Discovering Nature-Based Spirituality and Its Interconnectedness
Hi, I’m Doctor Mary Newstrom.
Speaker 2
And I’m Dawn Morningstar, welcome to Soul Fire Sisters, a sacred space where we ignite women’s inner fire, awaken their truth, and share soulful conversations that inspire, heal, and empower.
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Each episode we dive deep into themes of self discovery, intuition, feminine wisdom, and spiritual growth, guided by raw stories, fierce honesty, and a shared desire to live boldly and authentically.
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Whether you’re on a healing journey, seeking deeper connection, or ready to rise in your power, you are not alone.
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Dawn Morningstar, which is her given name, has been a Women’s Self Empowerment Coach for 37 years, is the award-winning author of Venerable Women Transform Ourself.
Transform the World is a former radio talk show host, a podcast host, Ted, ex speaker, the creator of Radiant Face 18 and Co founder of New World Women.
Speaker 2
Doctor Mary Newstrom is an internationally known shamanic teacher, spiritual minister, and a keynote speaker.
She founded Zenith High LLC and created Spirit Flower, a shamanic study program for women.
She’s committed to helping women and men develop a strong sense of purpose as they examine and understand how to stand clearly in their power.
Speaker 1
Welcome to the sisterhood, Your soul showed up for a reason.
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So welcome everyone to episode 4.
What is nature based spirituality?
Speaker 1
Well, what is nature based?
Spirituality is a topic near and dear to my heart because I’m a shamanic teacher, shamanic practitioner.
It is really looking at how everything’s interconnected.
We are connected to the earth, the elements, plants and animals, and everything is sacred in nature, sacred and interconnected.
So not only are we connected, of course, to people and our pets, but the water and the trees.
And we’re not separate from nature.
We’re one.
We’re part of this web of life and web of light that I like to talk about and the fact that really our energy, our high frequency, high vibration really helps also become be in unity and harmony with nature as well.
And that’s why we want to treat it that way.
It’s a sacredness.
We also recognize that we’re in a cycle with nature, of course, honoring the sun and the moon.
And here in Minnesota, we have Four Seasons and really going deep with that as well.
But nature based spirituality to me is even more than that.
It’s, it’s understanding that we have spirit guides and spirit animals and the spirit of the land help us live in harmony and balance as well and one with ourselves, our families, our friend and also with nature as well.
Speaker 2
I love that.
And aren’t there some studies that show like the actual physical benefits of being out in nature?
Speaker 1
Of course.
And naturally, nature is our greatest healer.
That’s why I encourage everyone to walk in the woods or on the Prairie by the water and really get out nature if you can.
No, it’s best maybe to to be barefoot or be touching the earth as well so that you’re really getting that connection.
But we all feel better when we’re outside, maybe have a slight breeze or the wind and, and the sun coming at us that it’s hard not to feel uplifted and feel good when you’re outside, even if there’s a light rain.
Maybe some people like to be out there when there’s more torrential rain.
But yeah, it nature’s our greatest healer, it can really bring us back into feeling grounded and really high frequency, high vibration.
Speaker 2
Exactly.
Finding Grounding and Connection by Being in Nature
I want to circle back to your idea about our feet touching the earth.
IA few months ago decided that I was going to try out minimalist footwear.
And what that is is there’s very little soul.
It’s a shoe that goes in your foot.
It looks like, kind of like a little jogging shoe, so to speak.
But there’s no platform on the bottom.
And when I wear them, I it’s as though I’m walking barefoot in, you know, in the woods or wherever I’m walking.
And I actually do notice a bit of a difference.
They’re not the most beautiful shoes in the world.
And I’m a girl who likes a good shoe, good looking shoe.
But I wear them most of the time now, not caring as much about how they look as how they make me feel.
And so that’s something that’s been really interesting for me because I live outside of the city in St.
Paul, MN, and there are lots of sidewalks.
It’s a beautiful neighborhood to walk through.
And so when I can’t, when I don’t have time to go to a little forest or be by the river, my favorite place in the world, and I’m walking my dog in my neighborhood, I still, I’m getting that grounded connection.
Not as much because I’m on concrete.
I understand that.
But wherever possible, I walk on the grass with my dog.
And that is a really beautiful way to be connected.
And you’re absolutely right, I always feel really good when I come back in.
And it’s not just the act of moving that’s making me feel good.
It’s also, like you said, that I’m outside in nature.
Speaker 1
Absolutely, I, you know, absolutely.
And I think really embracing those changes in season and getting out, like you said, and looking at connecting with the earth.
That’s why so many people have a a dog or they’re walking one it it’s the the to get, get outside and get that fresh air, get that air.
Absolutely.
Speaker 2
Yes, yeah.
And, you know, there is an epidemic of two things in the United States.
One is depression and the other is loneliness.
And I do feel when I go outside that it does uplift my spirit for sure.
And I don’t feel as alone.
I live alone, and I don’t really suffer from the loneliness problem.
I’m very blessed in that regard.
When I walk outside, I do feel connection with all the little critters.
I pay more attention to birds when I’m outside and the little squirrels.
And, you know, sometimes really getting surprised by seeing a deer.
Not not here in downtown Saint Paul, but you know, even at the river, the park where I go is not that far from the city, but I do see deer there.
And so it reminds me always of as you, the word that you used is the perfect word, our interconnectedness.
Exploring Nature-Based Spirituality Beyond Organized Religion
My question for you is how do you think that nature based spirituality is different from other forms of spirituality?
Speaker 1
Well in some ways it’s different, in some ways it’s not because actually nature based spirituality can include a number of different things such as paganism, A shamanism, that’s what I labeled the spirituality I follow.
But animist type of thoughts, which also is how I label what I’m doing as well.
Speaker 2
Did you say animist?
Speaker 1
Yes, that’s that’s just a that’s a word that’s just understanding that we’re all interconnected and understanding that we’re all interconnected and we have a direct relationship with nature as well.
Not something over, but we’re all in communion and all in a together.
So that’s it goes back to that web of life, that web, that web we have of that interconnection.
And so in that way, nature based spirituality can take forms in many different ways.
So you a person may have a friend that’s studying paganism, I’m studying shamanism and so on.
Someone might be studying eco spirituality but those are all nature based spiritualities that might have different techniques with how to approach things.
With shamanism, the idea is really the different dimensions, and it may be with all the other ones too, but it’s the different dimensions which I’ve talked about or will talk about with the upper world, the middle world and lower world.
And that you access those different dimensions for your spirit guide spirit animals, for healing and divination.
That’s a key component of shamanism as well.
But where it really is different is if what’s nature based spirituality versus a religion.
It it is not anywhere in that category of what is a organized religion, which is a religion has a dogma.
It has things like thou shalt not and it has rules that usually, you know, it has people that.
Speaker 2
Are.
Speaker 1
The head of it running it telling you how you have to act, think and things like that.
Where with shamanism, this nature based spirituality that I’m following there there’s not a dogma.
That’s why it’s not a religion.
There’s guidelines.
And when you study with me, a person will learn the foundations of what leads to a successful like shamanic journey, for example.
But really it’s your experience.
The other thing that’s different is there’s no intermediate, intermediate person that is giving you the messages.
For example, Catholicism, there’s a priest that gives you the message you they’re, they don’t encourage direct communication.
And if you do have that, they, I think they tell you that’s a no, no, we’re shaman and some of the nature based spirituality.
We want you to have that direct communication.
We want you to go out in nature.
We want you to connect with your spirit guides that help you connect with the divine and getting those messages.
So that’s it’s really fundamentally different because it honors sovereignty in a way that we’re individuals, but interconnection and that free will that that we all have that free will, which is so different than than the a organized religion.
Speaker 2
Well, I love what you just said and we’ll carry on the conversation in this direction.
Take it in this direction.
Where as a child growing up being taught Catholicism from the time I was 5 or 6 being told how paganism in particular was really evil.
It was demonic and pagans were just demonic and evil and horrible and stay away from anything like that.
And I don’t remember the word shamanism or shamans being used at all.
But Pagan sure was.
And so was witches or Wicca.
They didn’t use the word Wicca, but they would say witches.
And if anybody does any kind of even just a light dive into looking back at the origins of paganism and Wicca, it’s it’s so the exact opposite of what we were taught.
It’s very loving and kind to nature, being one with nature.
And so it makes me, it made me question even as a child, why is this?
Why are they so evil?
And come to find out, it was simply that Catholicism did not want competition from any other groups.
And so they had to just make it wrong and bad.
And so, you know, it’s it’s really liberating is what I’m getting at, to see that.
My goodness, no.
And these were the original forms of oneness.
Speaker 1
Well, and also, of course, we can even dive deeper and we will in in future episodes.
It was because those were women that were the witches and and Pagan and not not that guys can’t be involved with those, but but it’s like they didn’t want to have women have any power.
And So what do you do is you strip that away.
And then there’s the if, if a holiday has a particular strong following, you just change the name and call it something religious and, you know, run with that.
But yeah, it was, it’s again to keep women out of their sovereignty.
And so they don’t have any power.
And certainly they that’s why too, it’s still with these organized religions and most of them women have a limited role.
Speaker 2
And if any.
Speaker 1
If any?
Yes, if any.
Speaker 2
And it’s not just the sovereignty being kept from women, although that is predominant.
It’s self sovereignty kept from everyone like.
Speaker 1
If you have.
Speaker 2
To have an intermediary in order to talk to your divine, that’s not very empowering, right?
Actually.
Speaker 1
That’s a really good point.
You’re 100% correct and when when people attended a few of my talks or and as people, the listeners may be getting all ready with our podcast is free will sovereignty really important to me.
I hit home on that and getting to know your your guardian angels and shamanism.
We happen to call them spirit guide, spirit animals.
And it just means you’re getting to know the, the the guides in the other dimensions that really want you to succeed and have the life that you want here.
Sometimes we have to work through those challenges to do that.
But absolutely and no one should have that right that that you can’t talk to God, the divine, whatever you want to call your higher power, you should be able to do that.
A person should be able to do that.
Personal Stories of Finding the Divine in Nature
Yes, absolutely.
And, you know, it reminds me, this discussion is reminding me of when I was about to get married many, many, many years ago.
I’m no longer married now, but when I was planning my wedding, it was really important to me to be married outside.
Because even though I’m not quite as much of A nature girl as you are, Mary, I do love nature.
I love being outside.
I love being, you know, by the ocean and by rivers and mountains and all of that and forests in particular.
So it was very important to me to have the ceremony outside.
And so I had not been a practicing Catholic for many years at the time I got married.
And yet it was really important to my family that I got married Catholic.
And so I thought, well, you know, I’ll check it out.
And so my fiance and I, we went to a priest at a Catholic Church and told him what our plan was.
We wanted to get married outside by a stream.
And he said absolutely not.
He said no, He said that is not.
He said something about like it has to be in a church and it was implied that God isn’t outside.
I mean, he didn’t come out and say that, but I’ll say it differently that more that God was inside, you know, in inside the church buildings and all.
Gosh, I found myself returning to my earlier questioning of all of this from when I was a child.
And I said, so are you saying then that God is not outside or the divine is not outside?
I mean, isn’t the divine more outside than in a building?
And so we went back and forth and we all agreed that this was not going to be a good a good match.
And so thankfully, I was able to find a Unitarian minister who was very open to the idea.
He said, I don’t care where you get married.
He said, just tell me where to be and what your, you know, like what your intentions are with getting married.
And I thought that was a good question, you know, a good, good way to frame it.
And so I had my wedding outside by a stream with little ducks walking around.
And it was a beautiful day in Northern Virginia.
And I am still happy that I had the ceremony that I wanted and that I did not give in to the I was.
I’m using reasoning with air quotes that I could only be married in inside of a building.
And so I still think back to that day.
Speaker 1
That sounds like a beautiful thing and I’m glad that you found an alternative because as we know, outside is probably where more God is than inside.
So I, I, I love being in nature.
I really know in Minnesota we have a small window where because I don’t do winter camping and that means I really have to hit it hard in the summer.
I’m gone a lot camping or I’m an instructor for master naturalist at through the University of Minnesota Extension department, do a lot of outdoor work that way.
And then of course teaching my shamanism class if we’re out in nature and we do field trips and things.
But really I just, and I feel really held and embraced and feel much more grounded the more I can spend out nature.
And that’s why I like to be outside because of my connection.
I get a clearer understanding of where I’m to go forward and the messages and so on.
And then when I go to Peru, I get to spend time outside in the Amazon jungle and I take groups to the Amazon.
If you’re in, if people are interested in that, reach out.
It really is just a way for me to balance and to stay in balance is the best way for me to do that is stay in balances.
I need to be outside doing my shamanic connections, doing my nature based spirituality so that I can serve much broader and at the depths that I need to.
Speaker 2
Serve I love that so nature really has befriended you throughout your entire.
Speaker 1
Yes.
Speaker 2
You said earlier it was in your DNA before we started recording.
I love that.
And I, I would say that one of my most authentic spiritual experiences is when I am at a particular place along the Mississippi here in Minnesota.
It’s a, a floodplain forest, which means it’s very, very lush and green.
And the first time I went there, I felt such a sense of the sacred.
I’ve really, I felt like everybody in that park needed to be really quiet, kind of like when you go to the redwoods where, you know, it’s like, OK, everyone, let’s just be quiet and, you know, experience this.
And so when I am there and sitting by the Mississippi as the water’s flowing by and feeling, you know, this lush is the word that keeps coming up.
It’s just so verdant, green forest all around me, and just that little strip of sand.
I feel one with nature.
I see these extraordinary birds flying overhead.
I hear the rustling of the leaves with a little gentle breeze going by.
Like you said, we’re very blessed here in Minnesota to have Four Seasons, and I don’t really go there in the winter.
I have maybe a handful of times, but not regularly like I do in the spring, summer and fall.
And it’s just a very real effortless way to connect in with all that is for me when I am in that place.
There are other places too, but that one’s easy to get to and it’s very beautiful to me and I really cherish it.
Speaker 1
I love what I love about Minneapolis, living in Minneapolis is the water.
And that’s when I, I think if you live in Minneapolis, I think it’s called the city of, of lakes, yes.
And.
Speaker 2
1000 Lakes.
Speaker 1
And, and that is really true.
And so we’re I think that I have such an affinity for water, but I tend to love everywhere I go and really try to embrace that when I travel a lot, I’ve traveled to beautiful oceans and force and spend time on the Prairie, the desert.
It it.
I really just try to embrace everything.
But I think I really like being around a body of water in and but I love I love it all.
I love it all.
So I just I can’t I could never narrow exactly what Biome I like the best or what climate.
And even in this in the winter, when I said, hey, I don’t go camping, but I love being out in a crisp winter evening day.
Whatever in Minnesota, which it can it it doesn’t quite get as cold as it did before because the climate change, but still it can be pretty nippy and 40 below and and there’s nothing like you know what that crisp the air and energy.
I love it all.
I love it all and I think I think as I grow older like something like that.
I might love a little bit more next to a fire inside looking out, looking out, but I try to embrace it wherever I am and of course have some favorites where I like a few more things maybe a little bit more than others.
But with shamanism, we connect to the spirits of the land where before we, we arrive somewhere to honor and to make sure that we’ve we’ve we’re in harmony with the spirits before we even arrive to the land.
That is a ritual that we could share later on as well.
Speaker 2
Well, could that weave in with what you’re about to share, Mary?
The truth of me practice.
The ‘Truth of Me’ Practice for Higher Vibrations
Well, the truth of me, yes, I, I this, the truth of me practice.
Every episode we are sharing a activity we want you to do, and this one is to go outside.
Should be an easy one.
Go outside if you can.
Now let’s say you can’t get outside for whatever reason.
You could, if you have a house plant or something, be next to the house plant.
But for those that are going outside, it being in nature, I always recommend that you try to do without earbuds.
So obviously you’re not listening to our episode and while you’re outside, the reason why is because I want you to really drop down into your your body feeling grounded, feeling the earth beneath your feet.
Maybe you can go barefoot or doing some minimalist shoes or flip flops where you’re off the paved path and you’re really feeling the earth and you are listening and observing any positive, positive omens.
And maybe you are hearing the spirit of the lands or the spirit of the trees.
Maybe there’s a bird that comes by that you have a great affinity or connection to that You feel like, oh, I’ve loved that bird since I was a young kid.
That more than likely is a spirit animal spirit guide for you animal guide.
And so I think just connecting that way, that is the exercise we want you to do.
The truth of me practice going outside in the OR taking your journal with you, maybe making some doodles, some pictures for those that are more a little bit more artistic and writing down what were the messages you got?
What were the messages?
What were the feelings you got?
Even if they seem like, oh, I’m, I don’t know, maybe I’m making this up.
Write that all down and and do this continually, writing things on.
Speaker 2
Nope.
I think we lost Mary for a second saying I think you’ll can you finish that?
Speaker 1
Sentence.
I think that you’ll just, you know, be able to really connect with the spirit of the land that way.
Speaker 2
I love that.
I love that.
I love how you’re taking it in in layers, You know where you have the experience and then you capture the experience by writing it down or doodling about it or revisiting it is what you’re doing.
That’s really lovely.
So we hope that that truth of me practice is helpful for you and it really is an invitation to go outside and be one with nature and let that be a spiritual experience for you.
So as we are wrapping up this episode, we want to remind you that when we live as our confident selves, as our selves who are one with everything around us in that very peaceful sense that we can be, we get happier.
When we’re out in nature, we’re happier.
Speaker 1
Then our.
Speaker 2
Frequency and energy rises.
And Mary, what do you want to say?
Like what is the benefit of having the frequency when your frequency and energy rises?
Speaker 1
Everything.
Everything, I mean, everybody here can relate to when you’re around someone that’s like in a bad mood, how do you feel picking up their energy?
So flip that around.
When you’re with people that are happy and joyful and have a positive outlook, you feel better.
And that is the also that is what happens when your frequency is high, you’re helping the energy of nature be high as well.
So we’re all into this together.
Speaker 2
Yes, and Soul Fire Sisters know how to do this.
We know how to do it.
We support one another in doing this and in living this way.
It’s our free will that we get to use.
We get to choose how we’re going to show up in the world, and we affirm that this podcast is inspiring you, maybe sharing some new ideas for you, or affirming some old ideas or reawakening them within you.
We’ll say farewell for now.
You can e-mail us at.
Speaker 1
Mary@zenithhigh.com.
Speaker 2
Or dawn@dawnmorningstar.com.
This episode is brought to you by.
Speaker 1
Zenith high and spear flow shamanic study program for women.
Speaker 2
And New World, women.com and Radiant Face 18 have a lovely, lovely.
Speaker 1
Everyone.
Speaker 2
Bye.
Speaker 1
Hey Soul Fire Sisters, we hope you’ve enjoyed this episode.
Please share Soul Fire Sisters with your friends.
Speaker 2
Until we meet again, reflect on the changes you want to make, feel the fire in your soul, and live from that fire.
Speaker 1
Our world needs your passion, your gifts, your heart.
Don’t wait, do it now.
Whatever your it is, do it now.
Speaker 2
Let’s use our power to create a world we actually want to live in, a loving new world for ourselves and for future generations.
We’ve got this.