Episode #79 is a conversation with Samantha Zipporah recorded on a mid-summer day together in Paonia, Colorado.
Samantha Zipporah is a midwife, author & educator in service to healing & liberation. Sam’s path rises from an ancient lineage of midwives, witches, & wise women with expertise spanning the continuum of birth, sex, & death. She is devoted to breaking the spells of oppression in reproductive & sexual health by connecting people with the innate pleasure, power, & wisdom of the body. Her praxis weaves scientific & soulful inquiry that integrate modern medicine & data with ancestral practices & epistemologies. Sam's most recent publications & offerings center the radical reclamation of contraception & abortion. Her online membership, The Fruit of Knowledge Learning Community, features access to her heart & mind via books, courses, Q&As, curated resources & more.
In this episode of the podcast, we talk about:
radical fertility and the politics of birth
plants for preventing implantation of a fertilized egg
the importance of informed consent
the difference between conception and pregnancy
emmenagogues misconceptions
the connection of birth and death to ecological connection and our ancestral lineages of relating to plants in this context
borthing bodies as experimental grounds for the medical industry
our psyches are not separate from nature
problems with hormonal birth control
our culture is abusive towards our sexuality
so much suffering happens in isolation
sam’s initiation moment with mugwort
its out birthright to look at caloric, social and emotional resources available to us to self-regulate reproduction
how culture psychology affects our physiology and the way we give birth
our culture constricting our experience of and definition of love
GSP: Episode #79: Samantha Zipporah on radical fertility & the politics of birth