Seed Capital: the world we leave behind is built from what we steward now

For this episode I am joined by author, writer and dear friend Sophie Strand, who invited me into her home to have this wonderful conversation on romantasy as an antidote to doom - and so much more. In her work and life, Sophie focuses on the intersection of spirituality, storytelling, and ecology, but it would probably be more authentic to call her a troubadour animist with a propensity to spin yarns that inevitably turn into love stories. And love stories is exactly what we talk about in this conversation: from the early crushes we had as children, and our first memories of love stories, to romantasy being responsible for the honeymoon mind and how all of this brings us in relation to the world around us and activates an optimistic attitude in a time of despair and collapse. We weave together this idea of the erotic life force, what that’s being inspired by and how it is informing the way we move in the world.
We explore how crushes can force us to be our best self - and how that can help heal the world - as well as the expectations romantasy may have put on our relationships and the dating world. In this light, we talk about the power of the written narrative and how that often shapes our lived experience. We touch on the concept of species traitors and holding people accountable, as well as being apocoloptimists and holding hope in our bodies. Plus, we celebrate Sophie’s upcoming book ‘Make Me Good Soil’, from which she shares one of her ecological love poems with us.
Resources + Links
Find Sophie Strand & her work here: Pre-order her new book ‘Make Me Good Soil’
Read her Substack Make Me Good Soil
Her website https://sophiestrand.com
Her Instagram @cosmogyny

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My book, Root and Ritual: Timeless Ways to Connect to Land, Lineage, Community, and the Self
Connect with me on Instagram @beccapiastrelli
Timestamps
[0:00] Introduction
[15:09] The Power of Story Telling and Shaping Society’s Narratives
[27:36] The Importance of Crush Energy
[33:45] Men Written by Women & Romantasy’s Effect on Expectations within Relationships
[43:12] Sophie’s New Book ‘Make Me Good Soil’ and the Power of Writing Practices
[54:03] The Ownership of Ideas and the Golden Thread That Keeps You Going

In today’s episode, I am joined by Isha Vela to talk about what it means to move money matriarchally and how we rebalance the ecosystem of money and wealth. Isha Vela is a somatic psychologist, financial strategist, matriarchal wealth activist and founder of the Wealth Ecology Institute, where she teaches women to steward money in service of land, lineage, and legacy.
We dive deep into what it means to heal intergenerational narratives around money and ancestral scarcity. We call in the idea of money stewardship and the matriarchal responsibility this brings. Isha shares her approach on this work: sustainability over extraction, capacity over speed, circulation over hoarding and enoughness over endless expansion. We explore what this could mean within the classic system of philanthropy , and how a matriarchal approach decentralises this idea of power and centres life, instead. And when we center life, we may approach money - and other resources - like water: it all gets to nourish the ecosystem, as long as it can flow. In that light, Isha brings in the concept of saving circles, and how alive they are and can feel. We also talk openly about building community trust in this context and normalising friction and repair in relationships - especially when money is the culprit.
This conversation captures what money and wealth could also be, and become, outside of the existing structures, systems and power dynamics. It celebrates matriarchal energy and will empower you to call this in for yourself and the resources you have available to you.
Resources + Links
Find Isha Vela: on her website www.ishavela.com
and through her work www.wealthecologyinstitute.com
her mini matriarchal wealth masterclass FLOW: Move Money Like a Matriarch
Youtube: @wealthecologyinstitute
Instagram: @wakingup_wealthy
Podcast: Waking up Wealthy with Isha Vela

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My book, Root and Ritual: Timeless Ways to Connect to Land, Lineage, Community, and the Self
Connect with me on Instagram @beccapiastrelli
Timestamps
[0:00] Introduction
[6:55] Ecological Wealth Systems
[13:22] Definitions of Wealth
[19:49] Moving Money Matriarchally
[31:12] Performative Philanthropy and Embodied Giving
[40:20] The Feminism of Saving Circles
[46:54] Building Community Trust
[57:45] Governance and Repair

This episode builds on the previous one in which I open up about my cosmic assignment, and the stories around money and community I held, worked through and continue to journey through. In this episode, I take into account the work that came before that calling of the cosmos: the life I had and the work I did before we bought the farm and build a life here in the Hudson Valley, NY. I talk about how I learned to slow down the timeline of my cosmic assignment, what I had to unlearn and what I was  bypassing. I unraveled myself from a system that was not build for my thriving with the help of ancestral healing work and other modalities, and I also talk about how my partner had to do the same in his own way, on his own timeline, and how we integrated that together. I discuss how the four pillars of my book Root & Ritual were (and continue to be) present in my life. I also explore the idea of composting what was no longer serving my life to make way for what’s coming, and to root into the long term vision of my calling. 
Resources + Links
Belonging podcast episodes mentioned: #26 Ancestral Constellations and Conscious Dreaming with Grandmother Sarah
#118 Community Living Wherever You Are with Sarah Wildeman

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My book, Root and Ritual: Timeless Ways to Connect to Land, Lineage, Community, and the Self
Connect with me on Instagram @beccapiastrelli
Timestamps
[0:00] Introduction
 [3:44] Unraveling myself from a system that was not build for my thriving
 [11:27] My partner’s stories around community and money, and integrating the inner work together
 [16:12] What needed to be composted and let go of
 [21:28] Slowing down the timeline of my cosmic assignment

In this episode, I open up about my money story and the direction my work is moving toward. I talk about the new world I can see us building together, with us as seed investors and midwives of a new culture, where we get to redefine what capital means and distribute it in more ethical, responsible ways. I share my relationship with money and the stories I inherited about it growing up, and how I'm relearning what true investment actually looks like. I talk about the importance of returning to the hyperlocal, investing money and otherwise within a smaller radius, and the real difference that makes, especially right now. My hope is that this episode breaks down some of the shame and discomfort around talking about money, and opens up the conversations that need to happen.
Resources + Links
Join the waitlist for Your Cosmic Assignment 
Listen to the previous episode #147 of Belonging on the great wealth transfer and more, with Sarah Davidson: We were not unlucky, we were being prepared 
Book mentioned: ‘Small is Beautiful’ by E.F. Schumacher
Subscribe to my newsletter
My book, Root and Ritual: Timeless Ways to Connect to Land, Lineage, Community, and the Self
Connect with me on Instagram @beccapiastrelli
Timestamps
[0:00] Introduction
 [07:12] Building a new world as seed investors and midwives of a whole new culture
 [10:30] My personal relationship with money & its backstory
 [20:02] The unraveling our world intersecting with the opportunities of the great wealth transfer
 [21:08] Buying the farm as a seed investor
 [28:32] The different forms of capital
 [30:42] My cosmic assignment (and yours)

Belonging is now Seed Capital - a show for resourced women who are ready to move away from accumulation and extraction, and toward regeneration and legacy. Every new world starts as a seed someone was willing to plant and steward into being. Seed Capital is a show for resourced women at a crossroads, done with extraction, unsure what replaces it. Each week: stewardship, vision, and the real work of deploying wealth to birth a new paradigm. For the woman who wants to be a good ancestor, starting now.
Same host, same vibes, new name. Now onto to today’s episode:
How do you navigate being a parent (or wanting to become one) in a world that is grappling with climate change? In today’s episode, I am joined by Caitlyn Wallace, LCSW, PMH-C, and a licensed clinical social worker, educator, and supervisor based in Reno, Nevada. She is the founder of Desert Bloom Wellness NV and her current work intersects trauma-informed perinatal mental health support with climate grief and navigating parenthood in our current social, political and natural climate. Our conversation lands at these intersections, and explores what it means to raise and nurture the future generations in a collapsing world - and how to stay hopeful amidst it, too.
Tune in to hear more from us on:
The intensity of recent nature’s events and navigating this type of trauma during the perinatal period
Deciding to have a baby in a collapsing world
Acceptance and commitment therapy
How (new) parents are being targeted and guilt-tripped in this capitalist structure
Unrecognized grief and guilt in becoming a parent in these times
Taking grounded, hopeful action that aligns with your values, such as setting up climate cafes and finding community
Resources + Links
Caitlyn Wallace’s website
Carmen Spagnola’s GoFundMe for the loss of her farm in a wildfire
Books & other reads mentioned: Goliath’s Curse by Luke Kemp
I Eat The Stars by Sarah Wilson (& her Ted Talk on Collapse)
Sophie Strand’s Substack essay ‘Collapsollogy Reading List’

Climate Psychology Alliance & the Climate Cafe resources
Joanna Macy’s work
Subscribe to my newsletter
My book, Root and Ritual: Timeless Ways to Connect to Land, Lineage, Community, and the Self
Connect with me on Instagram @beccapiastrelli
Timestamps
[0:00] Introduction
[14:51] The Intersection of Perinatal and Climate Mental Health
[22:25] Building Capacity to Feel Guilt and Other Emotions as a Parent around Climate Change
[29:46] The Power of the Web of Community
[33:17] Co-Opting Climate Guilt for New Parents
[39:48] Having Hope amidst the Climate Crisis and the Collapse Apocalypse
[43:18] Radical Mothering and the Ability to Look a Few Generations Ahead