In this Living the Spiral: Magicians episode, host Alison Dale frames magic as making the invisible visible through attention and intention. She interviews Rachel Simon Stark, founder of Widening Circles Collaborative, about ancestral reclamation, cultural repair, and collective liberation. Rachel describes being contacted in 2018 by her grandmother Ruth during a rock-bottom period, which initiated Rachel’s ancestral work and led to her nine-week course Cultivating Culture that emphasizes grounding, guided tools, community processing, and service. Drawing on urban planning’s focus on belonging, Rilke’s “Widening Circles,” and identity as a fluid river, she discusses chosen ancestors, more-than-human ancestors, boundaries rather than walls, and meeting ancestors in their wholeness. The conversation addresses trauma, shame vs humility, colonialism and indigeneity, being future ancestors, releasing victimization into agency, and Rachel’s plan to offer the course again around October/Samhain.Thanks for tuning in!
Work with Rachel:To learn more about working Rachel and the Widening Circles Collaborative, visit her website at wideningcirclescollaborative.com.
Follow Rachel on Instagram and on Substack at Rachel Simon Stark, where she writes the deep and thoughtful publication hi•ne•ni : here i am.
Work with Alison:Book a reading or explore more of what I offer on my website at hearthandspiral.com, follow along at @hearthandspiral on Instagram, or on Substack at livingthespiral.com.
00:00 What Magic Really Is
02:31 Meet Rachel Simon Stark
04:41 Grandmother’s Wake Up Call
07:23 From Dreams to a Course
10:46 Urban Planning Meets Soul
14:22 Why Widening Circles
18:37 Homecoming to Lineage
22:46 Inside the Nine Week Container
28:22 Future Ancestor Mindset
30:35 Identity as a River
39:22 Resistance and Hard Histories
43:09 Beyond Shame Toward Humility
49:57 Beyond the Melting Pot
51:27 Ancestral Creativity
54:37 Grandfather on the Road
58:04 Calling In Ancestors
01:00:16 Wise and Well Debate
01:06:46 Boundaries Not Walls
01:11:58 Roots Over Progress
01:23:18 Indigenous Marrow
01:27:38 What Ancestors Need
01:33:57 Course and Farewell
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.livingthespiral.com/subscribe
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