Praying At The Speed Of Love

Sophie Strand writes wild and glorious essays that upend everything we think we know about our myths, legends, stories, and beliefs. Maybe Jesus isn’t who we’ve been told he is. Maybe Mary Magdalene is far, far more important in the story. Maybe we’ve been so bamboozled by patriarchal religion that we don’t even know who she is anymore. Or what her name is. In this rich conversation, Sophie unravels story after story about The Magdalene and brings her alive in her own time—a time when her people and her land were ravaged by the Roman Empire. Then, Sophie invites us to come along as Magdalene flees, but not to where you’ve been told. This is the Magdalene, you’ve never met before.

Thanks to the bible story, Jezebel’s name became a slur that strikes terror in a woman’s body. Being called a “Jezebel” smears a woman as slut, harlot, whore. But how did that happen? Because there’s not one word in the bible about Jezebel being unfaithful. She and her husband Ahab, the king of Israel, were married for 30 years and had 1 daughter and 2 sons.  So how did her name become the worst thing a woman can be called? Guest Allison Charron is the 9th great-granddaughter of Susannah Martin North, who was hung as a witch in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692. Who better to bring the first witch in The Return of the Witches Jeanne d’Arc Pilgrimage to life?

As I researched the 13 witches for The Return of the Witches pilgrimage, I started learning about the witches in Scotland and sensed deep in my body that Scotland had an essential place in the pilgrimage. I began to read about the Burning Times in Scotland and stumbled upon an organization called Witches of Scotland which is seeking an apology, pardon, and memorial for everyone persecuted as a witch. One of the founders introduced me to Sheila Gaul of RAWS, Remembering Accused Witches of Scotland. When I told Sheila about the pilgrimage, she told me to stop what I was doing and contact Cali White in England immediately. And OH was she right! Cali has done the work: explored the history, found the wounds, led women’s healing circles across the UK and Ireland, and created the Silver Spoons Collective to honor women murdered as witches. In this powerful healing conversation, Cali shares: how the collective unconscious from the Burning Times emerged in her body why she was obsessed with the Standing Rock communi

It’s been 9 months since the last show. And it’s not Covid’s fault. Or is it? In this episode, you’ll discover what happened last August that brought the show to a screeching halt, why Janet is proud to embrace the once-terrifying label “witch,” and who Joan of Arc—the greatest witch of all time—might have been. Listen as Janet and Perdita Finn discuss: what happened in quarantine when Janet began to listen—really listen—to her body why the podcast has been silent for 9 months what happened when Janet received a wild endorsement from Rabbi Tirzah Firestone why Janet had to fire her agent what happened when Perdita told Janet to watch Groundhog Day and name her “puddle” mysterious connections between Joan of Arc who was murdered in 1431, Clark Strand’s apparition in 2011, and Janet’s revelation last August why Joan of Arc’s name isn’t correct clues to some of the mysteries that swirl around Joan how Perdita fell in love with Joan what the court transcriptionist wrote in the margin about Joan Joan’s purpose to

This is a conversation unlike any other on Praying at the Speed of Love. Because the conversation isn’t really with Clark Strand. It’s with Ma Kali herself. And She’s quite the conversationalist! In the gentle hands of her boy, Clark Strand, we meander through some deep and even dark prophetic territory, hearing Kali speak in Her own voice and seeing Her in both her terror and beauty. Join our community and get your free gift at janetconner.com/31.    

Prayer really comes alive in this conversation as we meander through the relationship with the divine as a relationship with a wise loving parent, a parent who wants nothing more than to give us all the mystical strength and vision we need to fulfill our tikkun olam, our contribution to the universal call to repair the world. And oh, does our world need repairing, does it not! Join our community and get your free gift at janetconner.com/30.  

This is the perfect conversation for a time of pandemic and quarantine. Christine invited us to explore how the monastic view embraces all of life—treasures and sorrows, cygnets and compost. She offered rich insights into the practices of Stability, Wild Edges, Grief, and the paradoxical state of Holy Indifference. She took us into a gentle meditation of memory—a heart practice to rediscover the gifts in small experiences. Join our community and get your free gift at janetconner.com/29.  

Phil Cousineau startled us with the dangers of medieval pilgrimage—half did not return! Then, he reminded us pilgrim in Latin means “to put the sole of your feet to the soul of the world.” Think of that as we embark on our internal pilgrimages. All that in the first minutes! This conversation is a feast of history, meaning, and possibility. Just the food we need to transform quarantine to radical pilgrimage. Join our community and get your free gift at janetconner.com/28.  

Estelle Frankel kicked off the conversation with a prayer: “Open my heart, open my mouth.” And then our hearts and mouths were opened and the conversation dropped deep into The Mystic as Estelle led us into wordless prayer, cries of the heart including howling, the prayer of silence, and how the three octaves of unknowing. Then she told the Passover story and suddenly it has a whole new meaning for everyone at this moment. Join our community and get your free gift at janetconner.com/27.  

We opened with a gorgeous prayer Robert Corman wrote years ago. Then we dove into Journeys and Awakenings: Wisdom for Spiritual Travelers. Reading any of the 48 profound offerings feels like meandering through a mystical forest hand-in-hand with a wise and warm guide. Robert introduced us to a few of those guides and left us hungry for more, much more. Join our community and get your free gift at janetconner.com/26.  

We began in Hong Kong with 7-year old HeatherAsh staring in awe as people bowed to rocks. We followed her to Thailand and India and back to the US, where the lack of reverence was startling. We got to listen in as a dream announced that a man was coming who would change her life. And he did. Don Miguel Ruiz introduced her to Toltec wisdom and HeatherAsh began her walk to becoming a powerful author and teacher of the heart. Join our community and get your free gift at janetconner.com/25.

Everything you think you know about the “Our Father” or “Lord’s Prayer” goes up in smoke as Dr Neil Douglas-Klotz guides us into the sound and meaning of the prayer in Aramaic. From the get-go, it’s a shock. Our father? Maybe not! Whether you have loved this prayer or avoided it like a plague of patriarchy, you are in for a sweet surprise. As Neil extracts the prayer from 2,000 years of mistranslation, you just might find yourself falling in love. Join our community and get your free gift at janetconner.com/24.

In this intimate conversation, Mark invites us to feel what he felt singing the Torah and experience his grandmother’s living presence in a dream. He explains “indigenous perception” and invites us to hear the apple trees tell him he will survive cancer. Then, Mark welcomes Albert Schweitzer, Mechthild, Ghiberti, and Martin Buber into the room. He even gives us an unpublished poem on the truth about prayer. There is wonder in every moment of this sacred conversation. Join our community and get your free gift at janetconner.com/23.

This is a multi-layered miraculous conversation. On one level, it is a beautiful conversation with a beautiful woman, Dawna Markova, about how she evolved into the midwife and author we adore. But on another level, it is a conversation with a ghost—Dawna’s illiterate, Russian-Jewish, challah-baking grandmother, who may not have a name. You meet this woman. And find yourself tumbling head over heels into love. Because maybe, just maybe, Dawna’s grandmother is the wisest and holiest guru you’ve ever met. Join our community and get your free gift at janetconner.com/22.

If your heart is hungry for love—big love, mystical love, life-altering love—this is the conversation for you. Peter Booth answered the questions not with his stories or opinions, but with ghazals, couplets of love straight from the Persian mouth of Hafiz, the ultimate poet of love. By the end, we were in altered states, deep in The Mystic, just as Hafiz intended. Join our community and get your free gift at janetconner.com/21.

Clark Strand and Perdita Finn take us on a deep dive into the Rosary to uncover her ancient mystical goddess secrets hidden in plain sight right under the nose of the patriarchal Catholic church. One big mystery is “The Mysteries” themselves, 15 stories that tell our story of human life and the story of human history. And then they talked about the Novena—and Janet revealed what she’s praying for. Oh My. NOTE: Episode 20 is part 2 on The Way of the Rose. Episode 19 with part 1 of this conversation aired  December 5, 2019. Join our community and get your free gift at janetconner.com/20.

Sit down. Get ready. Love is coming. She's knocking at the door. When you start praying the ancient pre-patriarchal goddess worship hidden in every bead of the rosary, you will discover what my theme song has been telling you all along: “You are not praying; you are being prayed, prayed at the speed of love.” That is the power and promise of the rosary. And this is the power and promise of this life-altering conversation with Clark Strand and Perdita Finn. NOTE: Episode 19 is part 1 on The Way of the Rose. Episode 20 with part 2 of this conversation airs  December 19, 2019. Join our community and get your free gift at janetconner.com/19.  

As a boy, Stephen Post has a recurring dream with a strange prophetic message. Following the dream, he gets on Route 80, leaves his broken-down car on the side of the road, thumbs his way West, and—surprise—the dream unfolds in real time on the Golden Gate bridge. You couldn’t make this story up if you wanted to! It’s a wild ride filled with mystery, love, and prayer. And we get to take it with him in God and Love on Route 80. Join our community and get your free gift at janetconner.com/18.

Hallie offered her personal prayer practice and how it has evolved into action. Prayer without action is 1/3 effective, prayer with personal action is 2/3 effective, but prayer with collective action is 3/3. She created All One Ocean to excite collective action. Every piece of plastic removed is a prayer. We talked about the dramatic difference when divinity looks like our bodies, what is transmitted when we gaze at a goddess image, and what happens when we embody a goddess’s pose. To make it real we became Guanyin! Visit https://janetconner.com/17 for more. 

Kimberly opened with a prayer that quite literally opened our hearts. She shared how prayer has transformed her life from a miracle on the beach at 16 to the radical prayer that restored her to health after years of pain. That prayer opened the path that took her from financial consulting to angel consulting. We shared stories of being saved from death and the angel who did it. And finally, Kimberly taught us the 3 steps in effective prayer. You might not like the last one. Visit https://janetconner.com/16 for more.