundamentally important to examine how it, affects birthing because this is this is where life begins. This is where we need to take the most time and the most intention to protect those that are coming into the world is when they're being birthed. So I I can't think of a more important, arena to discuss than birthing mothers and the gender identity agenda. So thank you for having me on, Emilee. I really appreciate this conversation.
Speaker 2
Yeah. Thank you. Thanks for that that intro. It was really a nice way of of calling in the women who who listen to this listen to these stories and and all of the all the beautiful things we have on this podcast. So why don't you give us a little a little intro into who you are on this planet today?
Speaker 3
Hey. I I I've just been, rolling around in that question quite a bit. Well, first and foremost, I'm a mother of two children that I'm extremely proud to raise. I am a doula. I'm a birth attendant. I teach yoga. I, and I'm also an activist. I got into activism work early on in my early twenties. I came out of college. I worked for Planned Parenthood. I was an educator for Planned Parenthood for a few years. I ran girls programs and empowerment programs and education programs. I went on then to work for the state of Oregon and a child protective service specialist, someone that investigates child abuse. So I spent a few years in the trenches, investigating, and catching perps and going to court and and kind of doing, you know, that dirty work that no one really should have to do. So So I have a background in counseling psychology. I have a degree in counseling psychology and theatrical arts, which really lends itself to my activism and, it has lended itself to my work in, midwifery advocacy and birth advocacy. So that's a little bit about me. Currently, I am a member of WHRC, which is a women's human rights campaign, USA. I'm also the director of Women Pickett DC, which is a newly founded, organization that will be picketing in Washington DC on March eighth. And I also run my own production company called Red Tent Productions, which produces podcasts and blogs, called Witch and Bitch, which some of your viewers may know me from. And, yeah, basically all around just mom and entrepreneur, someone who cares about women and girls.
Speaker 2
You know, back when I was on Facebook, I'm I'm not anymore, but when I was, you know, you were under fire a lot. And, I would like I would like you to speak to that a little bit of of I know it's like a giant question, but, like, I wanna unpack that with someone who I know has really dealt with it in in some similar ways as I. So, yeah, I I would like to just kinda go there first of of this enormous question, but take it wherever you want of, like, how do you deal with it? How do you get up, you know, in today's climate and and do what you do and say what you say and stand for what you stand for. And also maybe for women who are new to this concept, what does it even mean? Like, what what do the threats look like? What what are we facing when women speak?
Speaker 3
Wow. Yeah. That's a big one. Let's just I'll put it to you this way. I've never been, I I've never been good with anyone telling me how to speak or how I should act. I think I've always had that rebellious spirit in me, and I owe that to my mother and my grandmother. It's a long, long line of very, very strong women who tell it like it is and are the matriarchs in the center of their their homes and their communities. You know, I think that I I have a a fealty to, to women and the land. I've, spiritually, I've taken vows to protect not only myself, but my daughter, my community, women globally. I have a feel to the earth and to the land. That's my spiritual basis for everything that I do. I seek guidance and counseling from my elders. It's one of the tenants of my red tent, events and and productions that we always have in elder council and that we're always seeking advice for women that came before us. You know, I just sort of landed myself. Proximity is everything, right? Synchronicity and proximity is everything. And I just happened to be in a place and a time in my life where, I could afford to stick my neck out in a sense. At the time, I was married to a man who was providing for our household and I wasn't having to go out and work at the time. And that was the time in which I peaked and I started to realize what was happening with this gender identity agenda and how it was affecting the birth community. So I opened my big mouth is when I did, and I started producing the Witch and Bitch broadcast and talking about what was happening on the ground, because my inbox was flooded with messages from women with all kinds of horrendous stories about how they were being treated. And I thought, you know, it's always been my nature, Emilee, honestly, to be the girl on the playground that's gonna stick up for you. Like, if you're in a position and someone's bullying you and messing with you, I'm gonna get in between you and that person, and I'm gonna shut them down. That's just my nature. So I really felt that I have a privilege and an honor and a duty to speak up for the women that cannot speak up because it is really scary out there and there are substantive consequences for speaking out. However, in the last four to five years that I've been doing this, the tides have turned significantly. And we need women to understand that. Number one, we're so much more powerful in numbers. Like we're so much more powerful for every one woman that speaks up, She allows another woman to speak up for herself, you know? So each and every woman that takes on this charge, who tweets something, who mentions it at dinner to her husband or her family, mentions it to her community is doing a service to all women and girls globally. Okay? So yes, this affects the birthing community in the United States, but this is a global issue. So we need to re remember honestly our privilege and the status that we hold as American women, that we do have an obligation and a duty to speak out because we happen to typically be a bit more privileged monetarily, and and and have the ability to speak out for women that that that cannot. Mhmm. And as far as, you know, how I dealt with it personally, I had a really normative response, I think, to being harassed and doxxed. I lost jobs, I lost gigs, I lost numerous friendships, I lost practically half or more of the colleagues that I would work with. I received rape threats. I've received death threats. I've received threats against my children. And my response to that was to hide in my house for a couple of weeks when it first started to hit. I was terrified, truly, of going to the grocery store and expecting that I was gonna get bashed over the head, for for what I'm saying and and and what my views are. So I had a really normative response to that. And as time went on, I realized that, you know, a lot of their bark is bigger than their bite. Like a lot of cowards are, you know, we have to re remember always as women and as witches and alchemists and women of, you know, that transverse the ethereal and the material. That evil is inherently stupid. Okay? Is it no. This is a real thing. This is a very real thing. It's not that it's not malicious or that it's or that it's or that it doesn't, accomplish what it seeks to destroy. But evil in itself is inherently stupid because it's anti life. And so and this agenda couldn't be more explicitly anti life and anti woman, you know, than than what we're seeing and feeling. And so my thinking is that any witch, any woman in her spiritual integrity can outwitch, can outwitch these nefarious energies. We can outwit them, we can outsmart them. We need to understand that we have that capability and that embodiment, and we need to bring it up from the inside and project it out and use it
Speaker 2
now. Yeah.
Speaker 3
Now in this moment. So I think that's where you wanted to go with this conversation is to really call on women and their intuitive knowing, their grounded power, and to give them a place, a safe place to express what they're feeling and to join forces with the women that are in this movement already so that we can be a unified collective and a unified voice for women and girls, not just in birthing, but the world over. Because this agenda has extremely serious consequences and we can get more into the nuts and bolts of the legislature and the law changes. But I hope that answers your question.
Speaker 2
Yeah. It's making me think of a a really challenging, plant ceremony that I I had last year right before COVID hit. And it was it really kicked my ass, and it was really gutting and really hard, and it really did boil down to the battle of light and dark. And I saw evil and felt evil in a way that I hadn't before. It was like I was finally resourced enough to be able to handle seeing it. And I had this moment where I looked over to the shamans as this really scary, sludgy, dark energy was sinking into the room. And I looked over to the shamans with this thought, and it's pitch black in there. And I I look over to them kind of like, you guys see this. Right? Like, you're you're gonna help me. Right? And and and, of course, yes. And as they begun to the singing had stopped and they begun to to burp and to clear some of the the bubbling, you know, feeling some of the bubbling of the shift in the room, it occurred to me that I could tell the darkness
Speaker 3
That's right.
Speaker 2
To get the fuck out. And I got up. I physically, like, got up in my body, and I just, you know, called in, God consciousness. You know, I just called in the light, and I looked at this really scary stuff that was just, like, taking over the room. And I said
Speaker 1
That's right.
Speaker 2
Get the fuck out. You're not welcome here. Go back up those fucking stairs. And and it did. And it was it was this big moment for me where I understood on a new level. It wasn't just intellectual. I really experienced, kind of like what you said, that evil is stupid. It's also weaker because where there is light, there cannot be dark. And so I emerged from that ceremony being incredibly clear that that the journey was to clean up my spiritual field. And and the visual I had was kind of like I was a mesh screen door was all around me, and all of the little holes was where I was weak, where I was not mentally strong. And I was allowing all of the darkness to come through these little mesh holes in my auric field, and what those holes were there from my own self sabotage, from my own self loathing, from my own, mental weakness, the the areas in which I, am still committed to not be in my full power and excellence.
Speaker 3
Well, if you're in your embedded programming, darling. It's not just all you. It's your embedded and it's the all the things. Exactly. Of course.
Speaker 2
Of course. Of course. Totally. Yeah. It's not like it's my fault. It's just there. And but it was so cool because it it was so obvious how to tighten up the field. And and, you know, and I emerged with a lot of different lessons. One of them was, a remembering of of the importance of altars throughout my home, the importance of singing to the plants, the importance of, obviously women's circles and, you know, these things that fill my system with clean, light, protected energy. And so, yeah, I I think this kind of obviously weaves into part of what's under attack now, and I spoke about this with Kara as well. But around the the it's like to address the importance of female only spaces is is it's like painful that we even have to talk about the importance of it. And that is a part of my spiritual practice that keeps me clean and clear.
Speaker 3
Yeah. It's it's really important to keep I've in the last four years, I've had a crash course in spiritual hygiene. Okay. You're absolutely right. These things permeate our our auric field, our energetic field. And we know this from quantum quantum physics now. We know that the heart emits a frequency that's larger than the brain. We know that the body itself is frequency. It's just a matter of density. So we really are in charge of our energetic power. You know, I have a girl friend who I love dearly who actually made the official artwork for the poster for the women pick a Disney event. And we always joke that she shoots rainbows because she just has this incredible energy to shoot, love and joy and, you just embody that childlike wonderment in everything that she does. And she really does shoot rainbows. So this this draws back to a really important, concept that every every woman, I think, and every ally needs to employ. And that is keeping our energetic fields, healthy and standing in our truth and our light. And there's various ways that you can do this. This is a whole another podcast that we could talk about, how to keep our auric fields clean. But essentially, in this battle against, this ideology that is truly nefarious because it seeks to destroy the autonomy and sovereignty and sanctity of the life bringer, which is a woman, adult, human, female, is that we our best protection is standing in our truth and our light. In fact, I take a lot of advice. I take advice from everywhere that I can seek it. I have elders on my council. I have strategists that have been, you know, in, you know, worked for the opposition. I have people in my ear all day long. But who I listen to the most are, my my light team and my spiritual advisers. And we pulled a card the other day specifically to address the protection needs of this particular event and for women moving forward. And the card came up as the son of God, essentially, the son of light, which can be interpreted as the truth. So we're talking about Christ consciousness. We're talking about truth and light. We're talking about love, all the things that Doctor. Martin Luther King, was, you know, always preached, the embodiment of truth and embrace and, you know, those tenants that will set you free. They may not feel as though they're setting you free right now, but we know in our inter in our intuitive knowings that this internally sets us free because we are no longer constricted then with the disembodiment or the cognitive dissonance, which this agenda, you know, forces upon our energetic selves, right? For every time that we're out there speaking the lie that men could give birth or that men are women, or we don't see what we're seeing, or these
Speaker 1
men aren't raping children in the bathroom, or, you know, when every time
Speaker 3
we speak this lie, we disassociate, disembody from our powerful, energetic and embodied selves. And that, my dear, that is the mission of patriarchy. Okay? This is the same patriarchy that our mothers had, our grandmothers had, our foremothers had. It's just highly technical. It's highly advanced. It's cloaked in AI, highly funded. There are billions and billions of dollars coming through the pipelines to fund the Smith Farris agenda. And we can prove that. I can show you that. Okay? And here we are, you and I, two grassroots moms with microphones holding the line. And do you know why we're holding the line? It's not because we're wealthy and it's not because we have millions backing us. It's because we're standing in the truth and we're standing in the light and we're standing in our divine feminine, our female power, which is about to shake the whole world up if people only knew, right? So I want women to know that what you're feeling right now, the confusion, the anger, the frustration, the sadness, the people pleasing, all of this, you know, you know, seek out women like Emilee and myself, seek out your circles, seek out your sisterships, listen, you know, sit in circle and galvanize one another and help each other come into your full embodiment so that you can speak your truth and stand with us. This is this is extremely important.
Speaker 2
And it really it really does get easier, you know. It's it's like a muscle the more you practice it and you get that feedback loop of truth and power and protection, you know. I I really I feel very spiritually protected because I am on purpose and I am for life, like you said. It feels really protected even though, like, I named already, sometimes it still, of course, feels scary. I still get rocked. I still get, you know, it's never, like, it's never awesome to get the messages and the threats that that that we we navigate. But it really does get easier. And and and like you're saying, I mean, and so much of, you know, this podcast is about sharing stories of women, claiming their power so that we don't lose those stories. And when a woman births in power, the ripple effects of that, are are incredible. I've I've seen it, you know, time and time again, but I it's the same thing as when a woman speaks in power and when she mothers in power and when she partners in power and when she literally anything. And so that this concept of, you know, I work with women all the time who are like, how do I speak my truth? How do I how do I find it? How do I get the courage? And and it feels like this thing outside of them that they have to, like, go find. And I'm thinking about a couple of sessions I've done this week where they all kind of said the same thing with a little bit of a different a different topic. But essentially, it was, like, one woman was talking about, I I don't wanna get the vaccine, you know, over my dead body, but everyone in my life wants me to get it. And I said, well, so what's the problem? Right? Because that that's just a story that that would even be a problem, that somebody wants you to do something you don't wanna do. That's not necessarily inherently a problem. I said, what's the problem? And she said, well, you know, what do I do? Because I'm gonna I'm gonna just have to lie. I'm gonna have to say I got it or I'm gonna have to actually get it, and I'll probably just get it because, I can't live in a community where I'm the only one that doesn't get it. And it really struck me, because it is an example of trans ideology framework. It's an example of this whole thing that we're dealing with of, can we risk? Can we afford the social risk of going outside of the patriarchal mainstream narrative? Can we risk the free birth or the choosing not to engage in pharmaceutical injections or speaking up that, you know, women own birth? Can we really risk that? And to your point, yes, we can. Particularly when there's a community at your back and when we're allied in numbers and you're not there, you know, you know, all of you that are are trying this stuff on that feel like you're out there on the edge alone. You are the lighthouse that has to start speaking so that the other women know that they can speak too. It's you know, I talk about this in the context of free birth all the time, but free birth is just one example of where we can apply this exact same, freedom and integrity framework, you know, onto all of it.
Speaker 3
Right. Absolutely. And Emilee, I would say this, and I I mean this from the depths of my being, we cannot afford not to speak up. Exactly. We cannot we cannot afford to not speak up at this time, this place. It is it is it it behooves everyone, everyone, the human race, all of humanity that women step into their light and their truth and their power ground out, pull up from the earth, allow Gaia to hold you. She's got your back. Okay? The ancients have your back. Your ancestors walk with you. The time has truly come. The time has truly come. We've been speaking about this, you know, for half of my lifetime, I've been conscious, you know, for maybe twenty, twenty five years, I've been conscious of this day coming when the truth will out and women will truly rise up and stand in their power. And we're seeing this materially. We're seeing more women in politics. We're seeing more women CEOs. But just as the women's movement started to gain traction, you know, really in the eighties and nineties, and women started talking about their bodies and, you know, holding circles again and doing all this. And, and, and, and especially in the birthing community, which was, you know, having my children was the, was the pinnacle of my empowered, you know, sexual experience. It changed my entire life, having a home birth truly changed my entire life. You know, so this agenda seeks to destroy those spaces, Not only destroy those spaces, but take away our words and our language, which is indicative of how we connect and conspire.
Speaker 2
Yeah.
Speaker 3
It's an act of war. It's a material, economic, and spiritual act of war against women and girls, this agenda. It's very, very simple. And so, you know, your community of women that are birthing, just simply needs to just transfer what they've learned in their embodiment, you know, practices in birthing or yoga or martial arts or whatever field that they're in that makes them feel strong and empowered and transfer that same energy into living their lives holistically and out front and, and, and totally embodied and in their voice. And one of the ways, just one practical way that women can address this, a good, a mentor of mine, her name is Vazra Ma. She's a political spiritual activist and she does embodiment workshops. And she often talks about the connection and many of our mentors do thinking of Wapio as well, talk about the connection between our voices and our Yoni. Okay. So there is a, there is a physical connection that the openings of the Yoni and the openings of the vocal cords are, are, are similar just even in their like material makeup, but there is an energetic connection between our Yoni and our voice. So the more that we are embodied in the chalice and embodied in the Yoni and empowered in our sexual power, the more that we can activate a clear and concise spirited voice. Okay? So there, there's, it's a symbiotic relationship. We have to address both things. We have to address both things. And you're right. It's a, it's not just, it's a healing. It's a healing that we're being asked to do, a healing that we're being called into. And it's imperative that women take this as seriously as they take anything else.
Speaker 2
Mhmm. Yeah. So why don't we get into it then?
Speaker 3
Sure.
Speaker 2
So what do you what do you want us to to know and understand about this order? And and, you know, I've I've asked the same question to to the other two guests, but I still wanna hear your take on it because I I also know that hearing things multiple times is really helpful for Yeah. For our brains. And then also, I haven't spoke too much about what women picket d c dot org really is. So why don't you?
Speaker 3
Sure. Thank you. Yeah. I mean, you know, I just wanna say that it takes me a minute to catch up with the latest news and what's going on too. So no one feel that they you know, repeating ourselves is the name of the game. Okay? We're up against ginormous. We're up against billions of dollars of narratives that are being pumped through the mainstream news, repeating the same mantras over and over again. And so we're really up against some very, high powered, indoctrination. No. So we, we, we live in this really divisive political and spiritual climate where everything is so black and white and there's no room for nuance or conversation. That's the whole reason that I do my witch and bitch podcast, the way I talk constantly. I really love the art of debate. I love people disagreeing. I love people reaching across the aisle and and finding those connections and finding those similarities. I mean, the bot at the end of the day, we're all women. At the end of the day, we're all humans and we're here for the collective good. And so it really, you know, it resonates with me and I understand women who are on the liberal end of feminism wanting to do the right thing for humanity and thinking that inclusion is the way to go in all areas. But I'm here to tell you that that is not true. Okay? Inclusion. Inclusivity is large enough to house exclusivity. And what I mean by that is within inclusivity, we still must maintain discernment. Okay? We must maintain our protective capacities and our common sense in this quote unquote inclusion. Look also that word is just so handcrafted as a narrative to make us feel as though if we have any opposition to what they're laying down and what they're forcing us to do, then we must be bigoted. We must be hateful. We must be excluding people. The reality is, is that human beings in the United States are protected under civil liberties, and then they have laws and the constitution in place to protect our civil rights. Trans people that identify as trans are no different than any other person under the law. What we're talking about, and when we're talking specifically about this executive order, when it comes to Biden's executive order and the pending equality act is something entirely different. What we're talking about is conflating gender identity with biological material reality or AKA women and females as a protected sex based class. We cannot conflate gender identity with material reality because they're not parallel things. One is something that we hold in our minds, an ideology, a thinking, a religion, a belief system. The other is rooted in reality, in material, observable, measurable reality. Okay? So they don't, they're not two of the same thing. Gender identity isn't the same as sexual orientation and it's not the same as biological reality. So I do have to repeat that over and over and over again. And what this allows for is essentially for anyone who identifies as quote unquote a woman as a gendered identity as a woman can then legally be represented as a woman in so many areas of life, which is a disservice and a detriment to women and girls because we live in a volatile violent World where men and patriarchy seek to rape and murder us, molest us, snuff us out of scholarships, snuff us out of political positions. We live in violent times and there's a reason that we have these sex gates, segregated spaces. So, you know, the EO specifically and Kara is so much more brilliant at discussing the legalese around this. But what the EO that Biden signed essentially does is it enforces a policy from the federal government down that tells organizations that receive any type of federal funding. So that could be any federal buildings, school organization, what have you, that they must enact these new policies around gender identity within the first hundred days or within a hundred days. And I believe we're already, you know, however many days, thirty days into this. So we don't have much time left. This also lends itself to the a Equality Act that's slated to pass through Congress, essentially, without any contest.
Speaker 2
Yeah. My understanding is that the bill was just reintroduced on Thursday and is expected to go through Congress and then right. And then it'll be it's expected to have a tight divide in the senate.
Speaker 3
Yes. A tight divide in the senate, and this is the thing, is that we are a small, you know relatively small and underfunded coalition International coalition of women that are trying to get this information out And so I wouldn't be surprised if it was passed right under my nose while I was sleeping these things happen so quickly right? So quickly. And it's meant to, it's a strategy to put us on our heels and, and to not know which end is up. But essentially the EO is a policy, implementation, which bullies, agencies into compliance. And then the equality act itself then enshrines these policies into law, which subsequently renders women and girls and unprotected sex class. We are no longer identified by our biological sex. So it seeks to erode and erase our sexual sex based protections. This is horrifying. This is absolutely horrifying. Like the the the
Speaker 2
claims of protection we even have.
Speaker 3
That's exactly right. That's exactly right, Emilee. I see this often enough. It's not as though, okay, in the United States that there is any deterrent system whatsoever for raping a woman or a girl. Okay? This is what we see day in and day out. Women are no, I've never gotten justice for the times that I've been raped and molested in my life. All of those things get pushed under the rug for one reason or another. Even when I did go to law happened to be highly skilled.
Speaker 2
It's a less than three percent conviction rate.
Speaker 3
Michelle Shughart Absolutely. So, it's not as if there's a deterrent system in place in the United States or anywhere else in the world to keep men from molesting and murdering and raping women and girls. And so any logical person would understand that we don't want unwanted males in our private spaces. We don't want men to be allowed into our bathrooms, our locker rooms, our prisons, women that already are as vulnerable as, as anyone in society, women in prisons, women that are in nursing homes, women that are in the hospitals, women that are birthing should have the right to to their to their preferred, you know, practitioner or to be surrounded by female only attendants. This is our right as females.
Speaker 2
Something Kara pointed out was what you see statistically is that trans identified males have they assault and and abuse at the same rate as non trans identified men.
Speaker 3
Absolutely. Because they're men. So there aren't special But I think that's Yeah.
Speaker 2
But I think that's an important piece there that that I that the the bleeding heart, you know, person is like, but I have trans friends. Like, those are the ones that need to be protected. Like, those are the ones that would never hurt a girl. They just want a safe bathroom too. And it's it's short sighted. Like, of course, like I like I even have to say this. Of course, there are lovely trans identified humans. Of course. That's not that's not really the conversation.
Speaker 3
That's not the conversation at all. Right. That's not the conversation at all. And I happen I have to have personal friends that are trans identifying. I that's not the conversation at all. The conversation the left
Speaker 2
shapes it.
Speaker 3
Well, the the left okay. So the to me to be really honest with you, my personal opinion is there's really not a big difference between the left and the right anymore. Okay? The left sees women as public property and the right sees women as private property. Okay. There's not, there's the two wings of the same bird. We need to back it up and get some perspective on the, on the political, you know, systems in this country. And And
Speaker 2
do you do you see the right capitulating to the trans agenda in the same way? Because I I don't.
Speaker 3
I don't. I don't see them. And we've caught a lot of criticism for that because, a lot of feminists, you know, do align with some of the same values that right wing conservatives do. It's it's it's it's a bizarre world out here. I don't know who
Speaker 2
I am. Like, I'm like, where do they belong? I don't know.
Speaker 3
That's why I wrote up I wrote up what I wrote, you know, a short manifesto about, do you feel spiritually and politically homeless, sister? Because I sure as hell do. I sure do. And so I decided to create spaces for us so that we can have homes, so we can roll around in this nuance, so we can discuss this without penalty, so we can discuss this with open hearts and open minds. Okay? I love people. I love children and I love mothers. There's only two types of people in the world. See, Buddhists would say, children, mothers and their children. So we seek to protect all of humanity. So this is the distinction I want to make. This is what happens. Yes, of course. You know, people who are, different who step outside normative stereotypes, or what have you are often persecuted or have a harder time in life. That is true. However, it would make more sense to me to run an education campaign that educates men, violent men and men who don't, you know, who, who need to be educated about the LGB, who need to be educated about trans identified people, to educate them and, and insist that they are non violent against these marginalized communities. Don't put it on the backs of women and girls. Do I want my eleven year old daughter in the bathroom at target with a violent trans identified man who has a history of AGP or has a history of being, you know, I'm not saying all trans identified people are this way. I'm just saying that when we allow for anyone to identify and to be in our
Speaker 2
space, we're setting the precedent.
Speaker 3
We're setting the precedence and we're allowing for our women and girls to be less safe than they ever have been in history. In history.
Speaker 2
So embarrassing.
Speaker 3
In history, women didn't have public restrooms a hundred years ago. Okay, women didn't have the right to vote women didn't have the right to own property now we're now patriarchy has just evolved Into this other anomaly. We still have bathrooms now, But we still don't have bathrooms. This is what we're saying. And this is why Cara's concept of, you know, same shit, different century really resonates because we really are turning back. We're turning back the dial a hundred years. I can't stress enough. We really cannot stress enough what a dire emergency this is. We really need women and allies to pay attention to what's happening politically because if and when the equality act passes, it will be enshrined into law that women are no longer protected as a sex based category. This is huge. On top of that being enshrined into law, we've already been indoctrinated and bullied into using compelled speech. And this is, and this is, this is, what I want. I feel you. I feel you all the way from the tips of your toes, the top of your head and everything in between. This is a spiritual war. Okay. If we do not have the language to connect and conspire, we have nothing. And in the, in the words of, elder white Eagle, and she spoke about this agenda and she spoke about what we need to do to persevere. We need to take back our song. We need to take back our prayer. We need to take back our rhythm, every marginalized community that has suffered genocide and enslavement have used their voices and their rhythm and their spiritualism and their and their song and their dance to continue to evoke the truth and the light. So no matter what they do to us, we need to tap into those tools and we need to utilize those tools. Yeah. So if you do nothing at all, please join us in preserving the sanctity and the sacredness of women centered language.
Speaker 1
I got
Speaker 2
an email about two weeks ago from a a young woman considering taking our school, the Radical Birthkeeper School. And she said, I just attended my my midwifery school, the virtual tour, and it was made very clear to us by three, midwives that the word woman will not be used here. The word woman will not be allowed to be used here, and that they are doing their work to rid, their school
Speaker 3
of this, of women. It's mind blowing. Yeah.
Speaker 2
And and thankfully, she, you know, said, oh my god, no, and and bounced and
Speaker 3
And that's what it takes.
Speaker 2
Our school.
Speaker 3
And that's what it takes. You know, you know, consumers have power. Women have power. You know, you get to choose where you spend your money. You get to choose where you're educated.
Speaker 2
And you
Speaker 3
get to, you know, so absolutely. I'm glad that she walked away. Fantastic.
Speaker 2
And the the it's I mean, it's happening in midwifery schools all over. And obviously, you see it on Instagram, you know, in the birth world, all the birth pages, for the most part, have capitulated to this. Although, I'm very proud that all of our students have not. And and we are now seeing from my little, you know, sliver in the world, seeing more of an uptake of of woman centered language and birth. But there was a there was a time there where it was it it really felt like there were just a couple of us, you know, willing to
Speaker 3
There was.
Speaker 2
Continue it. Why? It's so nuts. And there's like doula trainings. Like, all of these these women will reach out to me. Oh, yeah. The first day of doula training in LA was was how not to ever assume someone's a mother and make sure it's not in any of your contracts. And, you know, we don't wanna see any, you know, any, offensive words, you know, and openly just saying saying the word the word mother and woman is is offensive. So I I know that behind closed doors, a lot of women roll their eyes at this and and don't capitulate to it. And I also know a lot of women aren't willing to speak on it. And so that's kind of the the the the piece that we're in right now where what would it feel like, in you know, I'm posing this question to to you listening. Like, what would it feel like in your life to come into a deeper sense of congruence, you know, where your insides match your outsides, you know, defined really as integrity. Like, what would it look like? What could it look like? And I really encourage you to try it on with some wonder questions. You know? Meaning, I wonder what I could do to come into more truth and integrity. I wonder what I need to say. I wonder what I need to do or not do. I wonder when I speak up, you know, and just try it on because here's the thing, you already know. You already know where you're out of integrity. You may just not have taken that pause to really investigate it, which I understand. But that that's kind of my ask, you know, if you've if you've made it through this series and you're and you're you're feeling, connected and lit up by it, great. That was the point, and now do the work. And so it can it does start internally first, and then it really just happens, you know, in your household. It happens, like she said, at the dinner table. It it doesn't have to be these front lines, grandiose leadership positions. It doesn't need to be that, that's totally invited and welcome, but it's it's in your home. It's in your community. It's in your church. It's in your women's circle. It's in your the festivals you go to. You know, I'm I'm sick of of hearing friends of mine go to women only festivals where they they allow trans identified males who assault them in the bathroom. You know? I I'm sick of that. I don't I don't I don't want this to be our daughter's story, and and it doesn't it's not gonna just magically end.
Speaker 3
That's right. It's not just going to magically end, unless we we force it to magically end with with embodiment and our power. And every woman has that ability to stand in her truth and to resonate out that ripple effect either in prayer. So I'm offering you some suggestions. Embodiment, prayer, speak it, Write it. Sing it. Own it. Be it. Simply embody the truth. Don't stand down. This is for our daughters. This is for the next seven generations. This is for humanity. This is extremely important that we do not capitulate to this nefarious agenda. It's not that the, you know, and there's so many victims in this. It's not just mothers and their children. It's every it's everyone. It's, it's trans identified people that are falling victim to this agenda that are being medicalized. The children that are being medicalized and confused and mutilated. I mean, it's absolutely an atrocity, but we do have the power to stand up to it and to stop it. We absolutely do. Imagine, I know you, I know you, you, you you have the same vision, Emilee. I just I know that you do. You you you the vision is for every woman to be embodied in her sacred knowing and in her sacred power. If every woman was tapped into that, there would be nothing that could stop us. Absolutely.
Speaker 2
Even like half. Even we
Speaker 3
don't even need everyone, you
Speaker 2
know, like fuck. That's
Speaker 3
absolutely true. I want to bring into what you said, like not everyone has to be at the head of the era. And a lot of women say this to me, Courtney, I can't do what you do or I can't say what you say. That's fine. You don't have to. Leave that job up to me and to other women that are on the front lines. That's okay. And you know, one of my mentors, Ruth Barrett, gives a wonderful example and she talks about the arrow. If we think of ourselves as an arrow, some of us are at the head of the arrow. We're taking it on the chin. We're out there, you know, doing the dirty work. And then there's the body of the arrow and, you know, the stabilizing force. Those are the women that are ghostwriting for us that are writing blogs and blogs. And then there's, then there's the women that are the tail feathers. And I think of those as our crones and our elders that are sort of guiding where we need to go. But there's, you know, not everyone needs to be at the head. You have a place along the arrow, but this is the thing, we need you to pick up your bow.
Speaker 2
Yeah.
Speaker 3
Okay? We need you to pick up your bow. We need that warrior spirit. Your daughters need it, your granddaughters need it. We're calling on you. She's calling on you. And if you're feeling this in your body, if you're getting a confirmation, then heed the call, answer the call. I want you to know that for every friend that you may lose and you will lose, you might lose in your community, you will gain in spiritual sistership. You will gain a global, an international community of women that have your back and not just in a material reality, but in all of our metaphysical reality. True. It's absolutely true.
Speaker 2
It's really true. I've really I've really experienced that. Yeah. Okay. So I I guess I yeah. I wanna offer just a couple of of really, really freaking basic basic things that anybody, you know, could could stop do start doing that would be helpful. You know, if you have been playing with not saying woman or mother, stop stop stop considering not doing that. If you do put out, you know, any sort of of copy online, if you have an Instagram page, if you're a birth worker, please use the right language. Use our language. Please. Like that, that's where we even have to start. But but I get it. And I'm I mentor women who who come to me being like, okay. So I think I've been brainwashed. My entire website's gender neutral and I'm a doula. So if if that is you, it's okay. You're welcome here, and please change it.
Speaker 3
Yes.
Speaker 2
And and, you know, here's the thing. Here's what's gonna happen. You're gonna get a couple of DMs of, like, virtue signaling trolls. It's not gonna be that big of a deal. It doesn't matter. Just expect it. And then that is why what Courtney's saying is you need to have your women. You need to have the women who have walked this before you who can who can, like, smack you back into what matters and, like, hug you, you know, and be, like, it's okay. Like, they they don't matter. It's okay. And and I think it's You
Speaker 3
can do this. You can do this. You know, you can do this. It's so much like birth to, you know, that moment when moms are in transition and they're just, like, I can't fucking do this. Right. Get me out of here, Emilee. Like, get me out of my body. Send me to the hospital. I'm not doing this. And you just you do it however you do it. You just get down and you say, you are doing this. You are doing this. All you have to do is just be. Just be in it. And that's all women have to do, just be themselves. Be their glorious, beautiful selves. Be proud of being a woman.
Speaker 2
And I don't wanna beat around the bush that, like, this requires a new level of boundaries you have probably not set up yet. You know? It means that you work on your people pleaser. It means that you, that you set up boundaries. It means that you don't have conversations with unsafe people. It means you block and delete. Like, it means certain things of stepping up, you know, with this warrior spirit, but it's from the the persona of the mother bear. Right? It's from it's it like we said at the beginning, it's from a space of love. It's not it's not like the male warrior, you know? It's like the wicked Jedi female.
Speaker 3
Right. Which The creatrix. We are protecting life itself, the sanctity and sacredness of life and our knowing. We are the embodiment of that. So we we stand to protect that. That's what we're holding sacred. And I just I wanted to touch on a couple of things and just circle it right back around to dear Carla, because this this this strikes to the heart of our community and and a lot of love that I have for her. You know, she founded the ancient art of midwifery institute, which was one of the first grassroots online midwifery education systems. It's since been sold, to someone else and that language has been, gender neutralized and it has been quote unquote, queered. And I know for a fact that that was not Carla's desire and that she went to her grave truly, distraught about that very thing because her entire life's work was centered around upholding the autonomy and sacred sanctity and sacredness of, of embodied birth and women being at the center of their own birth and being empowered by their birth. And the fact that that has been stripped from her namesake and stripped from her legacy, cannot go unnoticed. And, you know, I feel again that it's my duty and my privilege and my honor, to to uphold her values and to uphold what she believed in and what she fought for. And so I just I just wanna make that clear that Ancient Art of Midwifery Institute once was one thing and it is no longer, because of this identity war. And, I know that it broke her heart. I know that it literally broke Carla's heart. And I, and I wanted to share that. So on behalf of the women that have fought for us, in their entire lives who have carved out these spaces, for women like you and I to speak freely on behalf of our body, bodily integrity. If anything, right now, if you cannot show up to Washington DC, if you're too scared to speak out at the moment or you're just screwing up the nerve to get there, The one thing that you can do right now is support this campaign. You can support the women and the allies that are that are putting themselves on the on the line who are seeking to protest this EO and seeking, to protest the Equality Act and demand reformation on this. And we welcome you to join our coalition. We're still onboarding delegates. We only have two weeks to go before this event on March eighth, but we're still onboarding women, and we we wholeheartedly accept your donations and support.
Speaker 2
So that's women picket d c dot org. And please yeah.
Speaker 3
Yeah. Absolutely.
Speaker 2
Please support.
Speaker 3
There's a lot of ways that you can support. You can go to our web site. It's women picket d c dot org, and there you can click on the give butter campaign, and please give generously. We have astounding costs associated with this event. I mean, we try to keep everything grassroots and minimal, but the protection the protection alone. Yeah. It's ridiculous. It's astronomical. I have to hire private security and women essentially have to wear body armor just to speak in public. I mean, this should alarm and astound anyone that I have to go to these lengths to protect women They're simply, you know, exercising their freedom of speech. So donating is one very helpful way that you can help us. Go to our Give Better campaign at, womenpickettdc dot org. You can also sign the declaration on behalf of, the Women's Human Rights Campaign, and that link is also on our website. And we encourage you to do that also.
Speaker 2
Beautiful. And do you wanna throw down any of your personal links if people wanna follow you?
Speaker 3
Sure. Absolutely. You can reach me at witchandbitch dot org. And, my girlfriend just finished my website this morning. There's a place where you can buy me a coffee and I could really use more coffee. So please push that button. That would help out a lot too. Witchandbitch dot org. You can find me there.
Speaker 2
Awesome. Thank you so much.
Speaker 3
You're so welcome, Emilee. It's just been a blessed adventure with you. I love and appreciate you, sister. Thank you for having me on.
Speaker 2
And that's it for today, my sisters. Check out everything we do, including one on one and group coaching, learn about our private membership, in person retreats, and more on free birth society dot com. Our online courses are on free birth society courses dot com, including our flagship course, the complete guide to free birth. Don't miss the radical birth keeper school if you're ready to become the authentic midwife that women are searching for. Together we rise, and the revolution starts inside each of us. Our opening song is by Shyla Rae. And now I'll leave you with our Freebird Society theme song, Wild Woman by Aruba Redd.
Speaker 4
I honor you for the wisdom you held, the ancient traditions of plant medicine and womb magic. Magic. I feel the spirit of the ancestors as I place my hands upon my belly. This sacred portal will be honored. Eons upon light beams of survival, withstanding the eradication of our power by design. I will not allow the separation of our young to be forced upon me. My sisters will no longer birth in captivity. The picket line we define from burning our wild women to paralyzing us and drugging out babes. Strapped down in a clinical white bed, drying up the milk from our breasts, keep your needles. My family will never again be doomed to chase those dragons all your poison. We rejected your fear. We choose love. Everything with intention. Death, ascension. I will fly and bring her back from the star. Wild woman, she still lives in inside. Wild woman, from you, I will not hide.
