ELLA NOAH BANCROFT on the Intelligence of Our Intimacy [ENCORE] /276
Black and white photo of a leg embracing the trunk of a tree in a forest; Courtesy of @ellanoahbancroft_.
This week we are rebroadcasting our interview with Ella Noah Bancroft, originally aired in March of 2021. “We forget that so much is given freely, that this world is meant to be enjoyed.” This week, we heed this powerful reminder by guest Ella Noah Bancroft. As our belief systems have become entwined with the dominant economic structure, we see the commodification of our wellness, intimacy, and connectivity - a phenomenon that is severely hindering our ability to connect authentically. In conversation, Ella traces the powerful connection between our ability to go against mainstream capitalist ways of being and our capacity for deep connection with ourselves and each other. With intimacy as an entrance point, our conversation explores what happens when we derive our pleasure from extraction, the kind of deep embodiment and connectivity that threatens capitalistic and colonial structures, and how we can journey back into spaces of trust through practices that don’t have to cost us a thing.
We interrogate how much of identity is our truth, and how much of it is the echoing trends of dominant culture. The latter portion of our conversation focuses on how we can partake in spaces for gathering that do not revolve around profit, the power of localization, and the limitations of gaining power under colonial structures. Ella moves us to change our perspective on the living world around us; that it is not for our consumption, but a living family we are a part of.
“Grow your organic garden and your orgasm.It does not cost you anything to sit with yourself.”
Photo of Ella Noah Bancroft
Ella Noah Bancroft is a Bundjalung woman based in the Northern New South Wales, Australia. Ella identifies as mixed heritage Indigenous, gay woman. She grew up living in both worlds, her Indigenous world and the mainstream Australian world. Both challenged her identity in different ways. She is an Australian born artist, storyteller, mentor and founder of “The Returning” and Yhi Collective.
She runs sensuality weekends and workshops, works one on one with women and also has a podcast and book both called It Takes Courage To Tell The Truth. Ella birthed "The Returning" in 2018. An all women's event (Inclusivity to anybody who identifies as a woman) created to encourage all women to retrace their ancestral steps to rewrite a new paradigm of living. The event is a not for profit event, enabling over 65% of attendees to be non-paying on either scholarship or exchange tickets.
♫ Music featured in this episode includes “Beam” by Harrison Foster, “Spiritual” and “Augmented” by Lady Moon & The Eclipse, and “La Montaña” by Sucúlima.
TAKE ACTION
Learn more about The Returning and how you can donate towards their scholarship.
ELLA’S Recommendations
It Takes Courage To Tell The Truth (Book)
It Takes Courage To Tell The Truth (Podcast)
We aim to be a gathering place for ideas and solutions ensuring that the growing body of work that we steward remains accessible to the public. If you want to see us continue, or perhaps are especially moved by the episode you are listening to today, please become a monthly sustaining member through our Patreon or consider making a one-time donation directly to us through our website. To stay up-to-date on our work, sign up for our newsletter.
For The Wild Podcast is an anthology of the Anthropocene; focused on land-based protection, co-liberation and intersectional storytelling rooted in a paradigm shift away from human supremacy, endless growth and consumerism.