August 14, 2024 • 44 mins
What if your words could break free from societal norms and connect souls on a deeper level? Together, we are exploring how renaming sorrow can become a direct path to divine connection. In our latest episode, we explore this and more with the extraordinary poet Chelan Harkin, whose upcoming book, "The Prophetess," is already making waves. Often compared to the legendary Rumi, Chelan's poetry resonates with profound emotional depth, offering readers a sense of being truly seen and understood. We journey through her early life, uncovering pivotal moments that shaped her poetic voice, and celebrate how her work evokes a sense of shelter and interconnectedness.
Prepare to be inspired as we discuss the transformative power of poetry, especially for women navigating the heavy burden of shame and societal expectations. Chelan opens up about her personal journey, revealing how embracing one's truth and vulnerability can lead to profound change. From sharing stories of overcoming insecurity to exploring the limitless essence of the soul through hypnotherapy, this episode paints a vivid picture of the divine feminine and the soul's joyful potential.
We’re not stopping there. You'll hear about the mystique of sacred poetry, particularly through the lens of women mystics, and its impact on breaking societal scripts. Chelan recounts the magic behind her poem "Say Wow," encouraging us to live in awe of everyday moments. With her new book "The Prophetess" set to launch this September, Chelan promises to offer readers an enriching exploration of life's most meaningful questions from a divine feminine perspective. Join us for this soul-stirring conversation and prepare to be moved.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Heather Drake (00:02):
Welcome to the Expansionist Podcast with
Shelley Shepard and HeatherDrake.
In each episode, we dive deepinto conversations that
challenge conventional thinking,amplify diverse voices and
foster a community grounded inwisdom, spirit and love.
Shelly Shepherd (00:18):
Oh my goodness, heather, we have this amazing
opportunity here with ShalannHarkin with us today in studio
to podcast about the Prophetessnew book coming forward in
September.
It's launching in September.
So we're doing what Friends Do,which is promoting and
(00:40):
celebrating and recognizing thegenius that is within this
person.
I was sharing a few days agosome of your poetry, shalane,
about that you had sent out toall of us who had pre-ordered
your book, and I was readingsome of those to a friend and
she's like, oh my gosh, this isa modern day roomie we have in
(01:00):
our midst, and it was.
It was such a, it was such agift to to connect with you in
that way.
So thank you for for thatopportunity to well, just to get
something right out of your pen, right?
So we are just so excited aboutthis fourth book of yours
that's coming in September and,heather, I know you want to
(01:22):
welcome Shilan as well.
So thank you for being here andwe're excited about this show
with you of yours that's comingin September and, heather, I
know you want to welcome Shilanas well.
Heather Drake (01:25):
So thank you for being here and we're excited
about this show with you, yeah,and we're just even excited for
your presence and how fun it isto actually meet the poet.
We found your writings onInstagram and we shared them
with each other.
First, it was very exciting togo.
Oh look, it's almost soundslike this language that I think
is a very ancient language, thelanguage of womanhood and of the
(01:47):
earth and the mystics, and itfeels like a new language that
we're learning.
But all of a sudden it soundedto us like somebody else who
also spoke the language, andwe're like it just resonates on
such an emotional but very, verydeep level, and so we are just
thrilled to have thisopportunity to talk with you
today about the poetry that'smoving our souls.
Chelan Harkin (02:09):
Thank you for those words, Heather.
That's so affirming andexciting to hear you say that.
Thank you.
Heather Drake (02:15):
Okay, one of my first ones that we were reading
the other day when we weretogether is this one, and I'm
sure that you have otherfavorites too Love is the great
marketplace of prayer.
Only the best deals are madehere, and God is.
Every vendor that was, I mean,that feels so expansive and so
(02:38):
beautiful and so right at homefor us.
So thank you for, with yourwords, making like a new shelter
for us or a new place to be.
It was just incredible.
Chelan Harkin (02:47):
Oh, thank you.
Well, you asked before westarted recording if I have any
favorites and in that selectionthat I sent out, that one did
have an extra like ooh, it wassatisfying.
Shelly Shepherd (02:58):
So I'm glad you read that one so maybe, as we
move forward here inunderstanding the work that you
have been about, we understandfrom the pre-show that you
started this expression in youas a teenager in high school.
Can you share a little bitabout that as well and kind of
(03:22):
for the listeners you know howthat formed in you and how that
evolved.
Heather Drake (03:28):
Yeah, just tell us how you fell in love with
poetry.
Chelan Harkin (03:32):
Well, I'll start, actually earlier than I than I
shared.
So when I, when I came into theworld interestingly I mean I
kudos and credit to my mom shewould often, before bed, she
would just ask if I had anyprayers to share for my heart
and I would just go for it, likeI had all this florid language
(03:54):
and she would.
Sometimes she would write themdown.
So I have a few likethree-year-old Shalann prayers
that were like so funny andawesome and cute and full of
this intense poetic language.
So, and then I also, I, um thisis interesting I came into the
(04:15):
world as soon as I could youknow, comprehend and compute, um
, being really aware of what I,what I have called a dimension
of light, or we could call it adimension of oneness, of
interconnectedness, a dimensionof absolute beauty and
(04:36):
connection with source.
That as a little one.
And then I was extremelydisturbed because I didn't find
that realm of essence andprofound interconnection to
really come through inrelationships.
And so there was this I waspuzzled and I was dedicated to
(04:58):
sort of figuring out how wecould connect together from that
place, and it felt reallyessential to me to like
recognize this, this out, thistruth in our in our being and to
celebrate the joy of that.
And I had this sense thatactually language words was the
way.
And so my sister, who's a lotolder than I am, she had this
(05:20):
SAT prep guide for for the, forthose tests, and there's the,
the, you know the vocab part.
So when, as soon as I couldread I was a pretty early reader
I would just go in in her inthe closet and like read her
vocab list Cause I thought, oh,maybe if I get all the right
words I'll be able to talk aboutthis.
(05:43):
It was like this, this place,this land and the soul, so um,
and that was kind of funny.
So at a really young age I hadlike a really big vocabulary but
it was kind of misplaced andwhat I wasn't really able to do,
what I wanted with that and umanyway, and then just fast
forward, um at 21,.
(06:05):
Um, there at 21, there was aprofound sort of like cracking
open experience where, like, thegrace that comes through Mia's
poetry started to just reallyflow much more satisfyingly
express that truth.
And something that, heather,that you shared, that so many
(06:28):
who have read my poetry share,which is the deepest honor, is
that there's this incrediblyintimate resonance.
It's like that's already inpeople, almost that then the
words illuminate and that's whatI've always wanted to be
getting at.
So it's anyway, this is thedeepest honor to now have really
(06:50):
, you know, discovered andshared, uh, this gift so that it
can do its purpose and andsupport um others in that way
well, you, you pulled me intolike three different directions
all at the same time.
(07:10):
Yeah.
Shelly Shepherd (07:10):
I'm going to go to you first before I ask
another question Do you havesomething that you want to share
?
Heather Drake (07:16):
Well, I want to go to one other poem, if I can,
because again it was one ofthose things that was beyond
deeply resonating.
It felt like, Again it was oneof those things that was beyond
deeply resonating.
It felt like an invitation tocome home to a space, and it was
.
These are your words.
Did I share too much of God'swine last night?
Was the taste of that ecstasytoo bright?
(07:39):
I woke today and felt yourdeparture.
Chelan Harkin (07:45):
Some don't know, this tavern allows you to stay.
Oh, thank you, heather.
You're actually you'rereferencing all the ones in this
new collection that actuallydid kind of extra.
Do it for me.
Heather Drake (07:53):
Oh well, actually do it for the people that are
reading it too.
So well done.
Whatever magic you tapped intothere or whatever language of
your soul that you were able toexpress is so beautiful.
And for Shelly and I, one ofthe things that we are reminding
ourselves and other women whoare listening and not just women
, because the brothers and thehusbands and men are listening
(08:14):
too, but particularly womengoing there is a deep vein of
spirituality that we have found,that has been buried or has
been forgotten sometimes in ourwomanhood, and then to reignite
it or to illumine a space and golook, it's right there in you
too, is so beautiful.
And this idea that, instead oflooking out for God to come into
(08:36):
us, that we would be able tohear the presence that is
already in us and be able tolook inward for that light and
that presence of God that iswith us.
But this idea that you proposethat did you know you were
allowed to stay in the presence?
It doesn't have to be a comingand going.
That was such a beautifulinvitation to go.
Yes, yes, we knew that we didAt a very deep level we did, but
(08:59):
somebody forgot to change thesign on the door.
You don't have to be out ofhere by nine, so that was just
really wow.
Chelan Harkin (09:06):
Yeah, you said it , there has been a lot of I mean
, I love so this is called theexpansionist podcast and yeah,
and it's really we are.
I've been really thinking,experiencing a lot in myself,
just the um, just the dynamicsof, of shame as sort of a warden
(09:27):
for our, our, our smallness andand shame I used to think of as
, like the places that were just, you know, insecure, feel less
than, but it also has to do withareas where we're just living
our truth and we're kind ofliving outside of the very
narrow margins of what we'vebeen taught is normal and so um,
uh, and, and so there's so muchbrightness and truth that lives
(09:54):
outside of those margins and um, like, and for me, for example,
in in coming forth with mypoetry and finally publishing my
book, which took me 12 years toeven really consider doing um,
I realized like it's becausethere's, there was so much shame
that I needed to confront aboutum, expressing and being seen
(10:18):
in this way.
That was, that was different, um, and just so I think, yeah, I,
women, we've internalized, weare, we're just so amazing,
Women were so amazing, and thenwe'll have these like I mean,
it's like a corset on the soul,uh, that we can only just share
(10:39):
in this way and show up in thisway and um, and so I think
that's part of what's bustingopen and and then the beautiful
tool of social media that justgives us so much exposure.
Obviously it can go, we can goto unhealthy places with it, no
reason whatever, but but we get,can get so many imprints of
others that are busting out ofthese, these narrow models, and
(11:02):
then that helps create newpathways of possibility for us
and it helps normalize it and umand and take some of the shame
of like I, I'm alone in thisstart to lessen that.
And so I I think that I reallyfeel and this is a lot about
what the prophetess is about isit's encouraging and celebrating
(11:22):
and and amplifying andilluminating this major tipping
point that I really deeply feelis upon us and it's just going
to keep accelerating of thisexpansion into more of the truth
and the light that we are Well,you've mentioned a word a few
(11:43):
times and I would like.
Shelly Shepherd (11:45):
Well, there's two words the divine feminine is
one, and then the soul.
You've mentioned that a fewtimes, and Heather and I were
together last week honoring thefeast of Mary Magdalene, and her
whole focused attention on thegood is within you kind of
(12:06):
concepts, and so in that timetogether we were sharing your
poetry and feel that poetry is abig part of the expansionist
thought or expansionist way ofbeing.
Expansionist, uh, way of being,and for me last week that word
(12:30):
soul uh kind of kept popping upin different ways.
So could you talk to us alittle bit about what you mean
by soul and how, uh, this poetryhas been revealed to your soul,
and then what you want oursouls, uh, to embrace as you
write this to us?
Chelan Harkin (12:45):
Well, I'll say this, I'll sort of respond to
you in story form.
So when I was 21, that's whenpoetry really majorly, majorly
cracked open for me and becamerather than even though there
was always a strength that I hadwith it it was kind of forced
and I was nervous and insecureand knee tight, shoulders
(13:06):
furrowed brow.
And then it took just the mostexpansive experience I've ever
had, where it would just flowand pour and I would just write
it down with excitement andabsolute trust, as fast as it
would come, without the need toedit it, and it was just other,
it was so cool.
And at that same year Idiscovered hypnotherapy and at
(13:30):
that time when poetry crackedopen in me, it was, that was the
hardest time of my life.
I was really, I had reallyworked since I was a little girl
to just absolutely represseverything that was real and
true and alive within me,because I couldn't handle
feeling so outside of the modelsthat had been presented to me,
(13:52):
that the lack of belonging, andthat was too much for my system.
So I opted to just bury thepain of that and and all my
light and all my everything, andthat was was a lot of work,
that was, and it was almostdeadly, really it was.
It was this, and I, some partof me, had just decided to bury,
like, bury myself alive, really.
(14:14):
And so I was living just this,shielded, like my relationship
with everyone in the world andmy relationship with myself and
with source was just, it was so,so, so, um, brutally
unsatisfying.
And then, um, and then I, I wasso fortunate it really the
(14:39):
darkest time to the darkesthours before dawn, kind of thing
to discover this extraordinarymethod of hypnotherapy which I
assumed would work for maybeeveryone else in the world, but
that I was beyond repair.
And so, in this experience,what it does is it puts the
(15:00):
whole system in the mostprofound state of security and
safety and peace, so the fightflight isn't activated.
And what happened just in thatfirst session was my, my
consciousness, my awareness wasable to break free of the
constantly running narrativesabout, you know, just all this
(15:24):
conditioned old, these old painnarratives that I was so caught
in that that's to a large degreehow I was identifying.
I was identifying as just asthat pain, and it was able to
experience itself not justconceptually but actually really
experience it as an eternallyhealthy and happy and whole
(15:45):
essence eternally worthy of loveand acceptance.
And just the experience of itwas as though it was an endless
fountain of golden, joyful light.
And and so there was that.
That imprint was the most, itwas maybe the most profound
thing that's ever happened to me, and so I started to most
(16:06):
primarily identify as that, andwhich doesn't mean that we don't
have all the other stuff tostill work with, but it, you
know, our old conditioning andstuff doesn't completely go away
.
But then it's relativized, it's, it's relativized and, um, so
(16:28):
anyway, I would, I woulddescribe the soul as that, as
this limitless font, thislimitless fountain of creative,
joyful energy, and there's sortof and there's intelligence in
it and there's a sort of afrequency of light that that
that we are and that is uniqueto each of us and that's filled
with these certain gifts thatyou know at once bring us the
(16:51):
most joy and most benefit toothers when they're expressed.
So that's my experience of soul.
Thank you for that.
Shelly Shepherd (17:03):
How beautiful All the imagery that you just
put in our hands.
Heather Drake (17:07):
Thank you, one of the things that Shelly and I
have come to pay attention to inthis part of our journey is
embodied practices that actuallyallow us not to just live our
life like only through our heador what thoughts we can actually
put together in some kind ofcognitive sentence, but for us
(17:29):
to be able to say that we cantrust our bodies and that we can
trust the feelings that we'rehaving and, granted, they do
have to be sorted or they dohave to be, you know, questioned
in some way but to be able tosay that there is hope and an
expectation that ourspirituality, that our time here
together, that are, in fact,entire human experience, is not
(17:52):
just to be a mental thought oran exercise, but it's to be
something that could be savored,that can be paid attention to
and actually can be nurtured.
And one of the ways that Shellyand I have found these embodied
experiences some of them havesimply been gifts, but other
times it has been through poetry, where we actually hear the
(18:13):
words and then you can feel thelight on your skin because of
someone's words, or you canthink about the taste of a glass
of wine because someone hasgiven you those words, and so it
has for us been like anentryway or a portal, kind of
into an imaginal realm.
That, though, becomes a trulyembodied experience, and I'm
(18:34):
wondering if poetry has alwaysbeen that for you, or if, from
the side, because it seems likeyou're maybe not listening to as
much poetry as you are creatingit, and we're, at this point,
listening to a lot of the poetryum, give us some information or
some light on what that lookslike to be on the other side of
that poet.
Chelan Harkin (18:54):
Oh, what a beautifully said Heather.
Well, I love that you'retouching on this, because I do
feel like especially mysticalpoetry that almost more than the
words, well, I feel like thewords are more a vehicle of
transmission of energetics,which is awesome, and there's
(19:19):
mystery to that that I can'tfully explain, but in its own,
but it's almost like, um, as thepoet, um, the sense I have is
that that the energy that comesthrough in a poem's like
creating itself through me, um,that then it's like it's almost,
it's like it's almost able tobe bottled and like it
(19:40):
crystallizes in the poem, butthen the energy can be shared
and it and it definitely doesactivate and and and um open, uh
, it impacts, it does impact uson the, on the, on the level of
the body, and um and theconsciousness, and awakens sort
of the consciousness in the body, opens channels in us, and it
(20:03):
also, like plants, these sort ofwild enlivened seeds, that kind
of get things moving.
So it's contagious really, Ifeel, effective.
Mystical poetry mystical poetry.
Heather Drake (20:23):
um, that again that we're holding is the idea
of, um, some of the womenmystics who have been speaking
so much to us and have beenreminding us of things that we
maybe knew in in other realmsbut that we have forgotten here,
or that we have gotten somescripts as women, you know, this
is where you can go no further.
Instead of us saying you know,what has love given us
permission to do, which iseverything, to be everything, to
(20:44):
savor everything and to be ableto find these words, one of the
things that I have found thathappens with poetry, and
particularly mystical poetrylike this, is that it longs to
be shared.
I read it and I love it and I'mso inspired about it, but it
always asks me to share it withsomebody else, and so I think it
becomes this beautiful circleof I've read it, I've heard it,
(21:07):
I felt it.
Now, how do I share this?
And this feels so much likelove to me in that it produces a
generosity of spirit when Iread these things or when I hear
this type of poetry.
Chelan Harkin (21:19):
Oh, that's beautiful.
That's so cool to hear you saythat, because that's certainly
how it feels when it comesthrough me.
It's almost it would beuncomfortable to not, If I were
just to receive the energy andnot write it down and share it.
That would feel like adistortion of the intention.
Heather Drake (21:38):
It wouldn't feel right we want to pause and take
a moment and let you know howglad we are that you've joined
us.
If you're enjoying this podcast, consider sharing it with a
friend, and if you found theconversation intriguing and want
to know more about what we'relearning or how you can join our
online community, visit ourwebsite at
expansionistheologycom.
(21:59):
I had asked you earlier if youhad a favorite, and I realized
how terrible that was asking acreator where is your favorite,
just like you wouldn't ask amother who is your favorite.
But are there ones that arelike ringing more true to you at
this moment, or ones thatyou're recognizing?
Oh, this has a lot of resonancein it, or this is a grace that
(22:19):
I'm walking in now.
Would you read us somethingthat you are loving at this
moment?
Thank you.
Chelan Harkin (22:24):
Yes, and actually I mean, if I were to choose a
favorite, it actually I think Iactually maybe could.
This one feels like a firstlove in a way, because this was
the first poem that crackedthrough and poured in the way
that.
And then it never, that channeldidn't close and um.
But when this one came throughit was one of the holiest
(22:46):
experiences of my life.
It just to, uh, I couldn'tbelieve it.
I was just sort of stunned andand this poem came on the heel.
It came.
I had, um, I committed to doingan experiment because I
desperately needed a connectionpoint of something authentic and
real inside of me and then away to express it.
(23:06):
And I was really bound up inthe shackles of perfectionism
and so I needed to loosen thatup.
And so I set up an experimentfor myself and the terms were
that I would allow myself towrite a bad poem every day for a
month and I would give myselfan hour, and then I would just
share it, no matter what,because I just needed to
(23:27):
practice getting out of judgmentmind and so embracing my fear
of things being bad rather thangetting blocked up by it.
And then, on the second day ofthat experiment, I think,
because I was cultivating inpart because I was cultivating
in myself an environment of waymuch wider acceptance and
embrace that just openedsomething up in a profoundly
(23:50):
characteristically different way.
So this is the first poem thatcame through like that and it's
called Say Wow.
And it's called Say Wow Eachday before our surroundings
become flat with familiarity andthe shapes of our lives click
into place, dimensionless andaverage as Tetris cubes, before
(24:11):
hunger knocks from our bellieslike a cantankerous old man, and
the duties of the day stack uplike dishes and the architecture
of the day stack up like dishes.
And the architecture of ourbasic needs, commissions all
thought to construct thefour-door sedan of safety Before
gravity clings to our skin likea cumbersome parasite and the
(24:35):
colored dust of dreams sweepsitself obscure in the vacuum of
reason.
Each morning, before we wrestlethe world and our heart into
the shape of our brain, lookaround and say wow, feed
yourself, fire, scoop up the dayentire like a planet-sized
(24:57):
bouquet of marvel sent by theuniverse directly into your arms
, and say wow, break yourselfdown into the basic components
of primitive awe and let thecrescendo of each moment
carbonate every capillary andsay wow, yes.
(25:21):
Before our poems becomecalloused with revision.
Let them shriek off the page ofspontaneity and, before our
metaphors get too regular, letthe sun stay a conflagration of
homing pigeons that fightsthrough fire each day to find us
(25:43):
wow, wow well, well, well, welldone thank you, thank you so
much.
So that was 21 when that oneburst through and and it was
this experience of beinginterwoven with the genius that
(26:03):
is grace, and and it moved, youknow, and it coming through me
and and kind of.
You know, the same life forcemoves through all of us and it,
and it expresses in in uniqueways, it moves through me
differently than it movesthrough the apple tree, and it
and it expresses in in uniqueways, it moves through me
differently than it movesthrough the apple tree, and the
genius that comes through theapple tree is the apple, and so,
(26:25):
but, um, so it had thisincredibly personal feel about
it, but also this incrediblydivine, divine feel, and, uh, it
was the most beautifulexperience and it's what made me
really recognize the need tofeel God in an embodied way,
(26:46):
rather than just conceptualizeand keep at arm's length.
Heather Drake (26:50):
We've been just recently gifted and some of it
not gifted, some of it we justprioritized um spending time
together in nature and just innature, in settings where you
just say, wow, sometimes it isin the mountains, sometimes, you
know, on the shores, but oftenit's just that idea of looking
up and really allowing awe toopen us to the world that is
(27:15):
around us.
And I so appreciated thatinvitation and again, not just
in that poem, in many of yourpoems to be able to one of them
you use the words the curvatureof the Robin's breast, and I was
thinking about this justbecause I was looking at a
little brown bird the other dayand it was just pay attention to
the way that is.
It's such a beautifulinvitation into a savoring as
(27:39):
opposed to just an autopilot,where we kind of find ourself
all the time, and I was hopingthat you'd say a little bit more
about how you're seeing thesethings or how you're training
yourself to savor and to notice,um, those things in nature that
call us into more awe.
Chelan Harkin (27:57):
Oh great, oh, what a good question, heather.
Well, I find that there's areason that we're not.
I feel like the embodied realmis the realm of deeper
satisfaction and savoring andconnection with that awe
actually, and there's a reasonthat we're not connected at that
(28:19):
level.
And there's a reason that we'renot connected at that level and
there's a reason that we're notall just open hearted, and
that's because of pain, and ourbodies have tremendous amount of
extraordinary potential insideof them and that's where our
pain is, the roots of our painthat's inherited, that is
experienced, the roots of ourpain that's inherited, that is,
you know, experienced and and um, I feel also part of this
(28:47):
tipping point, time, is thatthis is, I think, the first time
in which this pain is beingunpacked and the body, for so
long in in many uh traditions,has been, has been thought of as
like the seat of sin, becausethat's the pain unlooked at does
.
Does you know, sin is it's justthe acting out of of pain,
(29:09):
which is the acting out ofseparation that hasn't been
brought back into the fold ofoneness, and so it's a really
big deal to be bringingconsciousness into the body and
I found that, as I resolve allthis old pain that I both came
in with and experienced, Ibecome more sensitive to the
(29:31):
truth, to the truth that is thebeauty and the wonder and the
awe and the astonishment of life.
And the more I hold pain ordon't go through the process of
setting these bound energies,that is our embodied pain,
setting those free, it's thedegree to which I'm calloused to
that.
So my practice, and really oneof my main prayers too, is just
(29:55):
like asking to be fortified, tothe, the psychological stability
and security, to really then,um, uh, make the journey to, to
be able to stay with thesetrapped energies.
That's all.
Our pain really is that thethese trapped energies, and able
to stay with them long enoughto liberate them, which is to
(30:18):
find innocence in them actuallyand worth and value, and then
they start to share themselvesagain and start to give
themselves, to love and becomegenerative energies rather than
just stuck.
Yeah, so yeah, I find that thisawe is, it's an outcome of that
(30:40):
process, and it's always there.
It's always there.
It's just that we can becallous to it and a bit numbed
from it.
Beautiful.
Shelly Shepherd (30:51):
In one of your recent poems that you shared
with us, you said renaming yoursorrow is a direct path to God,
and so what I heard you just sayis that maybe our sorrow, our
trauma or our pain we haven'tlearned how to rename it.
(31:12):
Could you speak to that alittle bit?
How do you rename your sorrowor your pain or your trauma and
then expand, you know, be moreexpansive to God and to source
and to this oneness or othernessthat we all really long for?
Chelan Harkin (31:33):
Well, I think it's important to say that it is
really hard to do that in thissociety, that it's, it's, it is
really hard to to do that inthis society.
We're so wired to belong andit's actually a, it's a survival
need to feel like we're not toofar outside of the pack, like
like a fear, like I'm going todie if I'm too different, like
(31:55):
it activates, like that'sbecause, um, you know from way
back when, if we weren'tincluded in the village we would
die.
So it's scary to the system,it's really scary.
And so I guess I say thatbecause it's still quite
counterculture to be able toembrace our struggles.
(32:16):
You know, vulnerability,sharing these, our difficulties,
or even admitting to havingsorrow, is still in many cases
extremely hard, and there'sextreme, can be extreme shame,
and then also, in many cases wedo share our sorrow with someone
and they just don't know how tohandle it, and then that's
(32:38):
another really hard thing.
So I just want to say that it's, it's tricky, um, and I've been
really fortunate, um to well,largely through the tool of
hypnotherapy.
It's been incredibly, uh, it'sbeen a mainstay for me because
it, um, it, it's, it's, it putsthe mind in this state where
(33:02):
it's just not as scared ofitself, and so it can go looking
.
And I found, I mean I've beenreally intensely on this path of
um, the path of sensitizingmyself to, to, to truth and to
to beauty, for about 15 years ina full on way, and um, and I,
every time, I've been throughcountless journeys.
(33:25):
You know the the thing, theemotions, the sorrows that we
judge when we're not familiarwith them.
Once we're able to stay withthem, there's always
extraordinary beauty andinnocence at the root, uh, and,
and there's this extraordinaryexperience of, of reunion and
then of being re-energized,re-vivified and re-inspired, um,
(33:50):
as we set these energies free,and so something, yeah, that I
really strive to do with mypoetry and my platform is just
to really create a new narrativethat we're not actually, we're
(34:12):
not our sorrows, we're theirstewards, and it's okay, it
makes sense that we have sorrowsand it's incredibly brave to to
go into them and just trying to, you know, infuse that new
narrative and, I think, beingaround people who are doing
their best to come from thatplace, who see this journey into
(34:36):
our wholeness as anextraordinary act of bravery,
rather than weird and aninconvenience and you're being
so negative, talking about your,you know, like being around
people who can help us redefine.
That, I think, is really key.
Shelly Shepherd (34:51):
Thank you.
Thank you for that.
I know we want to to say a fewwords about, about the new book
that's coming in September, theProphetess, and what would you
want listeners to know about thebook?
Where can they find the book?
Can you give us a little sneakpeek of what we can expect in
(35:16):
this connection with the divinefeminine that you're, that
you're shaping for us?
Chelan Harkin (35:21):
Yeah, so, um, so the book, first of all, can be
pre-ordered now on Amazon.
Just type in Shalann Harkin,the prophetess up it comes and
pre-orders are really important.
I'll just make that note.
I didn't really understand that.
It just sort of positions thebook for a really successful
launch when it when it launches.
So to do that now would beawesome.
(35:43):
And so this book it is inspiredby Khalil Gibran's book the
Prophet, which was a global,globally beloved masterpiece,
and that book it's 28 chapters,as is mine.
So my book, the format isthere's a parallel and it's all
about life's most meaningfulsubjects in the human condition
(36:07):
and human potential.
And his book is so profoundit's always been one of my all
time favorites and, um, and Iwant to share, I think, mostly
just the extraordinary way thatI came to be the author of this
book and it's quite somethingand it's I'll try to make it
short, I know I can be kind oflong-winded, but um, just that,
(36:31):
in 2020, before before, uh,self-publishing this book, I had
no connections in the marketingworld or in the publishing
world and I just decided to do aprayer experiment asking for
marketing support specificallyfrom Khalil Gibran.
I just decided to talk to myfavorite dead poets and ask them
(36:51):
.
And so I would go on thesewalks.
And it was just a totally,almost goofy experiment.
Khalil, gibran and Hafez andanother beautiful author named
Brian Doyle were my three mainpeople.
And and then, um, three weeksinto this experiment, my all
time favorite living poet,daniel Ladinsky, reached out to
(37:13):
me and invited me to coauthor abook with him.
It turns it, uh, it turns out.
He had written, uh, theforeword to the extended edition
of the prophet, and um is theman who had, uh, who's done, all
the renderings of hafez poetrythat have made him a superstar
to the western world.
So it was just unbelievable.
And um and me, coming from I,was complete, no name, complete,
(37:36):
complete, utter, no connectionsat all.
And then Daniel introduced meto the major, endorsed me
phenomenally, to the majorpublishing houses of the world,
and so then that just I justkept my prayers going with
Khalil and Hafez and Brandoil,because they were very effective
.
And then, about a year and ahalf after that, I just put my
(37:59):
kids to bed and just got slammedwith this high voltage,
irresistible inspiration thatsaid, basically, it's time to
write the Prophetess and you'rethe one to do it, and then all
of this content just startedpouring.
In two months the book wascompletely written and then, uh,
yeah, so it's just been anextraordinary, exquisite and
(38:20):
profoundly like, prayerful andsurreal and wild journey.
And when I got this, uh, thebook deal, it was exactly when I
signed it.
It was exactly 100 years, um,to the date that khalil jabran
had published his book, and sothat book is, the rights are
with Penguin Random House, whichI didn't stand a chance with
(38:44):
them, but so Hay House was theone that I originally signed
with, and as soon as I turned inmy manuscript, hay House was
bought by Penguin Random House.
It's just unreal.
And then a couple more things,and then I know we probably need
to wind up, but, um, it turnsout which I wasn't even aware of
(39:06):
when this whole book was comingthrough me.
After I was completely done, Iwas like, you know, I should
reread the prophet, and, um, thewhole last chapter is a
prophecy of his return, and thelast line of his book is a
little while a moment upon thewind, and another woman shall
(39:26):
bear me talking about his return.
And then it also turns out thathe was profoundly inspired by
the Baha'i writings.
I don't know if you arefamiliar with the Baha'i faith
but I grew up in a Baha'i home,which is, you know, there aren't
very many Baha'is out there, soit's weird at all that he was
inspired by that and anyway.
(39:46):
So it's just, it's been somysterious and so beautiful and
so the prophetess it's seen assort of a contemporary
continuation of that book thathas that includes the themes
that I would say kind of youcould say could fall under the,
the, the umbrella of thefeminine resurrecting and um
(40:09):
exonerating and even likecoronating um themes of
vulnerability and sensitivityand and shadows and and then joy
, creative expression.
Death is one of the chaptergrief, suffering, intimacy, sin,
religion.
It's really addressing kind ofold, important subjects from a
(40:31):
new perspective and a new lensthat serves, is meant to serve,
our, the embrace of ourwholeness and help us.
It's intended sort of as aninspired passage to this new
paradigm of embrace.
Shelly Shepherd (40:49):
We'll just say wow.
Well congratulations, yeah, andall of those things.
That's really amazing.
Chelan Harkin (40:55):
Yeah, thank you, it's beyond me.
Heather Drake (40:57):
Well done, well done.
Woman of of valor.
That's amazing.
Shelly Shepherd (41:00):
yeah, just to have that opportunity with the
publishing industry and thesupport and all of that is like
wow, it's something.
It is the prophet and theprophetess are in your corner.
That is very clear, um so thankyou for sharing that piece with
us.
Uh, just now, that wasbeautiful insight into what
(41:21):
you've been given.
Heather Drake (41:21):
And I think what you told us is if somebody is
thinking about buying Christmaspresents this year maybe they
want to celebrate Christmas andhave presents this would be a
great time for them.
To preorder A book on Amazon iswhere you said that we should
or one of the better placesright now in the preorder time,
it's better.
And if you're, you know somepeople don't want to do that you
said that we should uh, one ofthe better places right now in
the pre-order time, it's betterto pre-order and if you're, you
know some people have a havedon't want to do that, and so
(41:43):
another place you can buy it isfrom my local bookstore, wacoma
W-A-U-C-O-M-A.
Chelan Harkin (41:49):
Wacoma bookstore is an alternative.
Okay, but that's exactly what.
I'm saying Buy it.
And also there's an assumption,too, that if you're with a big
publishing house, that thepublishers are just these fairy
godmothers that are doing allthe marketing for you, and
that's not true.
So almost all the marketing isstill on me, which is a lot.
(42:21):
Listening to this just hasconnections or ideas or podcast
ideas that would resonate withthis story or are connected to
newspapers or radio programs orwhat have you.
Reach out to me and let's getthis show on the road.
I'm really asking for help,because this book, it, deserves
a wide reach and I want it tohave that and I need help so
that too.
Heather Drake (42:38):
So also kudos to you for being able to and boldly
asking for help.
It's a beautiful prayer, it's abeautiful invitation into the
human family to be able to saythis is where we extend our help
and our light.
And so where can people findyou reliably and quickly if they
want information or they wantto purchase the book?
Chelan Harkin (42:59):
Oh, great, well, if they want to purchase the
book just, they can just goright to Amazon and do it that
way.
And then if you have any ideasand information and find me on
Facebook and just send me adirect message, okay, Direct
message through Facebook RightBeautiful.
Heather Drake (43:13):
Thank you both.
Chelan Harkin (43:14):
What a joy.
Shelly Shepherd (43:15):
I have one.
I have one piece to finish withthis amazing poet that is in
front of us right now.
It's called the Climax fromyour Grace book.
Was it Wild Grace, wild Grace?
It's called Wild Grace.
Yes, it says is the climax fromthe conjugal visit between the
(43:39):
wildly divine and the achinglyhuman in the bed chambers of the
chest.
Thank you for being here today,for penetrating our soul, our
chest, our mind, our hearts,with this divine energy that you
have in your soul.
So appreciative of that, thankyou.
Chelan Harkin (44:00):
It was a real joy to be with you both.
I'm really really grateful forthis.
Heather Drake (44:05):
It was our joy to have you listen to our
conversation today.
If you would like furtherinformation or for more content,
visit us atexpansionisttheologycom.
Welcome to the Expansionist Podcast with
Shelley Shepard and HeatherDrake.
In each episode, we dive deepinto conversations that
challenge conventional thinking,amplify diverse voices and
foster a community grounded inwisdom, spirit and love.
Shelly Shepherd (00:18):
Oh my goodness, heather, we have this amazing
opportunity here with ShalannHarkin with us today in studio
to podcast about the Prophetessnew book coming forward in
September.
It's launching in September.
So we're doing what Friends Do,which is promoting and
(00:40):
celebrating and recognizing thegenius that is within this
person.
I was sharing a few days agosome of your poetry, shalane,
about that you had sent out toall of us who had pre-ordered
your book, and I was readingsome of those to a friend and
she's like, oh my gosh, this isa modern day roomie we have in
(01:00):
our midst, and it was.
It was such a, it was such agift to to connect with you in
that way.
So thank you for for thatopportunity to well, just to get
something right out of your pen, right?
So we are just so excited aboutthis fourth book of yours
that's coming in September and,heather, I know you want to
(01:22):
welcome Shilan as well.
So thank you for being here andwe're excited about this show
with you of yours that's comingin September and, heather, I
know you want to welcome Shilanas well.
Heather Drake (01:25):
So thank you for being here and we're excited
about this show with you, yeah,and we're just even excited for
your presence and how fun it isto actually meet the poet.
We found your writings onInstagram and we shared them
with each other.
First, it was very exciting togo.
Oh look, it's almost soundslike this language that I think
is a very ancient language, thelanguage of womanhood and of the
(01:47):
earth and the mystics, and itfeels like a new language that
we're learning.
But all of a sudden it soundedto us like somebody else who
also spoke the language, andwe're like it just resonates on
such an emotional but very, verydeep level, and so we are just
thrilled to have thisopportunity to talk with you
today about the poetry that'smoving our souls.
Chelan Harkin (02:09):
Thank you for those words, Heather.
That's so affirming andexciting to hear you say that.
Thank you.
Heather Drake (02:15):
Okay, one of my first ones that we were reading
the other day when we weretogether is this one, and I'm
sure that you have otherfavorites too Love is the great
marketplace of prayer.
Only the best deals are madehere, and God is.
Every vendor that was, I mean,that feels so expansive and so
(02:38):
beautiful and so right at homefor us.
So thank you for, with yourwords, making like a new shelter
for us or a new place to be.
It was just incredible.
Chelan Harkin (02:47):
Oh, thank you.
Well, you asked before westarted recording if I have any
favorites and in that selectionthat I sent out, that one did
have an extra like ooh, it wassatisfying.
Shelly Shepherd (02:58):
So I'm glad you read that one so maybe, as we
move forward here inunderstanding the work that you
have been about, we understandfrom the pre-show that you
started this expression in youas a teenager in high school.
Can you share a little bitabout that as well and kind of
(03:22):
for the listeners you know howthat formed in you and how that
evolved.
Heather Drake (03:28):
Yeah, just tell us how you fell in love with
poetry.
Chelan Harkin (03:32):
Well, I'll start, actually earlier than I than I
shared.
So when I, when I came into theworld interestingly I mean I
kudos and credit to my mom shewould often, before bed, she
would just ask if I had anyprayers to share for my heart
and I would just go for it, likeI had all this florid language
(03:54):
and she would.
Sometimes she would write themdown.
So I have a few likethree-year-old Shalann prayers
that were like so funny andawesome and cute and full of
this intense poetic language.
So, and then I also, I, um thisis interesting I came into the
(04:15):
world as soon as I could youknow, comprehend and compute, um
, being really aware of what I,what I have called a dimension
of light, or we could call it adimension of oneness, of
interconnectedness, a dimensionof absolute beauty and
(04:36):
connection with source.
That as a little one.
And then I was extremelydisturbed because I didn't find
that realm of essence andprofound interconnection to
really come through inrelationships.
And so there was this I waspuzzled and I was dedicated to
(04:58):
sort of figuring out how wecould connect together from that
place, and it felt reallyessential to me to like
recognize this, this out, thistruth in our in our being and to
celebrate the joy of that.
And I had this sense thatactually language words was the
way.
And so my sister, who's a lotolder than I am, she had this
(05:20):
SAT prep guide for for the, forthose tests, and there's the,
the, you know the vocab part.
So when, as soon as I couldread I was a pretty early reader
I would just go in in her inthe closet and like read her
vocab list Cause I thought, oh,maybe if I get all the right
words I'll be able to talk aboutthis.
(05:43):
It was like this, this place,this land and the soul, so um,
and that was kind of funny.
So at a really young age I hadlike a really big vocabulary but
it was kind of misplaced andwhat I wasn't really able to do,
what I wanted with that and umanyway, and then just fast
forward, um at 21,.
(06:05):
Um, there at 21, there was aprofound sort of like cracking
open experience where, like, thegrace that comes through Mia's
poetry started to just reallyflow much more satisfyingly
express that truth.
And something that, heather,that you shared, that so many
(06:28):
who have read my poetry share,which is the deepest honor, is
that there's this incrediblyintimate resonance.
It's like that's already inpeople, almost that then the
words illuminate and that's whatI've always wanted to be
getting at.
So it's anyway, this is thedeepest honor to now have really
(06:50):
, you know, discovered andshared, uh, this gift so that it
can do its purpose and andsupport um others in that way
well, you, you pulled me intolike three different directions
all at the same time.
(07:10):
Yeah.
Shelly Shepherd (07:10):
I'm going to go to you first before I ask
another question Do you havesomething that you want to share
?
Heather Drake (07:16):
Well, I want to go to one other poem, if I can,
because again it was one ofthose things that was beyond
deeply resonating.
It felt like, Again it was oneof those things that was beyond
deeply resonating.
It felt like an invitation tocome home to a space, and it was
.
These are your words.
Did I share too much of God'swine last night?
Was the taste of that ecstasytoo bright?
(07:39):
I woke today and felt yourdeparture.
Chelan Harkin (07:45):
Some don't know, this tavern allows you to stay.
Oh, thank you, heather.
You're actually you'rereferencing all the ones in this
new collection that actuallydid kind of extra.
Do it for me.
Heather Drake (07:53):
Oh well, actually do it for the people that are
reading it too.
So well done.
Whatever magic you tapped intothere or whatever language of
your soul that you were able toexpress is so beautiful.
And for Shelly and I, one ofthe things that we are reminding
ourselves and other women whoare listening and not just women
, because the brothers and thehusbands and men are listening
(08:14):
too, but particularly womengoing there is a deep vein of
spirituality that we have found,that has been buried or has
been forgotten sometimes in ourwomanhood, and then to reignite
it or to illumine a space and golook, it's right there in you
too, is so beautiful.
And this idea that, instead oflooking out for God to come into
(08:36):
us, that we would be able tohear the presence that is
already in us and be able tolook inward for that light and
that presence of God that iswith us.
But this idea that you proposethat did you know you were
allowed to stay in the presence?
It doesn't have to be a comingand going.
That was such a beautifulinvitation to go.
Yes, yes, we knew that we didAt a very deep level we did, but
(08:59):
somebody forgot to change thesign on the door.
You don't have to be out ofhere by nine, so that was just
really wow.
Chelan Harkin (09:06):
Yeah, you said it , there has been a lot of I mean
, I love so this is called theexpansionist podcast and yeah,
and it's really we are.
I've been really thinking,experiencing a lot in myself,
just the um, just the dynamicsof, of shame as sort of a warden
(09:27):
for our, our, our smallness andand shame I used to think of as
, like the places that were just, you know, insecure, feel less
than, but it also has to do withareas where we're just living
our truth and we're kind ofliving outside of the very
narrow margins of what we'vebeen taught is normal and so um,
uh, and, and so there's so muchbrightness and truth that lives
(09:54):
outside of those margins and um, like, and for me, for example,
in in coming forth with mypoetry and finally publishing my
book, which took me 12 years toeven really consider doing um,
I realized like it's becausethere's, there was so much shame
that I needed to confront aboutum, expressing and being seen
(10:18):
in this way.
That was, that was different, um, and just so I think, yeah, I,
women, we've internalized, weare, we're just so amazing,
Women were so amazing, and thenwe'll have these like I mean,
it's like a corset on the soul,uh, that we can only just share
(10:39):
in this way and show up in thisway and um, and so I think
that's part of what's bustingopen and and then the beautiful
tool of social media that justgives us so much exposure.
Obviously it can go, we can goto unhealthy places with it, no
reason whatever, but but we get,can get so many imprints of
others that are busting out ofthese, these narrow models, and
(11:02):
then that helps create newpathways of possibility for us
and it helps normalize it and umand and take some of the shame
of like I, I'm alone in thisstart to lessen that.
And so I I think that I reallyfeel and this is a lot about
what the prophetess is about isit's encouraging and celebrating
(11:22):
and and amplifying andilluminating this major tipping
point that I really deeply feelis upon us and it's just going
to keep accelerating of thisexpansion into more of the truth
and the light that we are Well,you've mentioned a word a few
(11:43):
times and I would like.
Shelly Shepherd (11:45):
Well, there's two words the divine feminine is
one, and then the soul.
You've mentioned that a fewtimes, and Heather and I were
together last week honoring thefeast of Mary Magdalene, and her
whole focused attention on thegood is within you kind of
(12:06):
concepts, and so in that timetogether we were sharing your
poetry and feel that poetry is abig part of the expansionist
thought or expansionist way ofbeing.
Expansionist, uh, way of being,and for me last week that word
(12:30):
soul uh kind of kept popping upin different ways.
So could you talk to us alittle bit about what you mean
by soul and how, uh, this poetryhas been revealed to your soul,
and then what you want oursouls, uh, to embrace as you
write this to us?
Chelan Harkin (12:45):
Well, I'll say this, I'll sort of respond to
you in story form.
So when I was 21, that's whenpoetry really majorly, majorly
cracked open for me and becamerather than even though there
was always a strength that I hadwith it it was kind of forced
and I was nervous and insecureand knee tight, shoulders
(13:06):
furrowed brow.
And then it took just the mostexpansive experience I've ever
had, where it would just flowand pour and I would just write
it down with excitement andabsolute trust, as fast as it
would come, without the need toedit it, and it was just other,
it was so cool.
And at that same year Idiscovered hypnotherapy and at
(13:30):
that time when poetry crackedopen in me, it was, that was the
hardest time of my life.
I was really, I had reallyworked since I was a little girl
to just absolutely represseverything that was real and
true and alive within me,because I couldn't handle
feeling so outside of the modelsthat had been presented to me,
(13:52):
that the lack of belonging, andthat was too much for my system.
So I opted to just bury thepain of that and and all my
light and all my everything, andthat was was a lot of work,
that was, and it was almostdeadly, really it was.
It was this, and I, some partof me, had just decided to bury,
like, bury myself alive, really.
(14:14):
And so I was living just this,shielded, like my relationship
with everyone in the world andmy relationship with myself and
with source was just, it was so,so, so, um, brutally
unsatisfying.
And then, um, and then I, I wasso fortunate it really the
(14:39):
darkest time to the darkesthours before dawn, kind of thing
to discover this extraordinarymethod of hypnotherapy which I
assumed would work for maybeeveryone else in the world, but
that I was beyond repair.
And so, in this experience,what it does is it puts the
(15:00):
whole system in the mostprofound state of security and
safety and peace, so the fightflight isn't activated.
And what happened just in thatfirst session was my, my
consciousness, my awareness wasable to break free of the
constantly running narrativesabout, you know, just all this
(15:24):
conditioned old, these old painnarratives that I was so caught
in that that's to a large degreehow I was identifying.
I was identifying as just asthat pain, and it was able to
experience itself not justconceptually but actually really
experience it as an eternallyhealthy and happy and whole
(15:45):
essence eternally worthy of loveand acceptance.
And just the experience of itwas as though it was an endless
fountain of golden, joyful light.
And and so there was that.
That imprint was the most, itwas maybe the most profound
thing that's ever happened to me, and so I started to most
(16:06):
primarily identify as that, andwhich doesn't mean that we don't
have all the other stuff tostill work with, but it, you
know, our old conditioning andstuff doesn't completely go away
.
But then it's relativized, it's, it's relativized and, um, so
(16:28):
anyway, I would, I woulddescribe the soul as that, as
this limitless font, thislimitless fountain of creative,
joyful energy, and there's sortof and there's intelligence in
it and there's a sort of afrequency of light that that
that we are and that is uniqueto each of us and that's filled
with these certain gifts thatyou know at once bring us the
(16:51):
most joy and most benefit toothers when they're expressed.
So that's my experience of soul.
Thank you for that.
Shelly Shepherd (17:03):
How beautiful All the imagery that you just
put in our hands.
Heather Drake (17:07):
Thank you, one of the things that Shelly and I
have come to pay attention to inthis part of our journey is
embodied practices that actuallyallow us not to just live our
life like only through our heador what thoughts we can actually
put together in some kind ofcognitive sentence, but for us
(17:29):
to be able to say that we cantrust our bodies and that we can
trust the feelings that we'rehaving and, granted, they do
have to be sorted or they dohave to be, you know, questioned
in some way but to be able tosay that there is hope and an
expectation that ourspirituality, that our time here
together, that are, in fact,entire human experience, is not
(17:52):
just to be a mental thought oran exercise, but it's to be
something that could be savored,that can be paid attention to
and actually can be nurtured.
And one of the ways that Shellyand I have found these embodied
experiences some of them havesimply been gifts, but other
times it has been through poetry, where we actually hear the
(18:13):
words and then you can feel thelight on your skin because of
someone's words, or you canthink about the taste of a glass
of wine because someone hasgiven you those words, and so it
has for us been like anentryway or a portal, kind of
into an imaginal realm.
That, though, becomes a trulyembodied experience, and I'm
(18:34):
wondering if poetry has alwaysbeen that for you, or if, from
the side, because it seems likeyou're maybe not listening to as
much poetry as you are creatingit, and we're, at this point,
listening to a lot of the poetryum, give us some information or
some light on what that lookslike to be on the other side of
that poet.
Chelan Harkin (18:54):
Oh, what a beautifully said Heather.
Well, I love that you'retouching on this, because I do
feel like especially mysticalpoetry that almost more than the
words, well, I feel like thewords are more a vehicle of
transmission of energetics,which is awesome, and there's
(19:19):
mystery to that that I can'tfully explain, but in its own,
but it's almost like, um, as thepoet, um, the sense I have is
that that the energy that comesthrough in a poem's like
creating itself through me, um,that then it's like it's almost,
it's like it's almost able tobe bottled and like it
(19:40):
crystallizes in the poem, butthen the energy can be shared
and it and it definitely doesactivate and and and um open, uh
, it impacts, it does impact uson the, on the, on the level of
the body, and um and theconsciousness, and awakens sort
of the consciousness in the body, opens channels in us, and it
(20:03):
also, like plants, these sort ofwild enlivened seeds, that kind
of get things moving.
So it's contagious really, Ifeel, effective.
Mystical poetry mystical poetry.
Heather Drake (20:23):
um, that again that we're holding is the idea
of, um, some of the womenmystics who have been speaking
so much to us and have beenreminding us of things that we
maybe knew in in other realmsbut that we have forgotten here,
or that we have gotten somescripts as women, you know, this
is where you can go no further.
Instead of us saying you know,what has love given us
permission to do, which iseverything, to be everything, to
(20:44):
savor everything and to be ableto find these words, one of the
things that I have found thathappens with poetry, and
particularly mystical poetrylike this, is that it longs to
be shared.
I read it and I love it and I'mso inspired about it, but it
always asks me to share it withsomebody else, and so I think it
becomes this beautiful circleof I've read it, I've heard it,
(21:07):
I felt it.
Now, how do I share this?
And this feels so much likelove to me in that it produces a
generosity of spirit when Iread these things or when I hear
this type of poetry.
Chelan Harkin (21:19):
Oh, that's beautiful.
That's so cool to hear you saythat, because that's certainly
how it feels when it comesthrough me.
It's almost it would beuncomfortable to not, If I were
just to receive the energy andnot write it down and share it.
That would feel like adistortion of the intention.
Heather Drake (21:38):
It wouldn't feel right we want to pause and take
a moment and let you know howglad we are that you've joined
us.
If you're enjoying this podcast, consider sharing it with a
friend, and if you found theconversation intriguing and want
to know more about what we'relearning or how you can join our
online community, visit ourwebsite at
expansionistheologycom.
(21:59):
I had asked you earlier if youhad a favorite, and I realized
how terrible that was asking acreator where is your favorite,
just like you wouldn't ask amother who is your favorite.
But are there ones that arelike ringing more true to you at
this moment, or ones thatyou're recognizing?
Oh, this has a lot of resonancein it, or this is a grace that
(22:19):
I'm walking in now.
Would you read us somethingthat you are loving at this
moment?
Thank you.
Chelan Harkin (22:24):
Yes, and actually I mean, if I were to choose a
favorite, it actually I think Iactually maybe could.
This one feels like a firstlove in a way, because this was
the first poem that crackedthrough and poured in the way
that.
And then it never, that channeldidn't close and um.
But when this one came throughit was one of the holiest
(22:46):
experiences of my life.
It just to, uh, I couldn'tbelieve it.
I was just sort of stunned andand this poem came on the heel.
It came.
I had, um, I committed to doingan experiment because I
desperately needed a connectionpoint of something authentic and
real inside of me and then away to express it.
(23:06):
And I was really bound up inthe shackles of perfectionism
and so I needed to loosen thatup.
And so I set up an experimentfor myself and the terms were
that I would allow myself towrite a bad poem every day for a
month and I would give myselfan hour, and then I would just
share it, no matter what,because I just needed to
(23:27):
practice getting out of judgmentmind and so embracing my fear
of things being bad rather thangetting blocked up by it.
And then, on the second day ofthat experiment, I think,
because I was cultivating inpart because I was cultivating
in myself an environment of waymuch wider acceptance and
embrace that just openedsomething up in a profoundly
(23:50):
characteristically different way.
So this is the first poem thatcame through like that and it's
called Say Wow.
And it's called Say Wow Eachday before our surroundings
become flat with familiarity andthe shapes of our lives click
into place, dimensionless andaverage as Tetris cubes, before
(24:11):
hunger knocks from our bellieslike a cantankerous old man, and
the duties of the day stack uplike dishes and the architecture
of the day stack up like dishes.
And the architecture of ourbasic needs, commissions all
thought to construct thefour-door sedan of safety Before
gravity clings to our skin likea cumbersome parasite and the
(24:35):
colored dust of dreams sweepsitself obscure in the vacuum of
reason.
Each morning, before we wrestlethe world and our heart into
the shape of our brain, lookaround and say wow, feed
yourself, fire, scoop up the dayentire like a planet-sized
(24:57):
bouquet of marvel sent by theuniverse directly into your arms
, and say wow, break yourselfdown into the basic components
of primitive awe and let thecrescendo of each moment
carbonate every capillary andsay wow, yes.
(25:21):
Before our poems becomecalloused with revision.
Let them shriek off the page ofspontaneity and, before our
metaphors get too regular, letthe sun stay a conflagration of
homing pigeons that fightsthrough fire each day to find us
(25:43):
wow, wow well, well, well, welldone thank you, thank you so
much.
So that was 21 when that oneburst through and and it was
this experience of beinginterwoven with the genius that
(26:03):
is grace, and and it moved, youknow, and it coming through me
and and kind of.
You know, the same life forcemoves through all of us and it,
and it expresses in in uniqueways, it moves through me
differently than it movesthrough the apple tree, and it
and it expresses in in uniqueways, it moves through me
differently than it movesthrough the apple tree, and the
genius that comes through theapple tree is the apple, and so,
(26:25):
but, um, so it had thisincredibly personal feel about
it, but also this incrediblydivine, divine feel, and, uh, it
was the most beautifulexperience and it's what made me
really recognize the need tofeel God in an embodied way,
(26:46):
rather than just conceptualizeand keep at arm's length.
Heather Drake (26:50):
We've been just recently gifted and some of it
not gifted, some of it we justprioritized um spending time
together in nature and just innature, in settings where you
just say, wow, sometimes it isin the mountains, sometimes, you
know, on the shores, but oftenit's just that idea of looking
up and really allowing awe toopen us to the world that is
(27:15):
around us.
And I so appreciated thatinvitation and again, not just
in that poem, in many of yourpoems to be able to one of them
you use the words the curvatureof the Robin's breast, and I was
thinking about this justbecause I was looking at a
little brown bird the other dayand it was just pay attention to
the way that is.
It's such a beautifulinvitation into a savoring as
(27:39):
opposed to just an autopilot,where we kind of find ourself
all the time, and I was hopingthat you'd say a little bit more
about how you're seeing thesethings or how you're training
yourself to savor and to notice,um, those things in nature that
call us into more awe.
Chelan Harkin (27:57):
Oh great, oh, what a good question, heather.
Well, I find that there's areason that we're not.
I feel like the embodied realmis the realm of deeper
satisfaction and savoring andconnection with that awe
actually, and there's a reasonthat we're not connected at that
(28:19):
level.
And there's a reason that we'renot connected at that level and
there's a reason that we're notall just open hearted, and
that's because of pain, and ourbodies have tremendous amount of
extraordinary potential insideof them and that's where our
pain is, the roots of our painthat's inherited, that is
experienced, the roots of ourpain that's inherited, that is,
you know, experienced and and um, I feel also part of this
(28:47):
tipping point, time, is thatthis is, I think, the first time
in which this pain is beingunpacked and the body, for so
long in in many uh traditions,has been, has been thought of as
like the seat of sin, becausethat's the pain unlooked at does
.
Does you know, sin is it's justthe acting out of of pain,
(29:09):
which is the acting out ofseparation that hasn't been
brought back into the fold ofoneness, and so it's a really
big deal to be bringingconsciousness into the body and
I found that, as I resolve allthis old pain that I both came
in with and experienced, Ibecome more sensitive to the
(29:31):
truth, to the truth that is thebeauty and the wonder and the
awe and the astonishment of life.
And the more I hold pain ordon't go through the process of
setting these bound energies,that is our embodied pain,
setting those free, it's thedegree to which I'm calloused to
that.
So my practice, and really oneof my main prayers too, is just
(29:55):
like asking to be fortified, tothe, the psychological stability
and security, to really then,um, uh, make the journey to, to
be able to stay with thesetrapped energies.
That's all.
Our pain really is that thethese trapped energies, and able
to stay with them long enoughto liberate them, which is to
(30:18):
find innocence in them actuallyand worth and value, and then
they start to share themselvesagain and start to give
themselves, to love and becomegenerative energies rather than
just stuck.
Yeah, so yeah, I find that thisawe is, it's an outcome of that
(30:40):
process, and it's always there.
It's always there.
It's just that we can becallous to it and a bit numbed
from it.
Beautiful.
Shelly Shepherd (30:51):
In one of your recent poems that you shared
with us, you said renaming yoursorrow is a direct path to God,
and so what I heard you just sayis that maybe our sorrow, our
trauma or our pain we haven'tlearned how to rename it.
(31:12):
Could you speak to that alittle bit?
How do you rename your sorrowor your pain or your trauma and
then expand, you know, be moreexpansive to God and to source
and to this oneness or othernessthat we all really long for?
Chelan Harkin (31:33):
Well, I think it's important to say that it is
really hard to do that in thissociety, that it's, it's, it is
really hard to to do that inthis society.
We're so wired to belong andit's actually a, it's a survival
need to feel like we're not toofar outside of the pack, like
like a fear, like I'm going todie if I'm too different, like
(31:55):
it activates, like that'sbecause, um, you know from way
back when, if we weren'tincluded in the village we would
die.
So it's scary to the system,it's really scary.
And so I guess I say thatbecause it's still quite
counterculture to be able toembrace our struggles.
(32:16):
You know, vulnerability,sharing these, our difficulties,
or even admitting to havingsorrow, is still in many cases
extremely hard, and there'sextreme, can be extreme shame,
and then also, in many cases wedo share our sorrow with someone
and they just don't know how tohandle it, and then that's
(32:38):
another really hard thing.
So I just want to say that it's, it's tricky, um, and I've been
really fortunate, um to well,largely through the tool of
hypnotherapy.
It's been incredibly, uh, it'sbeen a mainstay for me because
it, um, it, it's, it's, it putsthe mind in this state where
(33:02):
it's just not as scared ofitself, and so it can go looking
.
And I found, I mean I've beenreally intensely on this path of
um, the path of sensitizingmyself to, to, to truth and to
to beauty, for about 15 years ina full on way, and um, and I,
every time, I've been throughcountless journeys.
(33:25):
You know the the thing, theemotions, the sorrows that we
judge when we're not familiarwith them.
Once we're able to stay withthem, there's always
extraordinary beauty andinnocence at the root, uh, and,
and there's this extraordinaryexperience of, of reunion and
then of being re-energized,re-vivified and re-inspired, um,
(33:50):
as we set these energies free,and so something, yeah, that I
really strive to do with mypoetry and my platform is just
to really create a new narrativethat we're not actually, we're
(34:12):
not our sorrows, we're theirstewards, and it's okay, it
makes sense that we have sorrowsand it's incredibly brave to to
go into them and just trying to, you know, infuse that new
narrative and, I think, beingaround people who are doing
their best to come from thatplace, who see this journey into
(34:36):
our wholeness as anextraordinary act of bravery,
rather than weird and aninconvenience and you're being
so negative, talking about your,you know, like being around
people who can help us redefine.
That, I think, is really key.
Shelly Shepherd (34:51):
Thank you.
Thank you for that.
I know we want to to say a fewwords about, about the new book
that's coming in September, theProphetess, and what would you
want listeners to know about thebook?
Where can they find the book?
Can you give us a little sneakpeek of what we can expect in
(35:16):
this connection with the divinefeminine that you're, that
you're shaping for us?
Chelan Harkin (35:21):
Yeah, so, um, so the book, first of all, can be
pre-ordered now on Amazon.
Just type in Shalann Harkin,the prophetess up it comes and
pre-orders are really important.
I'll just make that note.
I didn't really understand that.
It just sort of positions thebook for a really successful
launch when it when it launches.
So to do that now would beawesome.
(35:43):
And so this book it is inspiredby Khalil Gibran's book the
Prophet, which was a global,globally beloved masterpiece,
and that book it's 28 chapters,as is mine.
So my book, the format isthere's a parallel and it's all
about life's most meaningfulsubjects in the human condition
(36:07):
and human potential.
And his book is so profoundit's always been one of my all
time favorites and, um, and Iwant to share, I think, mostly
just the extraordinary way thatI came to be the author of this
book and it's quite somethingand it's I'll try to make it
short, I know I can be kind oflong-winded, but um, just that,
(36:31):
in 2020, before before, uh,self-publishing this book, I had
no connections in the marketingworld or in the publishing
world and I just decided to do aprayer experiment asking for
marketing support specificallyfrom Khalil Gibran.
I just decided to talk to myfavorite dead poets and ask them
(36:51):
.
And so I would go on thesewalks.
And it was just a totally,almost goofy experiment.
Khalil, gibran and Hafez andanother beautiful author named
Brian Doyle were my three mainpeople.
And and then, um, three weeksinto this experiment, my all
time favorite living poet,daniel Ladinsky, reached out to
(37:13):
me and invited me to coauthor abook with him.
It turns it, uh, it turns out.
He had written, uh, theforeword to the extended edition
of the prophet, and um is theman who had, uh, who's done, all
the renderings of hafez poetrythat have made him a superstar
to the western world.
So it was just unbelievable.
And um and me, coming from I,was complete, no name, complete,
(37:36):
complete, utter, no connectionsat all.
And then Daniel introduced meto the major, endorsed me
phenomenally, to the majorpublishing houses of the world,
and so then that just I justkept my prayers going with
Khalil and Hafez and Brandoil,because they were very effective
.
And then, about a year and ahalf after that, I just put my
(37:59):
kids to bed and just got slammedwith this high voltage,
irresistible inspiration thatsaid, basically, it's time to
write the Prophetess and you'rethe one to do it, and then all
of this content just startedpouring.
In two months the book wascompletely written and then, uh,
yeah, so it's just been anextraordinary, exquisite and
(38:20):
profoundly like, prayerful andsurreal and wild journey.
And when I got this, uh, thebook deal, it was exactly when I
signed it.
It was exactly 100 years, um,to the date that khalil jabran
had published his book, and sothat book is, the rights are
with Penguin Random House, whichI didn't stand a chance with
(38:44):
them, but so Hay House was theone that I originally signed
with, and as soon as I turned inmy manuscript, hay House was
bought by Penguin Random House.
It's just unreal.
And then a couple more things,and then I know we probably need
to wind up, but, um, it turnsout which I wasn't even aware of
(39:06):
when this whole book was comingthrough me.
After I was completely done, Iwas like, you know, I should
reread the prophet, and, um, thewhole last chapter is a
prophecy of his return, and thelast line of his book is a
little while a moment upon thewind, and another woman shall
(39:26):
bear me talking about his return.
And then it also turns out thathe was profoundly inspired by
the Baha'i writings.
I don't know if you arefamiliar with the Baha'i faith
but I grew up in a Baha'i home,which is, you know, there aren't
very many Baha'is out there, soit's weird at all that he was
inspired by that and anyway.
(39:46):
So it's just, it's been somysterious and so beautiful and
so the prophetess it's seen assort of a contemporary
continuation of that book thathas that includes the themes
that I would say kind of youcould say could fall under the,
the, the umbrella of thefeminine resurrecting and um
(40:09):
exonerating and even likecoronating um themes of
vulnerability and sensitivityand and shadows and and then joy
, creative expression.
Death is one of the chaptergrief, suffering, intimacy, sin,
religion.
It's really addressing kind ofold, important subjects from a
(40:31):
new perspective and a new lensthat serves, is meant to serve,
our, the embrace of ourwholeness and help us.
It's intended sort of as aninspired passage to this new
paradigm of embrace.
Shelly Shepherd (40:49):
We'll just say wow.
Well congratulations, yeah, andall of those things.
That's really amazing.
Chelan Harkin (40:55):
Yeah, thank you, it's beyond me.
Heather Drake (40:57):
Well done, well done.
Woman of of valor.
That's amazing.
Shelly Shepherd (41:00):
yeah, just to have that opportunity with the
publishing industry and thesupport and all of that is like
wow, it's something.
It is the prophet and theprophetess are in your corner.
That is very clear, um so thankyou for sharing that piece with
us.
Uh, just now, that wasbeautiful insight into what
(41:21):
you've been given.
Heather Drake (41:21):
And I think what you told us is if somebody is
thinking about buying Christmaspresents this year maybe they
want to celebrate Christmas andhave presents this would be a
great time for them.
To preorder A book on Amazon iswhere you said that we should
or one of the better placesright now in the preorder time,
it's better.
And if you're, you know somepeople don't want to do that you
said that we should uh, one ofthe better places right now in
the pre-order time, it's betterto pre-order and if you're, you
know some people have a havedon't want to do that, and so
(41:43):
another place you can buy it isfrom my local bookstore, wacoma
W-A-U-C-O-M-A.
Chelan Harkin (41:49):
Wacoma bookstore is an alternative.
Okay, but that's exactly what.
I'm saying Buy it.
And also there's an assumption,too, that if you're with a big
publishing house, that thepublishers are just these fairy
godmothers that are doing allthe marketing for you, and
that's not true.
So almost all the marketing isstill on me, which is a lot.
(42:21):
Listening to this just hasconnections or ideas or podcast
ideas that would resonate withthis story or are connected to
newspapers or radio programs orwhat have you.
Reach out to me and let's getthis show on the road.
I'm really asking for help,because this book, it, deserves
a wide reach and I want it tohave that and I need help so
that too.
Heather Drake (42:38):
So also kudos to you for being able to and boldly
asking for help.
It's a beautiful prayer, it's abeautiful invitation into the
human family to be able to saythis is where we extend our help
and our light.
And so where can people findyou reliably and quickly if they
want information or they wantto purchase the book?
Chelan Harkin (42:59):
Oh, great, well, if they want to purchase the
book just, they can just goright to Amazon and do it that
way.
And then if you have any ideasand information and find me on
Facebook and just send me adirect message, okay, Direct
message through Facebook RightBeautiful.
Heather Drake (43:13):
Thank you both.
Chelan Harkin (43:14):
What a joy.
Shelly Shepherd (43:15):
I have one.
I have one piece to finish withthis amazing poet that is in
front of us right now.
It's called the Climax fromyour Grace book.
Was it Wild Grace, wild Grace?
It's called Wild Grace.
Yes, it says is the climax fromthe conjugal visit between the
(43:39):
wildly divine and the achinglyhuman in the bed chambers of the
chest.
Thank you for being here today,for penetrating our soul, our
chest, our mind, our hearts,with this divine energy that you
have in your soul.
So appreciative of that, thankyou.
Chelan Harkin (44:00):
It was a real joy to be with you both.
I'm really really grateful forthis.
Heather Drake (44:05):
It was our joy to have you listen to our
conversation today.
If you would like furtherinformation or for more content,
visit us atexpansionisttheologycom.
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