Cawnawyn chats with her friend Emily, a longtime Pagan/Wiccan mama of a three-year-old and an eight-month-old who is currently a stay-at-home parent after years of coaching gymnastics. They discuss how motherhood reshapes spiritual practice, from seasonal altars and simple home-clearing rituals to adapting Sabbat timing to real-life seasons in the Pacific Northwest.

Emily discusses how her Scottish and Irish heritage shapes her pagan journey. The mamas also talk about sleep deprivation, identity changes, postpartum anxiety, and redefining “balance” as continuous maintenance, and share plans for the equinox and autumn with kids, along with personal practices for the upcoming Venus retrograde on healing and honesty.

00:00 Podcast Welcome

00:58 Meet Emily, Pagan Mama and Competitive Gymnastics Coach

02:59 Kids And Sleep

06:24 Heritage And Pagan Practice

11:17 How Motherhood Changes Spirituality

15:36 Identity After Kids

18:57 Creative Play

22:28 How We Are Celebrating the Equinox

24:50 Maintenance Over Balance

29:03 Nostalgia and Impossible Standards

33:29 Upcoming Venus Retrograde Healing Work

38:16 Missing Meditation and Truth Telling

41:44 The Attachment to Intensity

49:13 The Gifts of the Equinox

51:52 Closing Reflections and Farewell

Resources Mentioned in this Episode:

“Mill Dust and Dreaming Bread: Exploring Scottish Folk Belief and Folk Magic” by Scott Richardson-Read

Questions, comments, and suggestions can be addressed to starsandsproutspodcast@gmail.com.

Follow Cawnawyn on Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok @cawnawynmor for more music, astrology, and witchcraft.

Astrology classes, new podcast episodes, the Dark Moon Chronicle Blog, and music releases on cawnawynmor.com.

Watch the Podcast Video version on youtube.com/@StarsandSprouts

Music by C. A. Worden ©️ Smashing Ivory Productions LLC 2026

Violin - Jean-Philippe de Passos (via Musiversal)

Cawnawyn welcomes back Aura to discuss her work as a birth doula in the Pacific Northwest and how her pagan spirituality privately informs her support for mothers.

Aura discusses how she became a doula and shares her extensive experience helping new and expecting mothers, including tips on creating a sacred birth space. Cawnawyn reflects on her two births with Aura as her doula, highlighting the benefits of hiring a doula for a smooth, successful birth experience.

00:00 Welcome

01:42 Meeting Aura, A Pagan Doula

02:52 Called to Birth Work

07:29 What a Doula Does

14:40 Partner Support and Advocacy

16:32 Placenta Encapsulation Magic

20:45 Pagan Birth Ritual Tips

26:18 Creating a Sacred Birth Space

34:49 Postpartum Rituals and Rest

40:59 Doula Stories in Pivotal Moments

47:29 Intuition and Spiritual Cues

55:08 Where to Find Aura

56:08 Closing

Resources Mentioned in this Episode:

Wintertide Birth Services

https://wintertidebirthservices.com/

Follow Aura @wintertidebirthservices

Freya: Hypnobirthing Surge Timer

The Positive Birth Company

https://thepositivebirthcompany.com/

Questions, comments, and suggestions can be addressed to starsandsproutspodcast@gmail.com.

Follow Cawnawyn on Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok @cawnawynmor for more music, astrology, and witchcraft.

Astrology classes, new podcast episodes, the Dark Moon Chronicle Blog, and music releases on cawnawynmor.com.

Watch the Podcast Video version on youtube.com/@StarsandSprouts

Music by C. A. Worden ©️ Smashing Ivory Productions LLC 2026

Violin - Jean-Philippe de Passos (via Musiversal)

Cawnawyn returns to the Stars and Sprouts Podcast to share how her family’s early homeschooling experiments have gone less smoothly than expected, but have brought lessons about retention, curiosity, play, and rhythm.

Cawnawyn discusses balancing educator-mom roles while navigating work-from-home demands and careful media choices.

She reflects on prioritizing children while still pursuing creative goals, grief work around unrealized past ambitions, Lughnasadh themes of harvest and mourning, and closes with eclipse-season astrology on the Leo–Aquarius nodal axis and what it suggests for parenting values.

00:00 Welcome

00:28 Summer Update and Homeschool Plans

01:56 Wondergarten Summer Curriculum

06:45 Myth Atlas for Kids

10:30 Wheel of the Year Guide

13:03 How Homeschool Is Going

16:50 Importance of Movement in Home Education

24:12 Work From Home Reality Check

27:53 Finding Your “Why” and Balance

31:05 Grief Work and First Harvest

36:34 Leo/Aquarius Axis Parenting Lessons

47:34 Closing Blessings and Invitation

Resources Mentioned in this Episode:

Wondergarten Early Childhood Curriculum

by Lisa and Nathaniel Santa Cruz

https://wondergarten.net/

Myth Atlas: Maps and Monsters, Heroes and Gods from Twelve Mythological Worlds

by Thiago de Moraes

https://bookshop.org/p/books/myth-atlas-maps-and-monsters-heroes-and-gods-from-twelve-mythological-worlds-thiago-de-moraes/1dec6ed3a85b5df6?ean=9781499808285&bkshp-astro=t

The Wheel of the Year: An Illustrated Guide to Nature’s Rhythms

by Fiona Cook, Illustrated by Jessica Roux

https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-wheel-of-the-year-an-illustrated-guide-to-nature-s-rhythms-fiona-cook/59d2ee6bca7fc937?ean=9781524874803&bkshp-astro=t

Questions, comments, and suggestions can be addressed to starsandsproutspodcast@gmail.com.

Follow Cawnawyn on Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok @cawnawynmor for more music, astrology, and witchcraft.

Astrology classes, new podcast episodes, the Dark Moon Chronicle Blog, and music releases on cawnawynmor.com.

Watch the Podcast Video version on youtube.com/@StarsandSprouts

Music by C. A. Worden ©️ Smashing Ivory Productions LLC 2026

Violin - Jean-Philippe de Passos (via Musiversal)