186 Our Pilgrimage Home: Libby Bunten and Monica Rodgers === Monica: Welcome to the revelation project podcast. I'm Monica Rogers, and this podcast is intended to disrupt the trance of unworthiness and to guide women to remember and reveal the truth of who we are. We say that life is a revelation project and what gets revealed gets healed. Monica: Hello, dear listeners. I cannot believe I am back. I'm so rested, feeling so good and so ready to begin a brand new season. And I just wanted to pop in before the episode to let you know that a few different things are in the podcast. Monica: And the music and the intro and the outro, and just working on some really cool new things. I'm actually potentially working with a musician to bring a new track to the podcast and just to make it even more personal, even more unique. And I hope you're excited about that. As I am, the guests coming up for this season will blow your mind. Monica: I feel like the podcast almost four years in is at the point where we're just starting to attract some really amazing guests. And I just, I'm, it's still so important for me to hand pick each and every guest and to have for the most part, an interest in what they're doing, not only because I think they. Monica: You know, bringing them on exposes. My listener, you to an additional sequence of conversations that build off of the foundation of everything we've already talked about on the podcast and that compliment and amplify and continues those conversations. But also that kind of open portals into new realms, new territories, including quantum healing, including a subject I often talk about called Wetiko, including in bringing indigenous elders and wisdom keepers onto the show this season. Monica: And so much more. We've actually got Veda Austin, who's agreed to come on the podcast. And some other potential guests that I can't quite yet say, but the possibilities are endless. So let me just say that. And two other things. I just finished an incredible pilgrimage on Crete. And while I touch on the pilgrimage in this episode, I'm going to be doing a much deeper episode. Monica: I'm not sure yet if that's going to be solo or with a partner, but I really am interested in sharing with you all that I learned about the Minoan culture and the earliest prehistory that they have That they've discovered on Crete and has been really part of the goddess movement for many, many years, but all of it kind of really came together for me in a tapestry of colors and culture and understanding and dance and movement and cooking and. Monica: Oh my God, like it was like next level amazing. And so I really want to do a dedicated episode on kind of a deep dive of Minoan culture and talk about the myth of Ariadne's thread and all of what I have come to learn about the role of priestess in Minoan culture and how they worship the goddess and how central she was to absolutely. Monica: Everything that they did. So more to be revealed on that. And just two other things I want to mention before we jump into this episode. One is that we're just about to choose the winner of this first month's giveaway and the bounty and the abundance of what is in this kind of curated gift pot is amazing. Monica: So if you haven't yet. Please hop over to join the revelation. com and scroll down and click the link for the giveaway and get on that specific list to win because your name could be chosen on October 31st. And it's very important to me that people are on that list. Only those that want to receive because The, the giveaway, well, there's so many things I could say here, but what I want to say is, first of all, the value of this specific gift is quite high. Monica: So there's well over 300 worth of books and gifts, and there's even something special in there from Crete that I brought back that I'm also putting in the pot for the winner. And this is All in the practice of reciprocity. So like, if you're the winner, like what you do with the winnings is up to you. Monica: But the whole idea and the spirit of this is kind of this developing this muscle of receiving something for doing absolutely nothing just because, and. Just because you deserve to win. And also it's about what you will do with that bounty, what you will do with that abundance, what you will do with those gifts and how that will create new possibilities in your life and maybe the lives of other people that you then touch. Monica: So more to be revealed as we go, because this is new to me too. But it's really exciting to me for some reason, like this whole idea of this giveaway is just super exciting. So each month we're going to be kind of growing a new pot that goes to the new winner. And this specific pot has some incredible books, some amazing gifts, things special teas and prayer cards and just very cool things. Monica: So go ahead, get on the list. And again, it's all in this spirit of the divine feminine, the beauty way, the inner wilderness, the unbecoming process, right? All of the things that I talk about all day, every day on the podcast. This is what it's all about. So please join us in this. Monica: Okay, the next thing I want to mention is that unbecoming the registration is officially open and the we're starting to fill up already. So if you have not, and we'll talk more about it in this episode, but if you have not yet registered for a call, please do. Because there is limited availability and there is an optional retreat with even less ability or sorry, less availability at the end. Monica: So we begin November 7th, we end in April and there's a retreat in April and there's limited spots for the retreat. But in order to do the retreat, You have to have done the six month program so you can learn more by going to join the revelation. com slash unbecoming. And you'll hear more about Libby and I's unbecoming process and all of the things in our lives that made. Monica: Our pilgrimage this summer possible. And again, we went on two separate trips, but what we talk about in this episode are all the ways that doing this unbecoming work has lent itself to new definitions of success, new ways of living in the world, new ways of creating spaciousness in our lives, and new ways of accessing the magic that. Monica: That does truly exist in everyday life when you begin to do the work of unbecoming. So here we go into the episode where you'll hear more about my pilgrimage, more about Libby and Paul's trip, and all of what we're cooking up for this next program of unbecoming beginning November 7th. Monica: All right, everybody. Hello and welcome. To another episode of the revelation project podcast and Libby, this may officially be the kickoff to a new season. Libby: Yes, I get to, I get to be the opener. Maybe Monica: You got to be the opener. You're the fluffer. Libby: Yes. I am the fluffer always Indeed. Always. Yes. Monica: Always, always. And I know, you know, today we came on in a very playful way. Monica: We're here to really talk about and share more of our own journey of unbecoming, but also all of the ways that our own lives have changed and shifted and transformed and what Has been possible as a result of this work, beginning with the incredible pilgrimages. I'm just going to call it a pilgrimage for both of us. Monica: Yes. That we just took, you know, I love this definition of pilgrimage that Carol Christ talks about where she talks about the pilgrims. Going on this both inner and outer journey kind of simultaneously and almost when you come back needing to reorient yourself to a new reality, because although the world has stayed the same while we've been gone, it's also changed because we've changed. Monica: So it's really, it was powerful, I think, for both of us, two separate trips, two different kind of themes to our trips, but we wanted to kind of come on board and just share more about where we were, what we did. And actually this is great because I haven't even had a chance to catch up with you about it. Libby: I know it's going to be so. Fun and flirty to, to kind of ask each other questions and be curious. And I was thinking about this before, because I knew this was going to be the topic and you and I always just riff, you know, that's kind of our thing, but how we were both doing pleasure research in a different. Libby: And similar way like this is, it was like there was a meta sort of research and then sort of a more micro thing that we're both doing and embodying at the same time, but very different sort of, I guess you could say agendas as far as what we were actually doing. But I was just thinking about that. And I was like, this is really fascinating because this is a lot of our work around pleasure, rest and play. Libby: For both of us, I think, was really all up in the mix here. Monica: For sure. Pleasure, rest, and play has been, you know, something that has obviously become powerfully important to both of us. And I love that part of our energy together is like doubling down on it. Libby: Yeah. Oh, 100%. Monica: It's been, if I were to look back at the past, I would not have known how to bring pleasure, rest, and play into my life in the ways that I have. Monica: How about you? Libby: Oh my God, I can't even, I mean, there's so much to say here, and one thing that's coming to me right now is just stemming from the fact that I grew up with so little. So I remember This is kind of just like a side note, but I remember I hit a very big visible goal in another business that I run at one point, and I bought this fancy car, and I was driving down the main street in my town, town of 500, basically an island. Libby: Okay. And I had looked forward to it for so long. And I loved this car. I love this car. I still have it. And I'm driving down the street and I remember just like kind of crumpling with shame about it. And I, but I hadn't had that experience yet. So, and that was probably, I don't know, three or four years ago now. Libby: And the difference between even then and now. I mean, this trip was astronomically more bigger and more visible for me than that was. But just do you, do you get what I'm saying here? Monica: Yeah. Well, well, what I'm hearing is success shame, but in a way that patriarchy wouldn't necessarily have looked at the way you achieved it. Monica: And a thought it was possible. Yeah, because what I'm hearing is that it's because you doubled down on the things that are at the antithesis of what we're taught right that brought you into the. Abundance. Libby: Totally. Totally. Monica: Of being able to generate income that you never thought possible before because you basically redesigned your life and your business to accommodate your own rhythms. Libby: Oh, yeah. And it's so interesting that. This is coming up right now, because two things. One is I'm realizing in this moment, as I tell this story, because I've told this story to people before, maybe even you, but still like how, how loud my internalized patriarchal voices were at that time. And also building these businesses that are centric to my rest, my pleasure, my recovery, my play, and how, what often people say to me, okay, they know I run businesses that are. Libby: Very spacious and I'm in control, but they're constantly like, I'm, I know you're so busy. Because they see the success and they're like, I know you're so busy and I'm always making it a point to say, I'm actually not busy. I have a lot of space in my calendar and I did that intentionally. But do you know what I'm saying? Libby: It's like when it comes in now, it's like, Whoa, Monica: Yeah, it's. I'm trying not to like be smug over here because there's this like energy of it's such a self satisfying thing to actually be available and, and to have space like this and that from the outside looking in again, we can't be responsible for how other people see something, busyness equals success. Libby: Correct. Exactly. That's always getting reflected back to me. I'm just like amazed by it. And busyness is something I used to really pride myself on. And I got so much less done when I was so busy. And I was exhausted too, you know, but I got I actually got less done. And I had less time and less money and less pleasure. Libby: You know, it's just, it's interesting. So I know that's kind of like a side Bar, but definitely related to this. Monica: Well, yeah, it is very related because I literally had someone even say today, like I hopped on and I said to a client, it's been a month since we spoke last. And it was really interesting because her immediate response, she caught herself, but she said something like, must be nice to have a job like yours. Monica: Right. And I just stopped and I smiled and I said, yes, it's true. It is nice to have a job like mine and it's like, and there's no shame here. But my initial response was like, Ooh, ouch, as if that's somehow not okay. So it's really interesting because you just shared about driving through town in your car that you. Monica: You said you grew up with so little. And so again, there's kind of this shift I'm hearing too in how we're experiencing prosperity because while there's yes, let's say a brand new shiny car, the truth is it's not the brand new shiny car. It's actually the inner prosperity that you feel and. It's that old version of you that is still sometimes whispering, or at least was in that moment. Monica: Who do you think you are Libby: Exactly? That was exactly it. And I had equated money like that kind of money, like to have a Mercedes like status and that those people were actually Different than me and I didn't want to be like the people I grew up around who did have status and there that had nothing to do with their money. Libby: This was like a patriarchal hierarchical type of thing. So it's really interesting and I just have to say my father actually said the same thing to me. He said it must be nice when I texted him something about being in Scotland or maybe it was when I called him before I left and I was like, yeah, it is. Libby: It's very nice. Monica: It's, it's really nice. Libby: So anyway that's a little bit about, you know, there's so much to say about this, but I do want to talk about our pilgrimages. And I'm so curious about Paul and I kind of, I, for those of you listening, I went with my husband, which was a whole other really big thing for us because he gets very stuck in the patriarchal grind matrix. Libby: So for him to commit to doing a three week trip. in one of his busiest months of the year was, was a huge thing. And we had some preparation we did, but I'm curious, like how you prepared yourself for the pilgrimage that you went on as it relates to some of this stuff. Monica: And so, and my pilgrimage was very different. Monica: It was for the listeners, you know, who are tuning in, they knew those of you that are new to this podcast don't know. So I'll revisit this, but I went on an almost got 19 day or, well, it was a 16 day pilgrimage goddess pilgrimage, actually. On Crete in Greece, and it was with 20 other women and it was full on, was very active. Monica: It was very beautiful. It was, it was very challenging at times. It was. A lot of it is actually still processing and integrating because I just got back last week, but in preparing for it, I would say that I was often turning to the ghosts and. Or the parts you'll hear me oftentimes refer to my ghosts and my parts as the same thing, because they're still not convinced they're the super, they're the super conditioned parts of me that. Monica: Still are not a hundred percent sure that it's okay to fully relax and pursue the thing that I want to pursue in a world that wouldn't agree with me. And when I say that, what I mean is Austin. My partner and the love of my life stayed home with my still 18 year old, who's still going to school and he didn't come with me and he took care of him the whole time that I was gone and the world out there would be like, you're. Monica: Just going on a pilgrimage, like, and I do this, this is the third time I've done something like this and so it's, it's, so the preparation is very much around. Self approval. Yeah. It's noticing all of the voices that come up that want to put me back in the patriarchal box or keeping me in the patriarchal pace and that whisper, who do you think you are? Libby: Yeah. There's so much to do. There's so much to do, Monica. Monica: There's so much to do. How can you, how can you just up and leave? Yeah. What if they need you? Libby: I remember we talked, I actually called you from Scotland and you were like, Hi, and you were about to leave. And you said something along the lines of, and we were both, you know, obviously we were preparing for unbecoming, which is, you know, enrollment is open right now. Libby: So we were getting things done before we both left and all that. So we could just be on these pilgrimages and. You're like, at that point, you were just like, you know, there are many things to do, but I'm just like, you kind of had this like, but fuck it. Like, I'm just going to do what I'm going to do. And then I'm going to be in the vortex. Libby: I'm going to be in the goddess vortex and. I was just really happy to hear that for you. Yeah. But I love, I love what you just shared about, you know, that the world, doing the thing that the, the matrix would not agree with, right. And approving, continuing to approve of yourself along the way. Monica: And one of the things, and after, you know, I kind of share a little bit more here, I want to turn and ask you more. Monica: Because I think I need, I want the listeners to understand like what, what preparation was like for you, but then like also some of the revelations you had on your trip with Paul, right. And like what that provided, because the other thing I wanted to say about my experience of going for this period of time. Monica: Is that there's kind of this way culturally that we don't even take time off for lunch. We don't even take time to go pee, let alone actually take a summer off and then go on a pilgrimage, which is what I did. So I did not produce any new podcast episodes all summer long. I had pre recorded them and I've been committed for the last three years to take the summers off. Monica: And now, strangely, but magically, wonderfully, September has turned into trip month. Or a pilgrimage month. And so it's just magical. And it's really interesting to recognize that. So I'm never great with math right off the bat, but is that eight months of work? Yeah. And four months off really in a way that again, it must be nice, right? Monica: A lot of our culture would say like, that's a luxury. I don't think that's true anymore. I think that the truth is we've been sold a bill of goods. About what it means to live in harmony with our natural cycles and our natural rhythms. And I believe that it's our birthright, all of us to find our own personal rhythm and that we need time and time is a sneaky little bitch too. Monica: to put that out there. We're such a slave to time and. The scarcity around time and they're never being enough of anything. It's like so tied in with this myth of scarcity that Lynn Twistles always talks about, but I want to turn and now just invite you into this part of the conversation to talk about your experience with Paul and how that all showed up for you. Libby: Yeah, I love this and I just, I want to just piggyback on something that you just said because it's so important for all of us is. Taking time. It sounds so simple. It's actually really frightening. And you know this about me, but I did not take time for myself for so long. And your desire to take summers off really turned me on. Libby: Like it really fucking did it for me. And I was like, I desire to take I took two months off in the winter, which actually turned into, I don't even know how long it was so triggering. This was this past winter. It was so triggering. It was so scary because I had made this internal vow with myself. I'm saying this for the people listening because I know there's someone out there who can relate to this. Libby: I realized in that time I had made an inner vow when I was younger that I would never have to be without. And the way that I kept that promise to myself was grinding. Because I've, I learned out there in the patriarchal matrix, the Patriarchs, as Joanna Kiyava calls it, I learned out there that that was the only way for me to keep that promise to myself. Libby: So I had like a somatic link that I had to break. And It was so worth it. But I just want to say, you know, this is something that I needed a lot of sisterhood and support with while I was taking that time off. And Monica, I know that you got many teary phone calls from me of like, this is terrifying. Like it was so great, but it was also a lot of unwinding and unlearning around that shit. Monica: Yeah, I love that. But to go back to the somatic link and talk more about that. Yeah, Libby: I had. Made a link between my mind and my body or my intellect, I would say in my body, because my intellect is more a part of me like I value my intellect and all that. But I have an intellectual part that really is like such. Libby: She's a very skilled manager of me, and she had made a link in my body that When I don't act in compliance with my intellectual part that says this, the grind is the only way, there's never enough, you've got to do more, there's no time for resting, blah, blah, blah, blah, when I break that, or I don't comply, my body has like a trauma response, because I made that somatic link for myself. Libby: So I had to do A lot of, or what I chose to do a lot of somatic work, I was very fortunate too, because I was learning a lot more about somatics than I had already even known at the time. So it took a lot for me to be in relationship with my intellectual part in a different way so that she can put that job down and actually come back on board and realize that it's safe for this adult version of me to drive. Libby: The bus of my life, but I always negotiate and say, but if I fuck it up really bad, you can come back and give me more of that intellectual stuff. But yeah, I had made this somatic link and it was actually physically painful when I would not comply and I had to, or I chose to rather like really get into that dance with those parts of myself. Monica: Yeah. Oh God. It's so, so good. I'm so glad I asked you to circle back there cause it's so juicy for me to hear it because again, I feel like we can make up what that really means when you say that. But now what I'm hearing and making the connection around is that. That part of you was saying, it's not safe to relax. Monica: It's not safe. It's not safe to do nothing. It's not safe to, to not constantly be busy, Libby: Right? And you'll starve and your power will get turned off and you won't have heat and Monica: You'll end up in Denny's dumpster. Libby: You're eating out of the dumpster with a. A fridge full of food. You and I've had this conversation like walking towards the guillotine in a field of flowers. Libby: It's like, stop, look and look back at the fucking flower Monica: Look over your shoulder. The field of flowers is right there. Yeah. Yes. And this is the trance. What we're talking about is the Patriots. And it's also the trance that keeps us in the grind. It keeps us. It keeps us keeping the patriarchal pace in a way that is. Monica: Actually detrimental to our nervous system, but in order to break the pattern, we also have to take time in the unbecoming process to befriend our nervous system and to meet these parts of ourselves that. You've got a whole bus of parts that are ready to go on, go on a trip. And you've got a couple other parts that are like, no, we can't do this. Libby: They're like hanging on the outside of the bus, like dangling. They're like, hell no, I'm not letting you go. It's so real. And. You and I know this. I had to have sisterhood spaces where I could practice this with people who speak the language of this type of work because I love all of my friends. I'm very fortunate to have a lot of lifelong friends and female friends and it's not their jam. Libby: Some of this is not their jam yet. I'm working on it and I'm making progress. I brag. Okay. But yeah, it was a lot. Monica: I disagree Libby. I think this work is everybody's jam. Yeah. But they haven't seen that it's possible for them yet. Right. Libby: Exactly. No, they have that. It must be nice. Monica: Yeah. They have that. It must be nice attitude. It must be nice to have a job like yours. It's like, yeah, Libby: Yeah, it is. It's so real. So thank you for inspiring me to take more time off and you know, I too have now made September I guess pilgrimage month, but the way that we sort of prepared, so like I said, this was a big commitment for Paul because he. Libby: Just really gets caught in the grind is like I can't possibly I was like if you can't leave your business for three weeks We have a bigger problem, you know, and so he surprised me last Christmas with the Scotland portion of this trip, and I cried harder than he than when he proposed to me. I'm not. I know I've told you this, but for everyone out there to just give you an idea of how long this has been a desire of mine, and I've traveled all over the world, and we've done some together, but this was like so So Important to me. Libby: It was such a gesture from him. So, and also an opportunity for me to receive because I felt so seen in that moment. So I was like, well, if we can go for eight days, then we can go for three weeks. So we plan this other. We went, you know, to Ireland for a couple nights and we went to Portugal and the ways that we prepared. Libby: To be completely transparent, one was, it wasn't, this wasn't about the trip, but we did go to a counseling session with his therapist because all of our relational stuff, it comes with us everywhere we go and how we do anything is how we do everything in this sense, like in energetics. So we had a session. Libby: Which was great. And then we did what we called Bips is what we named them boundaries, intentions and priorities. And we kept and I used desires, obviously, instead of intentions. But if you know me, but it was we kept being able to come back to the boundaries, intentions and priorities. About like, how much of the outside world can get in while we're gone, how much we want to commit to, like, we wanted a lot of flexibility. Libby: We wanted to be able to just have some adventure, have a lot of luxuriating and the intentions around, you know, for us, some of it was intimacy and connection and sex. I was like, I want to have a lot of sex, I really do. And then just like priorities around play and pleasure and really, I mean, rest was, was huge. Libby: That was a really, really big one for us. So. Yeah. Monica: I'm just like, can I ask you a really personal question? Of course. And I know the answer is yes, but I want to ask you anyway, did you always want to have a lot of sex on vacation? Libby: Well, I've, I always want to have a lot of sex Monica. You know this, anyone who heard our other episode knows that I am like a ho for sure. Libby: Like I love sex. Yes, I did. And usually he's so me too until like five years ago, but usually like I'll use us both as an example. Like we were so exhausted when we would get on vacation. Like we couldn't even connect. And sometimes we'd get sick because we had over functioned so fucking hard for so long that our nervous system and immune systems were like, what's going on? Libby: Code red, you know, and we'd get sick. And so we'd actually end up fighting a lot. On vacations, and then I would be resentful and be like, we didn't have sex, blah, blah, blah, you know, Monica: Okay, and that's that was what I was curious about was if it was similar to so many couples who end up instead of having the space and time to really You Be with each other in all ways. Monica: And you were pointing to like, it wasn't just sex. It was also treating yourselves, luxuriating in things like actually, you know, I loved talking to you along the way as you were planning the trip. And you would talk about, and by the way, I just upgraded our plane tickets and now I've just doubled down and gotten us a suite at the blah, blah, blah hotel. Monica: Right. And it was just, it just became a game for you of how good can this get? Libby: Yeah. How good can this get? And like, how much am I willing and able to receive? Like how much. Am I willing to receive is really like here for me now as we talk about this and I know for both of us because you and I have checked in a bit that many opportunities to default to the head trash. Libby: Old programming being stolen away mentally. Monica: We interrupt this program. Libby: Yeah, we interrupt your pleasure fest to fucking screw with you. So I know we both have Monica: The universe tested you. Libby: Yeah, the universe tested me and I have lots of brags about how I literally doubled down on pleasure and play and rest. Libby: And I mean, people wouldn't believe the shit that happened. Some of it was just like, wow, really? That really happened? Monica: Like you can't make this up. Let the, this happened while I'm on vacation. Libby: You can't make it up. Yes. And like immediately, pretty much a few days in it started It was, we kept, I was so glad that we had done the bips because we kept getting to go back to those, but I really want to just like point out to everybody who's listening, if you're like, oh, fuck, you know, that would have been great to have something to kind of anchor to, it was my sisterhood, it was you, it was Megan Jo, it was some other women, like I had to have people to brag to, people to say my like swampy shit to, I could not, yeah. Libby: It's like having, it's like, you know, if you're people, I don't, I've not done this, but people who are like hungover, they like go get an IV drip and they're like fixes everything. Like you guys are like my IV drip. I'm like, I need to have some Monica: Recovery, quick recovery tools, Libby: someone who can just see me recovery. Libby: Reminders and remembering. So, Monica: Yeah, it's so, it's so important and it's so true. So as we kind of talk about the patterns we've been untangling from what the support mechanism that we've put in place in order to similar to a recovering alcoholic, honestly, is to put. Steps or, you know, in our case, the sisterhood and the practices and the teachings and the tools as our way to recover back to the BIPs, let's call it. Monica: Because in truth, what you're pointing to is not just how we're living our vacation. It's how we're living our new lives is when we go through the unbecoming process, we are making new decisions about who we're going to be in the face of the Patriots, who we're going to be in the face of everybody telling you to go right. Monica: And you're going left. Libby: Yeah. And I know this was, I think this was, well, I don't know, but I think this was in the last episode that you and I did is embodiment in the sense of how do I stay embodied? How do I keep moving in the direction of my values, my beliefs, my desires, my pleasure under pressure? It's easy. Libby: Or not easy. It's easier to do it when we're not under pressure, but when we're thousands of miles away and, and the dog and the dog gets attacked on the leash and how sitters traumatized and the equipment breaks at the bagel shop and all the things, it's like, You know what I mean? Monica: Yeah. Yeah. Like, how do you stay the course? Libby: How do I stay? Instead of being like, well, like, you know, having, I mean, I don't deny myself grief and rage ever. I go right into it. But without it being stolen back into because it does feel like I'm being stolen away. I'm being stolen away from my pleasure and my rest and my presence. Monica: Yeah. It's actually reminding me of an experience I had several years ago where I literally was on a family vacation and something happened and I became so pissed off. Monica: I could not get off of it. Yeah. The whole vacation. I made myself miserable. Miserable. And I couldn't enjoy the whole damn vacation. Yeah. Libby: I mean, that's, and that's what the, that's the whole purpose of me even sharing this part of it is like, that's who I would have doubled down on my misery. And in this case, I actually, fortunately, Paul understands this language because he did. Libby: Rockstar camp for men. And I'm kind of, he has to be around me all the time, or he gets to be around me all the time. But I said to him, I said, it is time. Like this is, this is what I've been training for. And yes, I've been training for this to like live fully and embodied and be committed to my values. We are doubling down. Libby: We are putting it away, take that phone, put it down on the table, walk away, and we're going to go eat a mezza plate at that Lebanese restaurant that we saw. And we're going to take our sweet time. We're going to moan while we eat it. We're not going to talk about the bagel mixer, whatever the hell it was. Libby: I was like, it's, this is, this is what I've been training for. Monica: Yes. Yes. To that. Libby: But I would have made myself miserable. I would have made myself sick over it because there's so many implications. Oh, we were losing so much revenue and we just closed. We were like, well, we'll just be closed for the next two weeks then. Libby: Bye. Yeah. Monica: Okay. Okay. So now, now take me deeper into the experiences that you had and some of the revelations that you had that wouldn't have been possible had you not had this time with Paul and done this Just amazing vacation slash pilgrimage. Libby: Yeah, well, I would just say one of the biggest, the overarching thing was aliveness. Libby: Even though I eat, sleep and breathe this shit, I can really turn myself off and not realize it. And when I mean turn myself off, I mean, be like a little bit just. I go through my life and whatever, and I just like forget how vibrant it is out there. You know, sometimes I really forget because I work from home and I do a lot of stuff virtually and all that. Libby: So just like so much aliveness and I had never traveled with a partner in this way. I had never had a partner who wanted to do it or who I would really want to travel with in that way for that long. And if you want to know what your relationship is made of, you know. Do three weeks away, but we just. I think really honestly, I mean, we were in Ireland for a couple of nights, every hotel or apartment that we rented was in like the perfect neighborhood in every country or city that we were in. Libby: It was all just everybody was so welcoming. I mean, we did not have a single interaction. Everything was a mirror of our commitment to pleasure and rest. So we were in Ireland just for a couple of nights, just in Dublin and. Honestly, like I said, I really love just kind of living in a place. We did do a tour where we got to go to Trinity college and see the book of Kells. Libby: And I don't know, I think in the past I would have kind of just like wanted to sort of check the box. Oh, I saw the book of Kells, you know, whatever, but I really just like luxuriated in it and kind of strayed from the tour guide a little. And we were in Scotland for eight nights. And I mean, what. A magical mystical place, as you know, I mean, it was so everything in my body was just like, yes, to that place, really, honestly, most of what we did, I mean, I could list off things that we did, but really, what was the best was just meeting new people. Libby: And we got to know a lot of restaurant owners because we're both restaurant industry, like lifers. And we just made friends with lots of people and slept so. Much. I mean, we would let ourselves sleep to like noon if that's what, you know, we just, we just went for it and just think about Europe is it's so old. Libby: It's like the wisdom just oozes from the architecture from the in Lisbon. The sidewalks are like mosaic cobbles of marble. And you're like, how long have these been here? And they're so beautiful. And just like, There's just this, like, wisdom and ancient energy that I think really seeped into my cells and I was just in awe. Libby: I mean, I really, I literally cried walking down the street in Portugal at an overlook. I was just, I had the same experience in Portugal where my body was like, yes, to this place. Yeah. I mean, I could go on and on and on, but really a lot of it was, we had like several lunches that were three and a half hours long. Monica: I know wasn't that, that in itself is just something that actually so many women on the pilgrimage have come back and we've been in text threads and on email just reminding each other to. Take the time, especially for the meals because they were so filled with community and spaciousness and catching up. Monica: It was so it's, it was just one of the most beautiful parts of the experience where these massive lengths of time over a meal. Libby: It's such a ritual without. Too much orchestration. It's such a ritual that is like so embedded in Europeans and European culture. In my experience, I've traveled a bunch over there and I just, it feels holy every time I ate there, it felt like this holy experience. Libby: And. Driving through, actually, some of my favorite things were when we were driving through, we had a driver in Portugal at one point, and we were driving from one city to the next, and it was like olive groves and pomegranate groves and orange groves and castles, and you're just like, what is this? The groves actually like blew my mind. Libby: I was so taken by them. So those are some, I know it's not very super specific, but those are some of the things that really stand out to me. Monica: The whole contrast it's the contrast. And that's, I think one of the messages here is it's. I think, and also we're referring to it as a pilgrimage because there is kind of enough space where you actually go on a journey and it's physical, but it's also spiritual that there's a transformational. Monica: Experience available and it's also a little bit like how we've set up the unbecoming program to do it over a period of time and to do it through the winter where we're actually inviting women on a journey to descend within in order to really. excavate. And that was so much a part of my pilgrimage is going to these sacred sites where the feminine, the earliest Minoan culture really revered the feminine. Monica: And there's so much archaeological evidence about the central role the priestess had in those cultures and what that was All about, and the ritual and the ceremony and the relationships that were built through that experience, not only on the pilgrimage, but. As a mirror, these were people that had balance had harmony. Monica: And so it's, it's an interesting thing to go away in order to have this happen. But I also think. Sometimes we don't have to go anywhere, we just have to make a commitment to journey for a period of time in order to live the BIP life, you know, and to see what gets revealed. Yeah. But it truly takes preparation and commitment. Libby: It does, and space. Monica: In order to do it. Libby: Yeah, like long enough. As you were saying that Monica, something that came to me about unbecoming or being in this type of unlearning and learning, cause it's very counter culture is that like, I'm thinking about, we get, we like rush through. It's like, I want to fix something. Monica: We like rush through treatments. We rushed through blah, blah, blah, like in American culture and in the patriarchy and in this, it's like where it's the antithesis of that. It's like massive space to stretch into this and actually be able to hear your voice. You know, like the inner voice and inner divinity and you trust me when I say this, you can tell me if I'm wrong, call Monica and tell her you need other women. Monica: Yes. You need other women to be able to mirror to you who you really are in that journey, in that pilgrimage inward. But. It's like we're, we're having the inner experience in, on the outside with other women. Monica: Yes. And I just held up the card Libby and I chose before we did this episode and we got the card of Eros. Monica: And you know, the way that I look at that card now, especially after all of these amazing podcast episodes with so many incredible people is. Having a deeper understanding of why we disassociate to survive in a patriarchal culture and what we disassociate from is actually our own Eros. Libby: Oh, yeah. Oh, God. Yeah. Monica: And Eros is All about the essence of life. It's the erotic power that pulses through life. And as you were talking about going through these groves, the orange groves, the pomegranate groves, and then there's castles and it's the pulse of life, you are, instead of keeping the patriarchal pace, you are now keeping time with the pulse of life. Monica: And you're so connected to that. Essence that is literally coursing through in nature, in yourself, you know, as we acclimate and attune to this journey, whether we're going somewhere or not, it is the spaciousness of it that gives you the ability to see the beauty around you, no matter where you are. And that's the other thing. Monica: There's also the welcome home because it's one thing to go away. And it's another thing. To come home and to genuinely appreciate the things that I couldn't appreciate until I left. So there's also coming back home and having this new found gratitude and celebration in my everyday ordinary life. But unless I kind of leave it and go on some quest in order to just have new experiences and to be willing to trust whatever the transformation is going to be, then I'm never going to have the, the welcome home either. Libby: Oh my gosh. I have chills, Monica. I love everything about that. And also it's like such a parallel to unbecoming. And in what we're doing with the women in sisterhood is they're having little micro experiences of this along the journey. And then, you know, we do have an in person retreat at the end, but I am dying to know. Libby: There's a lot to say there. I'm dying to know though, like your revelations from your trip, anything that showed its face that tried to pull you away and how. How you danced with that. Ad: Hey friends, it's Monica's co conspirator Libby here again, and I've got some hot news for you. You've been hearing a lot about our six month unbecoming sisterhood coaching circle and registration is officially open my Queens. The journey kicks off November 7th, so I thought I'd hop on here to just say hello and give you this personal invitation into the unique and special space that only the magic of women gathering together bravely can create. Ad: We've been divided and convinced that we cannot trust each other for far too long, and we are collectively saying enough. Now is the time for us to stop stuffing our opinions and to start speaking up. The world needs our voices. Now is the time for us to stop obsessing over what we have been convinced is wrong with us, and to start being in deep self approval. Ad: We deserve to love ourselves just as we are. Now is the time to stop depriving ourselves of rest, of nourishment, connection, play, and pleasure, and to learn how to return to our senses and feel it all. Feeling good right now is possible and so necessary for us to make our biggest impact. Now is our time, sisters. Ad: And if you're getting chills as you listen to this, now is the time for you to head over to jointherevelation. com slash unbecoming to get all the juicy deets and to sign up for a chat with me and Monica. It'll be like the best blind date you've ever gone on and it actually gets to be all about you. So pop on over to jointherevelation. Ad: com slash unbecoming to get on our calendar, my loves. We've been expecting you. Monica: There were so many things. First of all, I just want to give just huge nod to those who held the pilgrimage because it was not without its challenges. As you know, COVID continues to be a challenge and five of the pilgrims. Got COVID initially, and then upon coming home, I think there were another two or three that ended up with or ended up with it as well, not again. Monica: So it was really challenging, you know, in terms of forming. I was just thinking as somebody who's in leadership. I was just nightmare because there were so many unexpected things happening and there were so many things to manage. And I don't think even though this was the second time they've given this pilgrimage, this is a pilgrimage that Carol Christ offered for two decades. Monica: And then she passed away during COVID passed away of cancer. So it wasn't related necessarily to COVID. But with all of the COVID stuff, they didn't re institute the pilgrimage until last year. And at that point, if you remember, it was almost COVID was a non issue because everybody had kind of been through the worst of it. Monica: And it was like, we had a reprieve. Everybody all over the world had a reprieve from it. And now it's kind of coming back. So I don't think that was particularly expected. And so there was, you know, there was a point where I thought I was getting sick and it was all of the what ifs were coming in. And so I really noticed that part of the way that I've learned to take care of myself over the years is to stop depending. Monica: And, you know, again, like I am not a doctor, I feel like I always have to have a disclaimer, but I've stopped depending on outside authorities to take care of me when I get sick. I've stopped going out there in order to get some kind of a diagnosis. Because I just come from this place now where I truly believe that so much of my health has everything to do with the thoughts that I'm thinking and the things that I'm eating and the things that I'm exposing myself to. Monica: And so I've always got to assess. In any situation, what am I doing to compound the issue or improve the issue for myself? And so I actually brought, I mean, it's, it's kind of funny because everybody was priding themselves on how tiny their suitcase could be. Not me. Libby: Oh, I know. I know you, Monica: I was not playing that game. Libby: Well bragged. Monica: Yeah. I was like, if I have to get. Whatever I brought, what I needed to bring. And most of it actually was my health stuff that I used to take care of myself. And I have to say that I used everything that I brought and I use them and. I didn't get sick. So I had my red light therapy to plug in. Monica: I had my supplements. I had my Healy. I had my little patches that I put on. I had, Oh my gosh, you name it. I brought it with me because again, I just figure that when it comes to health and vacation, it's like the last thing I want to have happen, especially when you've spent that kind of money and you've invested that kind of time. Monica: It's like a health issue is not going to snatch this from me. So, and I also want to say that I had a few revelations about. Myself when I am in the mountains, because the same thing happened when I was in Peru, I feel a vitality when I am in those places and spaces that is completely different than my vitality here and. Monica: It pulses through me. I have more energy than I know what to do with when I'm in the mountains. And it was really, and I guess it was the same with going to Scotland and I wasn't in the mountains and I felt that kind of energy. Part of it might be like the wonder and the new place, but I think it's honestly like being in nature, being with. Monica: The rhythms, as I was talking about that suit my soul, that actually begin to give me, you know, you talked about receiving it's where even the breathing just was like, so deep, so spacious, so rich, so luscious. It's like you start smelling smells that you hadn't noticed. Like even on a path is like starting to recognize rosemary and sage and time, like on just some Crazy off road somewhere. Monica: Right. It's like, I smell Jasmine or whatever it was. And so there was definitely all of these insights about my health and my vitality. And, you know, Libby, that being someone who came from suicidal ideation and almost being so sick to the point of That's absolutely true. I don't want to ever say the point of no return, but it was like that bad, you know, at that time in my life to feel that kind of vitality again, I, that was such a gift and it has been a gift. Monica: And so this was like, now I'm just noticing it. This is a pattern for me. Like this is when I go to places like this, I can expect to feel this kind of aliveness. Libby: I love that. And more, I'm hearing so much. Throughout all of this, share the contrast too, and I just, ugh, I could just see and smell everything that you were describing. Libby: And I love your revelations. And was there anything about, I'm just thinking about what we wanna share about our pilgrimages and unbecoming. Was there anything that like came through about your unbecoming process to, like anything else, any other revelations specific to that? Monica: Yeah, I mean, there was, I would say like some of the more challenging things that were coming up during the pilgrimage, there were certain places where there was a rigidity to. Monica: The ways things needed to happen that I noticed for my own kind of unbecoming process, we're kind of incompatible with how, what I value now. And so there were just certain ways that I think things would come up that felt. Still very rigid and not, it was really interesting. And it's also a little tricky to talk about because I feel like we're in such a transition as women. Monica: And especially when you're in a group of women that spans a number of different generations, which was the truth about the group that I was on a pilgrimage with there's. Different tolerances for different things and all of it gets to belong in my world. And I was just noticing where I was bumping up against things that still felt very patriarchal or that still felt very. Monica: Yeah. Rigid is the best word. And so I really noticed myself getting sucked into the rigidity versus actually alchemizing it and using it. And when I finally had the. The awakening around it. I was like, Oh, I've got this. But it felt like I didn't have a choice in, in some places, but we always have a choice. Monica: And so the antidote, it was like figuring out what the antidote for whatever it was that I was feeling. And then getting back to the pleasure and the playfulness because that was what was missing in those situations. Libby: I love that. Well, and I, I really want you to brag about You bragged to me about something about the trip. Libby: You said, I brag, I can create something anywhere I go. And I just really want you to share about how you use that to support yourself. I'm just, I'm going to be shameless right now and say, just give us the brag. Monica: Yeah. I brag that I can create sisterhood wherever I go. Yeah. That truly. There are always going to be some women that get closer than other, like you're, but it wasn't in a clicky way was always unified. Monica: And it's always this space for me of, I know how to create sisterhood. I know how to do it. I can do it. It's, it's like breathing to me now. Yeah. Oh, and so that. Is so special to me and we don't do it by ourselves. We definitely, I had many collaborative Libby: Co conspirators. Monica: Yeah, but the spirit of it, it's bringing the spirit of it. Monica: Wherever I go is something that just feels precious to me now. And when it's missing. It's up to me to bring it is. That's what I also really get that. Sometimes I'm there to bring what's missing. And that's, that's the same for all of us. It's like, if we are in a place where there's something missing, it's probably ours to bring. Libby: Oh. Absolutely. Absolutely. Like, I love to like, turn it around that way and say, okay, here's my complaint. Here are my like, red pen marks on this experience if I was running this or whatever. And I'm like, Oh, how am I depriving? This experience of that am I contributing to the thing that I'm saying is missing like am I contributing to the thing that I'm saying? Libby: I want am I being that and I love that I just I really had to shamelessly like make you say that because I wanted to hear it again in your sexy voice But also because I heard how much that sisterhood just that you created And I know how you do this. This is why I love doing things with you. Just really like bolstered all the obstacles that came up on the trip that were unexpected. Libby: And I just, I really want the listeners to hear this because it is. The ultimate core value in anything you and I do together, but specifically unbecoming, it's like women really having the invitation to love each other well in a courageous way, because it actually is courageous because we've been so fucking conditioned to criticize each other, to compare ourselves to, to gossip about each other and Monica: Yeah, it's just not the game we're playing anymore. Libby: I heard so much integrity though, when you shared with me about that, you were like, this is my commitment is I'm creating sisterhood here. And it was just, I just really, really had to pull that out because I was like, that's such a powerful. Powerful truth. Monica: Yeah. Thank you. Yeah. And I, I wasn't actually being coy. Monica: I didn't remember that until you brought it up and I was like, Oh yeah. And it's true. Thank you. It's true. Libby: It is true. It is true. I love all of that. And I'm just, I want everyone to understand that. Getting on and bragging about this stuff on a podcast that so many people listen to is also something that would have sent me over the edge before, like publicly sharing, Oh, look at this trip I took, I actually had a neighbor be like, did you win the fucking lottery? Libby: That's what she said to me. And I was like, no, I didn't. Because she's like, I saw your trip. And I was like, no, I didn't. I didn't explain it away. And she's a good friend of mine. She wasn't being nasty, but she was like, wow. And it was more just really committing to. I think it was the energy of how I shared about what we were up to that really, like, made a mark on people. Libby: I don't know that it was necessarily even the things we were doing or the places we were staying, you know? Monica: Well, and that, that's what we're, that's why we're doing this is because this isn't what we're sharing with those of you who are listening isn't. Just in the name of Monica: boastfulness, it's it's more coming from this place of. This is what is possible in doing this work. And that's the whole reason for having the conversation. And it's a no bullshit conversation. And. You know, there are plenty of places for humility along this journey, trust me, you know, when I think about the descent, it's so interesting because the most recent podcast that's out right now is with Carly Mountain and it's called Descent and Rising. Monica: And I had prerecorded that conversation and I just listened to it the other day before airing it. And it, it always brings me back to that time in 2008, 2009, when I went through my initial dark night of the soul and how many years and how many threads have had to be pulled from the tangled knot. That was my patriarchal programming in order to. Monica: In order to thread and weave a new story for my life. And the thing about what we're talking about is that the unbecoming process is coming back again and again. Now we're heading into the winter and it's about coming back and realizing that every winter we have an opportunity, but it's a choice. To go within, to do the inner journey and to grab another thread and to untangle it from the ball. Monica: Again, the goal is to weave a new story is to take that thread and tell a new tale. It's to reclaim the story from history and from the Patriarchs and all of the ways we've been programmed to believe these lies about ourselves, or to. Unbecome from diet culture to unbecome from stress and anxiety to unbecome from no vacation from unbecome from not taking a lunch break to unbecome from not having pleasure in your life to unbecome from scarcity mentality. Monica: I mean, you go, there's plenty of threads to go back for and it's. This is the thread I'm going to untangle this time. And we can go in with a BIP with an intention and it's, and so shall it be, or even something better because I may untangle three threads. I may untangle five threads. I may barely untangle something this time around, but it's about inviting women to go on the journey. Monica: We were always meant to go on. That is hours to take actually. The inner journey is the feminine journey. That is the journey that we've all been invited on, is to go on the pilgrimage, is to follow Adriana's thread, is to actually go into the labyrinth, knowing and trusting that she's got us. Yeah. That we won't be forgotten in the void. Monica: And we can't be because we're going in with a sisterhood. Yeah. And that's what we're inviting all of our listeners to do is to come and journey with us in this six month unbecoming coaching circle. And we always say Libby and I always say like, we're right there with you. Yes, we're guiding it. We're the guides, but we are certainly not. Monica: The ones who have it all handled. In fact, so much of the beauty of what we do is we co create, we bring you the container, but it's all of us who create the sisterhood together. And while we're there, what we're doing is we're creating memories that are going to last a lifetime. So we've got kind of this metaphorical pilgrimage. Monica: We're talking about Libby and I's journey that we did, but we're also talking about. This opportunity and this invitation of what's possible. If you want to join us in the unbecoming process, and we even have women who did it last time around that are doing it again because they get this now they get, Oh, there's more threads to untangle. Libby: Yeah. And I love what you said about. Aligning with the season of winter because two of the women who are doing it again said it's this time of year like I'm really just feeling it again like it's time for me to be in sisterhood to go into spaces like this to go inward. And one of them, at least both of them actually would probably have said that they wouldn't have thought of it that way before, you know, without having had that experience. Libby: So we share about these pilgrimages too, because they're such, again, there's the contrast. There's such a contrast to how we would have functioned in these spaces with these obstacles and these things trying to pull us away. And I can personally say, and. This is one of the times I will dare to speak for you, like, had I not committed to this work, I don't know that it would have happened if I had not committed to sisterhood, I wouldn't be where I am now, I just wouldn't, I wouldn't have been able to, to handle all the pleasure. Libby: I know that sounds bananas, but I wouldn't have been able to handle all the pleasure. Monica: No, it's so true. It's like our capacity has to build because. We don't have tolerance for the things that we have not exercised any muscle around. The reason that I brought up also Ariadne's thread is because that was the name of the pilgrimage that I went on. Monica: It was called the name of the institute that I did it with was the Ariadne Institute, but the myth behind this. Story of Ariadne's thread is it's a ancient Greek myth and it was. Ariadne gave Thesis, I am like going to screw up the Greek names, but a ball of yarn, which he unwound as he entered the labyrinth to supposedly slay the Minotaur. Monica: But he followed the thread back to the entrance of the labyrinth and rejoined her. The idea is not so much about this patriarchal version of the story, but about. If I were to look at that ancient myth from a different perspective, it would be that was the, the kind of primordial goddess. That was the name that Minoans gave that original goddess who was the end all be all of life. Monica: And the idea was that as we're born as humans, she attaches her thread to our crown chakra. And so as we fumble through life, she's always here to help us find our way back in and out of the labyrinth of our own lives. And so it's kind of this beautiful, again, myth that I find some of these ancient myths are so helpful sometimes when it comes to. Monica: So many people think if I go inward, if I take this descent into the underworld, into the winter, I'm never going to come back out again. It's kind of the way we think about grief. Like if I let myself cry, I'm never going to stop crying and it's so profoundly interesting to me because it's saying. In that way, yeah, you're going to find some challenges along the path, but you're also going to find the olive groves and the orange groves and the pomegranate groves and the castles. Monica: We can't look at these descent journeys or these unbecoming journeys as something to dread. Yeah, because. We have the thread. Don't dread. You have the threat. Libby: I love a rhyme. I love when someone writes. Monica: I love a good rhyme. Libby: I love a good rhyme. Monica. I have to share this. So somebody who did the group this last time I was talking to her because we also have like another sort of Space that we interact in. Libby: And she said, I asked for brags and she said, I brag that I know my way in and I know my way out. Yes. Like I have chills when you were sharing that because it came back to me and I was like, Oh my gosh, this is this is what we learned to do. And I always think of Jeanine Roth in this idea of like we spend decades of our lives buffering bracing against dealing with the perceived difficulty. Libby: So we pretty much punish ourselves. You know, we relive this over and over and over and over again, the anticipation or the perceived pain, but when we turn inward and we face and we we go on the descent, in this case, in the unbecoming journey, we spend. A relatively very small amount of time where this can all move instead of still bracing against the self loathing and the not enoughness and the scarcity and the I'm alone in this energy for decades or I can't set this boundary or speak up or ask for the promotion or whatever it is like don't prolong the suffering. Libby: Don't don't prolong the suffering Monica: And damn it. We're so much fun. Libby: I know we're damn good time. We love an F bomb. Monica: We love a good F bomb. But I want to say to that. This is some people have been like, well, is this religious? It's like, no, it's very much a spiritual journey, I feel like so many people, it's like, wait, how do I have to define this this way? Monica: But it's, I think it's important to understand that part of our access to our soul journey is this spiritual evolution, it getting to know ourselves in a way that It's not about, so if you're listening and you are already part of a religious community, that's great. You're still welcome to join us. This isn't about necessarily cutting you off from anything that serves you. Monica: This is more about who. Is Monica or who is Libby when she gets quiet and has some tools and some teachings that actually nourish her soul, what happens at that point? And can she come back to life with more gems than she went in with? It's really such a gift to be able to do this kind of work and. If that results in a pilgrimage and a vacation to Portugal later, then even more reason, right? Monica: So it's really about changing the status quo and being willing to. Go through a process of personal revelation with a sisterhood of women who are all up to this, doing this journey together. And that's the invitation here. And it's been amazing hearing about your trip and your revelations with Paul. Any others that you want to share before we close our conversation? Libby: Hmm. Yeah. I mean, I guess I just want to like, Speak to the people, my sisters out there who are the over functioners, because that was another big revelation. Who could be me? Another big revelation I had about over functioning and how much pressure I put on myself and it was just such an opportunity to, I actually can't do that right now, like it's not even an option for me to over function in this space. Libby: And it was a new layer of realization around that. And I just want to say also to everyone who's listening, like, you deserve to feel vitality. You deserve to have energy for yourself and for your loved ones, but for yourself first and. If you have massive capacity for stress and maybe self loathing, I'm going to raise my hand because I know that experience if you have massive capacity for worry and I'm not saying we don't have real worries and things like that, but you have just know that you have equal capacity or more for pleasure and rest and play. Libby: It's just you have to learn how to build that muscle like Monica was saying. And we're inviting you to do that with us on the Unbecoming journey, and we'll give you the info for that. Is there anything else that you want to share about your revelations, Mon? Monica: Well, I want to share that, that I forgot to add, that I got back to a love of music and dancing on the pilgrimage with other women. Monica: And we also do that in our sisterhood. Yeah. One of the things that I've really realized is the impoverishment of women's rituals, celebrations, and so much of that has to do with this playfulness, the dancing, the mealtime. A bunch of sisters went and did a cooking class with a bunch of Greek women, and they were so profoundly moved by the experience. Monica: Not because of the food that was produced, even though like as someone who ate it all, I didn't do the cooking class, but I ate it all. It was amazing, but they were almost. They were never the same after that. It's like they had an experience in that kitchen, making that food. And these are the rituals we have been isolated as women from each other, and we belong together. Monica: And it's a big fat patriarchal lie that we can't collaborate and be in sisterhood. It is the biggest patriarchal lie that there is. And when we do sisterhood in a new context, which is the way that we're teaching how to hold a sisterhood circle, this is where the true magic happens. And the lengths that they, I always say, go to, to keep us From being in these relationships is a testament to how powerful they are and to how much magic happens when we circle together. Monica: So I'll just leave you with that because that's where the playfulness, the community, the dance, the solutions, the collaboration, it all happens inside of sisterhood. Libby: I love that so much. Don't you want to come have a conversation with Monica and I too? Like we love talking to each other, but we've done this a few times alone. Libby: We would love to have a conversation with you if this is turning you on. Like if you're having this experience of wow, like I'm getting chills or there's something about that that's so true for me. We'd love to just chat with you and you can check out the information and get on our calendar to have a free call with us and The web address is jointherevelation. Libby: com slash unbecoming and you'll get to, you'll get an. An experience of what we're like, just seeing what's there because it's not your typical sort of website. It's really rooted in our values and pleasure and playfulness, but we'd love to have a chat with you. Anything else, Mon? Monica: No, I just want to let you know that it starts on November 7th. Monica: So it's really just next month. And so we really are wanting to create resonance with the women who. Have been looking for this and who are vibing with this kind of invitation. So more to be revealed. All right, everybody. Thanks so much. And thank you, Libby. Thank you for just always being my most brilliant partner in all things. Monica: I just love you so much. Libby: I love you too. I'll be your hoe forever. Monica: All right. You heard it here. I have so many witnesses. Okay. Love you all. Bye. Bye. Monica: We hope you enjoyed this episode. For more information, please visit us at jointherevelation. com and be sure to download our free gift, subscribe to our mailing list, or leave us a review on iTunes. We thank you for your generous listening and as always more to be revealed.