SYLVIA V. LINSTEADT on The Motherline /363
Photo from @sylviavlinsteadt of a stone wall with a Sheila na gig worn from centuries of devotees touching her to receive blessings, Isle of Iona Scotland.
Tracing ancestry through the motherline, this week’s guest Sylvia V. Linsteadt introduces listeners to the world of matrilineal myth and wisdom. For Sylvia, story and myth are very much alive and can offer valuable insight especially as we consider what it means to inhabit a place. From stories of female monks, to the practical wisdom of weaving, to the veneration of The Virgin Mary, Sylvia reminds us of what it means to value the feminine.
Threaded through the conversation is an emphasis on the profound impact of love, care, and compassion in the face of violence – whether that be the centuries long violence of patriarchy or the immediate violence of our present moment.
Throughout the episode, Sylvia and Ayana consider questions at the very foundation of our cultures. Winding through questions of patriarchy, religion, and violence, Ayana and Sylvia do not find singular answers, but rather a wisdom that arises from questioning the things that are deeply enmeshed in our culture. As we reckon with a violent and troubling world, how can we turn to stories that guide us to liberation?
“If you take a point in history and retell the story of it, time is not linear, time is circular. And so, suddenly, in retelling that story or re-examining or re-weaving a wholly other non patriarchal possibility, suddenly that story becomes alive now too.”
Photo of Sylvia V. Linsteadt
Sylvia Linsteadt is a writer and certified wildlife tracker from northern California, ancestral Coast Miwok territory. She currently lives in Devon, England. Her work—both fiction and non-fiction—is rooted in myth, ecology, ancient history, feminism & bioregionalism, and is devoted to broadening our human stories to include the voices of the living land. She is the author of the collections The Venus Year and Our Lady of the Dark Country, two novels for young readers, The Wild Folk and The Wild Folk Rising, and the post-apocalyptic folktale cycle Tatterdemalion with painter Rima Staines. Her nonfiction books include The Wonderments of the East Bay, and Lost Worlds of the San Francisco Bay Area, which won the 2018 Northern California Book Award for best general nonfiction. She is currently finishing a novel set in Bronze Age Crete, where she has lived and researched extensively. Sylvia also teaches occasional myth-oriented creative writing workshops, and shares her work out loud on her podcast Kalliope's Sanctum.
♫ The music in this episode is “Blue Heron,” “Peacock,” and “The End” by The New Runes.
Episode References
The Venus Year by Sylvia Linsteadt
The Marija Gimbutas Collection - OPUS Archives and Research Center
From The Pollen Basket - Sylvia’s Substack:
“When You Need Comfort You Will Know Her By These”
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For The Wild is a slow media organization dedicated to land-based protection, co-liberation, and intersectional storytelling. We are rooted in a paradigm shift away from human supremacy, endless growth, and consumerism. As we dream towards a world of grounded justice and reciprocity, our work highlights impactful stories and deeply-felt meaning making as balms for these times.