Amy Bammel Wilding | Wild & Wise

I discovered Amy Bammel Wilding through her audiobook, "Wild & Wise." The meditations, her voice, her message and the call of the divine feminine were and are too powerful to be put off.

In this conversation Amy is bold, fearless and outspoken as she shares her ideas, beliefs and mission. Within her words there is also healing, empowerment and love for both women and men.

•  I've always felt like I was a channel for this medicine. It doesn't come specifically from me, it comes through me. (04:15)
• Patriarchy is going to have to be disrupted and dismantled from the inside out. (08:21)
• This is probably the primary point of contact between women and patriarchy, is our bodies. And we are very systematically disconnected from our power because of the shame associated with menstruation...there's such a lack of power in girls and women and by extension, boys and men. (09:44)
• In every circle that I sit in with women, what I hear a hunger to be able to talk about things related to our female experience. (10:45)
• Patriarchy isn't about men, its a social structure that rewards particular things ie domination and hyper-masculinity is one of these things that is considered the ultimate expression of manhood. So you have to be really strong and really dominant and cut off your emotions so, this is incredibly damaging to boys and men because, what it says to them is you're only acceptable if you're exhibiting  power or dominance over something else.  (11:47)
• We all have sensitivity, we all have kindness, we all have affection we all have needs for closeness and intimacy and those things are really amputated in boys and men.    (13:12)
• Women internalize and pass on patriarchy as much as men. (14:28)
• Watching a woman go through the rebirth process and reclaiming her power and the goddess archetype within her and her sovereignty  - it is one of the most powerful things I've ever seen...I midwife these rebirths and it truly is a magnificent honor. (19:07)
• Archetypes allow us to connect to an idea of what we're feeling inside. (19:50)
• I would like to see, in our culture, that we don't have to go through a reclaiming process because, we get to claim it from the beginning. (20:21)
• The fear of judgement shapes so much of what we do as women and that as we get to this midlife point and peri-menopause -  I think that is what is so profound about that time is we get to the point of, "I really don't care what people think, I really don't care what you think or what culture thinks. I know what is mine to reclaim" and that is the really powerful catalyst that happens for women, I think. (21:38)
• What they say is, "I feel like I'm a girl again. I feel like I'm in my preteen years where I know what I really want and I'm not afraid to say it. (22:55)
• It's heartbreaking to hear the things fathers do and say to their daughters... But the way we change that narrative for our girls is by modeling acceptance of what they're going through but also modeling for them that we're holding that safe space for theem. (25:00)
• I used to say, "When women heal the world heals," and that's definitely true. But now I'm like, "Oh god, the men have to heal. They've got to heal or nothing can ever change. (30:32)
• What I see is that, in this particular moment in culture, there's such immense pressure on women to maintain the role as the primary caregiver in their families but also be out in the world working and doing whatever job earning money... But there is no system of support to help women get through that. So I see a lot of mothers going through emotional burnout and having mental breakdowns.  (32:32)
• Mothers are drowning right now and there is not a lifeline. The only lifeline really is, "Can you afford psychiatric care? Can you afford a councilor? Do you have access? Do you have time in your schedule to go to therapy?" That is the reality and its not accessible to most women, unfortunately. (34:00)
• Women are spending a lot of money to receive the type of support which comes inherently with community. Which is, someone else to have eyes on your kids for an hour a day or someone to help you make food...we are not meant to be doing this alone but we are. (34:27)
• What you compromise is a sense of worthiness. Why are we signing up for this? (43:01)
• It's really harmful, in our culture, the way women are treated by the medical establishment which is that, we're typically not listened to, not believed. Most people don't understand what is related to peri-menopause and menopause, not to mention a lot of other things women deal with. (54:36)
• If we allow women to return to focusing on that (right of passage), it can really create a meaningful journey for them. (57:21)

Jane Shinoda Bolen