How to Find Wisdom in Death and Birth with Siobhan Asgharzadeh

How to find wisdom in death and birth- two seemingly opposite concepts that are actually deeply connected, inviting us into deeper wisdom and soulful connection.

 

Debra is joined by Siobhan Asgharzadeh, a grief doula, soul activist, storyteller, dancer, lover of the wild lands, ceremonialist, and birth doula, to reach into the dark depths and fear around death and birth. Siobhan speaks to the societal urge to choose science over humanity, and to the nature of her work to bring back our old rituals and practices to give sanctity and an honoring as we usher lives in and out of our human perspective. 

 

With four planets in Taurus in the Astrological House of community, friendship, and futuristic views, Debra and Siobhan engage in a conversation about the importance of congruence between your Astrological chart and your soul, as Siobhan echoes Debra's interpretation of these Astrological dynamics within her work as a death doula. 

 

Death is a topic we seem programmed to hide from, to shy away at the mere mention of it. Debra and Siobhan invite us all to take a closer look at death and share their personal stories on the sacred wisdom that awaits when we choose to lean into the experience of death and birth.

 

Learn more about Siobhan Asgharzadeh at https://griefpilgrim.com

 

Key Highlights From The Episode

• How to find wisdom in death and birth by leaning into these experiences

• Understanding the practice of being a death doula

• Siobhan and Debra's personal stories of bearing witness to death and birth

• How Siobhan's four planets in Taurus, in the Eleventh House, show up in her life

• Calling in new perspectives through our old practices and rituals around death and birth

Timestamps

[01:00] Introducing the I Don't Believe In Astrology Podcast and an introduction of our guest

[03:12] Debra gives an interpretive overview of Siobhan's Astrological chart

[04:24] Displaying Astrological Siobhan's chart with nods to the Eleventh House of Astrology

[05:50] Siobhan speaks to her training in midwifery and her practice

[08:56] Debra and Siobhan speak to natural birth practices and why Siobhan moved towards focusing on work around death and grief

[11:51] How Siobhan works with death now and what she sees in her practice from a societal perspective

[15:30] Debra reflects on her own study of being a death doula

[16:58] The connection of this conversation to the climate crisis

[17:33] Debra shares a personal story of the passing of one of her best friends

[18:55] Debra asks those listening, "What is your relationship with death?"

[19:25] Siobhan speaks to the resistance to death and birth

[20:55] Debra shares a personal story about witnessing death that changed her perspective

[22:25] Siobhan describes how death can feed life and shares about the first death she witnessed

[28:40] Debra reflects on the elemental pieces that occur in birth and death

[30:50] Debra asks Siobhan to reflect on her four planets in Taurus in the Eleventh House as a draw to community and her life's work

[34:31] Debra shares about the practice of sitting shiva 

[36:20] The old rituals of birth and death brought back to the surface by Siobhan

[36:64] Bringing ceremony, ritual, and honoring to our experiences

[38:15] Siobhan speaks to us using words and functions as a society that don't allow us to feel and access our heart

[39:51] Sharing what the mind, heart, body, and spirit perspectives are through grief

[41:22] The goal of the game of life, as told by an Astrologer

[42:03] What Debra always knew about death and attachment to our beliefs

[43:23] The most important conversation to be had about the congruence between your soul and your Astrological chart

[44:12] "The soul is an endangered species."

[45:22] The initiation of Saturn Return

[47:46] The analogy of midwifing the death and the birth of Earth

[48:37] Siobhan finishes out the podcast with a beautiful story

[51:26] We need to