The Feminine Side of the Mycelium Network

At a special Healer Collective seminar, director Louie Schwartzberg explained how the mycelium network shows us a different way of thinking about the world.

You can watch the complete seminar here. Read inspiring quotes from the event below…

Our culture has created a psychological sense of separation from the planet, from nature. But we are of this planet, a part of its ecology body and soul. Our emotional connections to each other are a reflection of how we are connected to nature on Earth.

Louie’s unique visual presentation was followed by an inspiring conversation with female leaders in the corporate and wellness space.

The conversation included Susan Griffin-Black of EO Products, “Everything comes from plants,” she said, speaking about powerful natural medicines being developed around the world.

“How do we connect it up so that it’s not so laden with expense, greed, and the other things that come with business? How can we bring medicine to people who need it, people who would be very willing to experiment with it? Because the need is so there and so it just keeps reaching out like the mycelium. There’s such a need. There’s so much suffering in that need. We need that to shorten the distance so that there is less suffering. That is really what all of our work is about.”

During the seminar, Julia Jackson, the founder of the Grounded, explained how the name of her organization references the feminine side of nature. “The core of our name celebrates nature and its innate intelligence,” she said. “It’s about reconnecting human beings and our essence to nature, which is to get grounded.”

“There’s a sense of urgency in me, but I’m also intuitively optimistic because there are so many climate solutionists out there. We can learn from the mycelial network. What we’re trying to achieve with Grounded is to build a global mycelium network of climate solutionist to come together and help scale up solutions that we need.”

Other panelists included Jasmine Scalesciani-Hawken, the co-founder of Hairprint, a science-based company in Sausalito, California that takes its cues from nature and biology.

“Nature is not linear, it’s all happening at once. It may look chaotic, but what I want to call forward is that we don’t know. Let’s remain in the mystery and the wisdom of what is happening right now. Let’s lean into the support of our heart and the support of our innate nature-being,” she said. “It looks chaotic, but it is awake and it is looking to heal.”

Wellness investor Dina Burkitbayeva spoke about how her time in quarantine helped her step back from the masculine world of business. “Before, I was constantly networking and trying to meet pitching things,” she said.

“During quarantine, I had to take a step back and nurture myself. I had to nurture what I had built so far and the relationships to companies that I’ve invested in. It was critical to take a step back and really feel grateful for the work that I’ve done.”

Take Action!

Throughout history, everything–from creativity to sports to relationships–has been expressed in terms of predator versus prey relationships. We have treated life like a macho struggle for survival.

But if you look at the feminine essence of nature, you won’t see competition. You’ll see cooperation. It’s time to shift our focus from survival of the fittest to survival of the kindest. No more kill or be killed.

Instead, let’s create partnerships, rebirth, regeneration, connection, and love.