Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
The Power of Reconnecting with Your Body: Angelica Merritt on Self-Connection, Womb Wisdom & Inner Healing
66 Plays10 months ago
In this episode of Connected with Iva, I speak with author and herbalist Angelica Merritt about the importance of reconnecting with the body—beginning with the often-overlooked wisdom of the womb space. Drawing from her book, Womb Witch: Herbal Magick for Reproductive Health, Angelica offers practical and intuitive ways to cultivate inner awareness, support healing, and deepen self-connection.
We also dive into topics that are often seen as taboo or embarrassing—but are completely natural and vital to understand. This episode invites you to tune into your body with curiosity and care, and to embrace what’s real rather than what’s hidden.
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction: Angelica Merritt Discusses 'Wormwitch'
00:00:00
Speaker
Today I'm joined by Angelica Merritt, author of Wormwitch, a poetic and powerful exploration of inner cycles, intuition and embodied wisdom.
00:00:12
Speaker
In this episode, we explore what it means to come home to yourself, to move in a rhythm with your own truth and to honor the quiet power within.
00:00:23
Speaker
Let's dive in.
00:00:26
Speaker
I'm Eva, and you're listening to Connected with Eva, the podcast on human connection.
Women's Health Gaps in Conventional Medicine
00:00:32
Speaker
About three weeks ago, I went to a doctor. it was just a normal GP appointment, and he asked so any problems with your periods? And I think I didn't respond for a few seconds because I was so shocked. I'd never had this question before.
00:00:50
Speaker
Honestly, I guess if I think about any time that I've seen a general practitioner as of my adult life, which has honestly not been very much, I but only went to an OBGYN for Western medicine and I see like naturopaths and acupuncturists. Yeah.
00:01:11
Speaker
I mean, ah yeah, the natural medicine practitioners will ask me about it, but the GPs do not ask at all, which to me, I'm like, that's the fifth vital sign for women's health. You know, that's such a clear indicator as to like what's going on.
00:01:29
Speaker
without getting blood work done and seeing what's going on hormonally, that it's kind of maddening, right? that they that that That's the first time that you were asked that because that's such an important thing for women's health and to know if things are flowing in a certain way or not flowing in a certain way.
Endometriosis and Clinical Herbalism
00:01:49
Speaker
I know, but also I was asked and I said, I do have heavy periods. And then he was like, okay, then I guess that's okay. Okay, yeah not so it was a question, you know, almost like feeling, oh no, actually he was feeling a form where it was yes or no, yes or no, yes or no.
00:02:10
Speaker
Oh wow. That was I guess a no. He didn't even ask you. So was just like, okay. Wow. I know because I don't think there is the understanding in conventional medicine.
00:02:23
Speaker
So when he asks the question and he hears, yeah, have fear, it's like, well, okay, I guess that's the end of the question because I don't know how to deal with that answer. Right, right. Exactly. Yeah. And I mean, hey, that's the, well, a large reason as to why I've started, i started years ago, like working in this space because I was really frustrated with these types of interactions and I felt like they just kept happening over and over again. yeah,
00:02:52
Speaker
You know, even when I would go to an OBGYN and tell them like I have so I personally have endometriosis and I have very. Like I sometimes experience um like very, very painful periods or endometriosis episodes.
00:03:08
Speaker
And it was really bad there for a couple of years. And my doctors like weren't doing anything. And that was like what they they specialized in. And so I just decided that I was going to take the clinical herbalism training that I already had and learn how to you know understand the reproductive space in a deeper and like actual functional way and holistic way. Because yeah, the Western medicine was definitely failing me and not helping
Neglect of Women's Health Issues
00:03:41
Speaker
me out at all. And some people think, I've heard so many stories like you'd like yours, um you know I mean, countless.
00:03:49
Speaker
It seems like every woman I talk to has a story like that where You know, they tell the doctor that they're having issues when it comes to their menstrual cycle or fertility or, you know, a long laundry list of different issues. And they aren't doing anything for them. It's just, it's, yeah, it's kind of wild to me. But...
00:04:11
Speaker
It's because it's not straightforward. And yeah I find, especially here in the UK, unless it's something straightforward, very easy to diagnose, it's kind of always goes under the radar almost.
00:04:25
Speaker
Right. So you have to really go on your own journey, which is why I think it's so important to understand your body and how it works. So what made you what made you write the book?
Inspiration Behind 'Wormwitch'
00:04:39
Speaker
What made me write the book? Well, a lot of different things. I have, I mean, it's like, I think I could write a book on why I wrote the book. One of the core like things that really sparked why I wanted to write this book were um reproductive rights for women where were rolled back in the U.S. in 2022. They overturned Roe v Wade reproductive rights and access were being taken away left and right. And it was very scary. It still is very scary. And, but when that happened, it inspired me to start writing immediately.
00:05:19
Speaker
I wanted to create something that was like a tangible resource that no one could take away. You know, um i mean, I guess technically someone could take away a book, but after you've read the book, it's inside of your brain. Yeah. So like someone can't take away
Importance of Womb Health
00:05:35
Speaker
that knowledge. And so I've always wanted to write books.
00:05:39
Speaker
I'm a writer. i I have other projects that I've worked on that I'm hoping to bring forth, but Yeah, it's it's kind of like my love letter to all of the wombs of the world because... love that. Yeah, I mean, it's been such a magical process.
00:05:57
Speaker
And i something i I keep saying in a lot of the interviews that I've done and and all of the workshops that I do is that like if you if you just take a moment and look around a room and any person who you... like place your eyes onto.
00:06:14
Speaker
There's nothing in the room that was not made because of a womb. And there's no person that you know that their first home on this earth was inside of a womb. Like every single person you know is inside of a womb.
00:06:29
Speaker
Every single chair, Every single light bulb was made by someone that first was birthed through the womb. So it's so important for us to know about the womb space and know what a healthy womb means and to understand our cycles, because if we don't understand our cycles and what looks like a healthy functioning menstrual cycle, then we start to lose the health of the womb space as a collective.
00:06:59
Speaker
And when that happens, then there's no more light bulbs. There's no more desks. I like to remind people like how actually very important the womb space is.
Body Awareness and Health Practices
00:07:10
Speaker
If you're talking to someone who has no relation to their body as of yet, what would be the first thing?
00:07:17
Speaker
ah good and One very simple herbal or self-care practice you recommend starting with? Something that I recommend to people, and it's simple because I truly believe the most simple things are the most profound things, um is doing a body scan.
00:07:37
Speaker
And essentially what that means is to i get into like a comfortable position. i like to lay down because I think it really allows us to just fully breathe.
00:07:48
Speaker
to bring awareness into each and every part of our body, but to close your eyes and focus on every single part of your body, starting from your head and working your way down to your toes.
00:08:01
Speaker
And just like literally like, you know, thinking about your head to start like the top of your head, like how does it feel? What's going on there? Do you feel any tension, tightness?
00:08:12
Speaker
Does it feel relaxed? and then moving your way down and asking those types of questions for every single part of your body. And when you're done with it, going from your head all the way down to your toes, you might notice that you've been holding tension in a certain part of your body and that's why you're having some backaches or that's why you're might having some tension headaches.
00:08:36
Speaker
And doing that with regularity will help you realize like what's going on in your body in such a basic level. But it's such a profound level because you can't know what is working for you when it comes to making lifestyle changes. So say if you're having some health complications and you're doing things to try to help solve those health complications, you won't know what's actually working if you don't know the basic state of your body when you began and like when you
00:09:13
Speaker
you started implementing those things. Like what does it feel like after you've implemented them? So really just taking time to slow down, to check out like what's going on with your body is to me, I think one of the most profound ways that you can start just to bring simple awareness as to what is happening inside of yourself and outside of yourself.
00:09:37
Speaker
That's also so part of a lot of affirmation exercises. They're always like, so ask a question that's uncomfortable to you and try to feel in what part of your body do you get tension when you say that?
00:09:53
Speaker
Yes. Because we we keep tension and where we keep tension, it can turn into disease eventually. yeah So that's why I love that. It's very important to have that kind of mindful practice daily yeah exactly yeah and and you know i think it really echoes out into every other facet of your life because when you have that awareness of your body then you start to see like oh when i eat this food i'm starting to feel a certain way when maybe if you're not really inhabiting your body that much you might just like
00:10:30
Speaker
not actually put it together. You know, you might and actually you're like realize that what you ate is upsetting you or you're just not willing to accept that you need to stop eating a certain thing or being in a certain relationship or doing a certain activity that's not actually benefiting your body. You know, it's like,
00:10:50
Speaker
Yeah, the embodiment and awareness, it's I don't think it can be stressed enough, like the importance behind that. It's it. It really is so important.
00:11:02
Speaker
I mean, I've never paid so much attention to how my body feels than maybe for the last few months. I'm like, OK, so after this experience, I feel extremely tense.
00:11:14
Speaker
I don't think this experience is for me. um although sometimes i because i i also get anxiety so i have this thing where i'm like so is this anxiety or is this genuine genuine tension in my gut feeling speaking to me so there's that right level of confusion a little bit yeah i i can very much understand that i I'm a highly sensitive person. i don't know if you're familiar with that ah realm at all, but it's been really profound for me to undere understand myself on that level and understand that I am highly sensitive.
Sensitivity in Busy Environments
00:11:58
Speaker
So i certain environments are just going to activate me in a certain way.
00:12:03
Speaker
And sometimes that activation is good because it's going to push my boundaries in a way that I need. And then other times I realize that it's not conducive to any part of my growth and that I should just not do it, you know? but that's exactly why we need to know because the more we know, the more we can recognize This is the situation. this Also, some situations you cannot leave for whatever reason.
00:12:37
Speaker
Right. So, you know, because we live in also in a world where there are many other people, many experiences. So there will be certain things that make us uncomfortable. Right. And that's okay. But there are certain things where we shouldn't be in these situations at all.
00:12:52
Speaker
So yeah, exactly. Like me, I should never go to a very crowded music festival. Like that would be very bad for my nervous system. You know, it looks fun. i love music. I love dancing. But I've come to the conclusion that it's just not the best environment for me.
00:13:11
Speaker
can be it's It's funny that because there's so many energy. So are you quite um empathic? And do you pick up people's energies quite a lot? Yeah.
00:13:22
Speaker
Yeah. I can understand that. There's a lot. There's a lot of people around. Yeah. Yeah. it's it's It doesn't work for me usually. because And because of that, because of the empathic qualities.
00:13:34
Speaker
um Yeah. it's
Creativity and Sensitivity
00:13:37
Speaker
It's interesting. I mean, sometimes it's really great. I love creative writing. yeah And so I think that a lot of creative writers...
00:13:47
Speaker
ah are highly sensitive and empathic, and that's what makes their writing interesting and invigorating. So I do enjoy like that quality of myself and like exactly what you were just saying, like selectively...
00:14:03
Speaker
exposing myself to different environments for that reason. But whenever it's just too much, like a music festival, for example, and it just becomes like static. And it's like, i I can't even wade through the chaos to turn this into creative writing, let alone a fun experience.
00:14:23
Speaker
ah Well, as someone who's in touch with your body, if if you have to be in a situation like that, but What would you recommend someone does after? o Like such a stressful environment because obviously, again, sometimes you just cannot avoid it.
00:14:40
Speaker
No, you can't. It it happens.
Grounding Practices for Overstimulation
00:14:42
Speaker
You know, for me, grounding. So if I am in a situation like that and i have the ability, if say it's an outside situation and I can take off my shoes and my socks and plant my feet on the earth,
00:14:58
Speaker
ah safely without it being dirty and dirty. Yeah. or someone yeah yeah So like, if I can do that, i will do that. But if I can get my hands on a tree or something like, and just ground my energy through the earth and just breathing like slowly through my nose and out through my mouth,
00:15:21
Speaker
i that's something that can get me through the moment. And if I don't have access to the earth, say I'm inside, just closing my eyes and imagining like that I'm breathing in like the grounded energy. And when I'm exhaling, my energy is like being shot into the earth below me and grounding me and like anchoring me.
00:15:44
Speaker
That is something that every single time, like fail safe, it helps like anchor me back into not being as overstimulated.
00:15:58
Speaker
It just... can bring all of my energy back into my body in a really solid way. When you're in a place where it's too busy, whether it's the tube or something like that, the underground, because it's so rushed and because there's so many anxious energies around, you find yourself becoming anxious almost detached from yourself yeah because i like to obviously analyze everything quite a lot so i'm noticing that and with myself when i'm there and this is how i react and i i don't like this at all because you you become a negative energy almost
00:16:40
Speaker
Right, right. Well, it's like ah your body's way of like protecting itself, right? It's like, oh, this is too much. This is too much energy. And it feels like a vacuum. I just spent the past two weeks in New York City. And so every time I went to the subway, I felt the exact same thing. Like I could feel like that my my mind was like wanting to disassociate from the situation because like you're saying, it's so busy There's lots of smells. I don't know how it is with the tube because I haven't yet. Yeah, it's a lot of smells as well.
00:17:13
Speaker
Lots of smells, lots of control, lots of energy. And it's you're like under this tunnel. and it's It's a strange feeling anyway. very claustrophobic as well. but Yes, exactly. Yeah.
00:17:27
Speaker
There's no escape, really. so No, there's not. Yeah. And i I don't like that ah scenario at all. i was I found myself getting slight tension headaches from it because it was like I was like fighting with that overwhelming urge to, like you're saying, like disassociate in a way. And like just kind of you kind of like have to leave your like your body in a certain way hi because, yeah,
00:17:54
Speaker
it's It feels safer to do that. Because obviously this is not a normal environment for the body. It's yeah not a natural environment for it. So it's kind of like doing whatever it can to disassociate from the environment.
00:18:08
Speaker
Yeah, exactly. And you know and ah something something else that I feel like is worth sharing that I found myself doing in that situation, and I i do often as well in very crowded public situations, are I imagine that I have like a bubble of white light surrounding my body and protecting me.
00:18:29
Speaker
And if I feel like really intense energy from someone who's sitting next to me or ah crowd that I'm just surrounded by, like I really can feel the protection from that white light.
00:18:42
Speaker
And, you know, some people might say, oh, that's all in your head. And that's fine. Maybe it is, but maybe it's not. Because, and and either way, if it is or if it isn't, it works, you know?
00:18:55
Speaker
They do say that when you imagine something, your body doesn't know the difference between it being real or just in your head. Right, exactly. and And if it works, if I can feel some of that pressure dissipate,
00:19:10
Speaker
And I can feel more embodied in a really crowded space, then I think that's really powerful. And that's something worth utilizing as a tool, which I utilize it as a tool daily, multiple times a day. so Nice.
Herbal Tea as a Grounding Practice
00:19:25
Speaker
What about moments, for example, if your life gets very busy, even if it's with things that you like, but it's just busy, busy, busy. So you know you don't necessarily have a good amount of time to to your normal grounding techniques or do mindful meditation.
00:19:43
Speaker
what What do you think is good to do then? I'm too busy? I mean...
00:19:50
Speaker
h i but I guess in the most simple way, it would be drinking like a cup of herbal tea. Like if I am really, rushing around and just so busy with life, just making sure that I'm at least having like a warm herbal beverage in the morning. Because ah for or I have, you know, a very deep connection with plants and herbs and I find them to be so grounding.
00:20:18
Speaker
And I think that they have the ability to be grounding for really everyone because we all have connections with plants in everything that we do. You know, if you've had black pepper on your food or salt, you know, course of I mean, salt's not a plant, but um you get my drift. It's, you know, we.
00:20:38
Speaker
We have connections with the earth. So I think just taking ah moment to like, and even if the moment is me rushing around taking s sips of the tea, like I really...
00:20:49
Speaker
feel that helps me ground into my body and i it nourishes me on in like a deeper way that then like water from the tap is going to. Yeah.
00:21:02
Speaker
And that prevents, I guess, prevents feeling of overwhelm, which is something which you'll get. Otherwise, if you just don't stop or don't do anything to to to pace pace things a little little bit. Yeah.
00:21:16
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. My go-to is ah Holy Basil Tulsi tea. And it's so grounding. It's incredible. i i I describe it as like a shoulder like a shoulder rub after a long day.
00:21:30
Speaker
And if I'm super busy, if I have to like be on the road for many hours or travel, I grab a thermos of Tulsi Holy Basil tea and... it is just so grounding and like nourishing. It makes, it it feels like my safe space in a cup. I'll have to buy that now. Yeah. yeah a show lapsy It's lovely on so many ways.
00:21:52
Speaker
So yeah. Nice.
Womb Magic and Life Phase Connection
00:21:55
Speaker
And by the way, I'll go back to the book and I wanted to ask what does womb magic, because I just love the name. What does it mean to you personally?
00:22:03
Speaker
What does it mean to me personally? It is, Oh, it means so many different things. I have a definition in my book that i it it describes like what a womb witch is.
00:22:15
Speaker
And it's essentially a person that feels the pull to be in touch with their body in a holistic way and learn about their body in a way that allows them to connect with the world around them in a deeper, more intentional way.
00:22:43
Speaker
Uh, I think that whenever we learn about the cycles and rhythms of our own bodies, it allows us to not only feel empowered, but it instructs us to recognize the importance of every phase of the cycle and not only like the menstrual cycle, but our life cycle, you know, uh,
00:23:06
Speaker
It shows us that there's importance in like ah promoting the celebrations of puberty, of yeah pregnancy, of postpartum, of, you know, choosing not to have children, of menopause, perimenopause.
00:23:23
Speaker
ah They're things that we all go through collectively. if you have a womb and they're things that are not at all and haven't traditionally been celebrated in my culture. And I'll just assume that, ah you know, it goes for the majority of, of the people in the UK as well.
00:23:44
Speaker
And i think that needs to change. And that's, you know, what I hope to create with womb, which, and that's what I think that people who want to tap into their womb magic,
00:23:57
Speaker
I think that's what will become of it because i think you can't help to want to spread the word of the magic in knowing your own body once you learn about it.
00:24:09
Speaker
it It's just so powerful and incredible and, and ah yeah, it's it's demystifying. its It's taking away power.
00:24:21
Speaker
the shame of being like, oh, I guess I'm bleeding again. Or, up like, you know. i know how what they were doing, I don't know until recently, period adverts with blue liquid.
00:24:34
Speaker
So because it's so terrible, so embarrassing, right? When I'm buying period pants. Yeah, yeah. i mean i I mean, gosh, even I have like, you know, not it's only been, it hasn't even been probably a full decade where I haven't,
00:24:51
Speaker
watched through a store and like hid the tampons under my arm you know because like like when I'm going to check them out and that's the only thing I have like I'm hiding that box but like I you know I have started to not do that but it's really ingrained in us yeah exactly like the blue on those exactly it's a societal thing because you kind of see it everywhere so it takes a lot of to to get out of that mindset By the way, I wanted to ask something else.
00:25:18
Speaker
Is there something when it comes to periods specifically that's very common that might be something worth checking that people don't know about?
Cervical Fluid as a Health Indicator
00:25:29
Speaker
Okay, so something that I find many, many people are not aware about but they should be aware about is cervical fluid.
00:25:40
Speaker
So that's the fluid that comes from our cervix. It is i either fertile fluid or not fertile fluid. And it's also called discharge.
00:25:51
Speaker
And many people, myself included, for almost – two decades, well, no, two decades of my life, the first two decades of my life, they they believe that it's actually something you're supposed to get rid of, that it's dirty, that it's not a sign of a healthy vagina, but it actually is like a sign of a healthy ah womb space, 100%. And not only that, but it lets us know that we are either fertile or not fertile.
00:26:22
Speaker
And it tells us when we are fertile and not fertile. And this is really important because it is something that is a vital sign of our room space health. And, you know, whether you want to get pregnant or you don't want to get pregnant and whether that's going to change or not, i it's really important to know what different parts of your cycle, like what different types of fluid you're going to be experiencing. So
00:26:53
Speaker
I have a couple of clients and many different people in my life who aren't aware when they're ovulating. Yeah. And maybe they've never ovulated they have PCOS other...
00:27:07
Speaker
i pco or other menstrual conditions that may make them not have a period at all. Like they won't bleed at all. It's, I think that's something that should be promoted awareness. I've never heard anyone speak about that and what it means.
00:27:26
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. It's, it's, um and you know, there's so much to learn about it, but it's, I mean, essentially there's um different phases of the menstrual cycle and each phase has a different fluid and It's also important to know that if you're on birth control pills or certain medications, then you might not have that flu fluid that will help you know what different phases you're in. You're not going to likely have the fertile fluid.
00:27:57
Speaker
um But that's something to learn about. That's something that I i talk about in my book, um you know, and like an introductory level. But that's That is something that I try to talk about as much as I can because our vaginas and our womb spaces, like everything is happening for a reason. and Yeah.
00:28:17
Speaker
there is discharge that can be bad but like are the discharge like the fluid that comes from our cervix and out through our vaginas is like incredibly important it's keeping it's like literally cleaning and keeping our vaginas and our womb space healthy well this is the first i've ever heard of it so it's incredible i mean nobody talks about let and well they don't talk about periods let alone this so i i feel like i've told this for the like told people this for the first time to so many people and i'm I, you know, have people I've spoken to who 80 years old and they didn't even know about this, which, you know, they're well beyond the reproductive years.
00:28:57
Speaker
And they had no clue that there was fluid that they needed to be looking for to see when they were ovulating. I mean, I had my appointment to the gynecologist about maybe three weeks ago. And again, never mentioned ever nothing. Yeah.
00:29:12
Speaker
I've never had a ah gynecologist ask me about my cervical fluid ever. They've never told me about it. It's, you know, all things that I've went out and learned on my own. So it's wild.
00:29:25
Speaker
know. It's like, it's so important. It's our body. Yeah. It's showing us if we work properly and there's no knowledge or understanding or so you kind of have to go and find things out on your own.
00:29:41
Speaker
Yeah, no, you really do. And yeah, yeah.
Science and Spirituality in Body Connection
00:29:44
Speaker
So I go, I guess going back to like, why did I write this book? Well, I wanted to tell everyone about cervical fluid. I i like literally when I found out about this the first year, I, the amount of times that cervical fluid came up in a conversation was probably awkward.
00:30:00
Speaker
so it's just like It's so interesting for me because I need to know this. Yeah, it's so fascinating. I'm like, what? How are we not told this? This is so cool. Like, I could have known when I was fertile and not fertile, like for the spare time. but It's just, yeah, mind-blowing to me. So what's one other message that you'd like to share from the book to end the episode with?
00:30:28
Speaker
Let me think. Um, so one of my favorite parts of the book was the way that I got to weave scientific elements with spiritual elements, because I think that the two are intertwined so deeply, more deeply than they would like us to believe.
00:30:50
Speaker
But I see so much ah science and spirituality and so much spirituality and science. And I like to act as like a bridge between both of those worlds.
00:31:01
Speaker
And I have rituals that I have written out for every phase of the menstrual cycle and then as well as like every phase of ah the reproductive life cycle. So it's called ah Maiden Mother Crone. And I have different rituals for that. Yeah. And I have rituals for um different womb experiences. So like if you have endometriosis, PCOS, fibroids, I have some sort of like activity that you can do to work with that experience that you're having in your body.
00:31:40
Speaker
And I guess what I'm trying to say in a very long-winded way is that there's a lot of profound healing that can take place whenever you ritualize a moment or an experience that you're having. having so you know say that you're having a hard time connecting with the luteal phase of your menstrual cycle, which is the last phase in the menstrual cycle, turning it into a ritual. And you don't have to do like the ritual from my book, but
00:32:14
Speaker
Just doing something to intentionally connect with that experience that you're having is i just really potent. And, you know, whether that's just doing a body scan during that part of your cycle every single day or, you know, putting your...
00:32:33
Speaker
hand over your womb space and saying some positive affirmations to yourself or, you know, there's there's so many different things that one can do.
00:32:44
Speaker
And i think that if we like turn in that direction when we're looking at like holistic health or ways that we can learn about our body, then i think it makes it more magical. And when it's more magical, it feels like a ah really cool experience. And yeah you like celebrate your human experience and like the the parts of being human that can sometimes be difficult, but it can help you see like what you can learn from it whenever you do things in a more intentional, magical way. ah that Does that make sense? Absolutely. Because when you do that,
00:33:25
Speaker
that experience becomes part of you rather than something external. So I feel like this is really important. I've started doing, i well, I've started to try to be more aware with most things I do, even if they're quite trivial, because there's no such thing as a trivial thing at the end of the day.
00:33:44
Speaker
Exactly. i completely agree. And when you do that, it makes everything else, uh, means so much more you know you you don't take the little things for granted and then i guess going back to magic it makes life more magical it makes everything more magical when you really like see the importance of the small things and celebrate them and bring awareness to them I love that well thank you so much yeah thank you