Episode 32: Taking the Earth As Your Lover
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[ INTRODUCTION FROM EV’YAN ]
Hey everyone, I’m Ev’Yan Whitney and this is The Sexually Liberated Woman. Today I’m bringing you a really interesting conversation I had with someone who is in an erotic relationship with the earth.
But before I get into all of that good stuff, I’ve got some people to shout out. So every episode, I highlight all the people who are supporting The Sexually Liberated Woman and who are giving this podcast literally life with their precious coins via Patreon.
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I've been following Luna Dietrich on Instagram for a while now (you might know her as @pusssywitch) but we really got acquainted when I invited her to be a part of this fun little Instagram challenge I created a few months back called the Sensual Selfie Challenge. and actually, there’s something I’ve been meaning to share about the sensual selfie challenge on here. Right now, I’m making a mental note to get more into that a little bit later but for now, let’s talk about Luna.
As she was sharing her magic during the sensual selfie challenge, I did some reading up on her and saw that she ID’d as an eco-sexual; someone who has a sexual relationship with the earth. And so I invited her on the podcast to talk about eco-sexuality and specifically, what eco-sexuality means and looks like for her and how she honors this side of herself.
So, I just want to be really real with you right now and say that when I first heard about eco-sexuality, the first thing that I thought of was, this is some white people shit, like the idea of it sounded really great in theory but I’m not going to lie, the practice of it brought up this image in my head of culturally appropriating white hippies with dreadlocks that smell like a weird combination of patchouli and B.O. who eat acai bowls and say things like “Namaste” all the time. That’s probably because, I’m surrounded by these types of individuals in Portland, Oregon where I live and I definitely know that there are ecosexuals out there who fit that description. But that’s why I wanted to bring Luna on to talk about this because even though she’s white, I don’t get that vibe from her and I wanted to see how eco-sexuality is actualized for her. And it’s so interesting because the more she talked about eco-sexuality; the more I realized it’s a lot more accessible and even a little applicable to the way I’m in a relationship with the world. So super interesting stuff that I’m really jazzed to get into with you and also keep listening, because I have some exciting news about the sensual selfie challenge that you’ll probably be sad about if you missed. Enjoy.
[ INTERVIEW WITH LUNA DIETRICH ]
Ev’Yan Whitney: Hey Luna, how’s it going?
Luna Dietrich: Hi, it’s going so good. I’m really excited and honored to be speaking with you.
Ev’Yan Whitney: Oh My God! Likewise, I’ve been following you on instagram for a bit now. You were also in my sensual selfie challenge, which I mean, that was an absolute blast and I’m really excited to connect with you voice to voice, finally.
Luna Dietrich: Me too. I mean, in your sensual selfie challenge, it was so absolutely moving to see so many people go through these experiences and see really how grassroots it was, that it wasn’t, I mean, I cried several times just being a part of that. Thank you for…
Ev’Yan Whitney: Oh girl, me too!
Luna Dietrich: It was so good!
Ev’Yan Whitney: I was a blubbering idiot that entire five days. Like every single photo that came up, I was just like, “I can’t handle it. It’s just too beautiful.” So yes, I’m right there with you. Yes it was so magical and I’m so glad that we connected and that you were able to share your magic with everyone. I know they got a lot out of your prompt, your mantra, like it was just so beautiful so yes, it’s so good to connect here and to spotlight you and the work that you’re doing.
Luna Dietrich: Thank you. Yes, it’s such an honor.
Ev’Yan Whitney: I know that you call yourself an eco, well, how do you identify? That’s actually a good question if we’re talking about eco-sexuality, like what is your label?
Luna Dietrich: I, right now, call myself an eco-sexual fan.
Ev’Yan Whitney: Okay.
Luna Dietrich: And it’s an identity that I’ve been playing with and exploring. I mean identity can be such a powerful tool of self discovery and ways of finding community and connection and it’s also something that I, you know, I’m not attached to always being in my life but as soon as I heard the term eco-sexual, it just resonated with me so deeply because it seemed to piece together things, different realms. I mean, because eco sexuality is a social movement where it brings together issues with sexuality, environmentalism and environmental justice. And so, all the ways that our sexuality intersects with culture, oppression, all of that and then also bringing in the element of the environment, it just seemed like those two sometimes don’t get talked about right next to one another. And so, it just felt so good and right for me to piece it together and feel it out together and it seems like those communities that I really resonate with separately, don’t necessarily talk a lot or like connect a lot so there was this like coming home type of feeling when I heard this term and I was like wow, I am that.
Ev’Yan Whitney: When you say those two identities, you’re talking about like both the eco-sexuality piece and the queer identity piece right?
Luna Dietrich: I’m more of talking about the sexuality fields of sex educators and even like intersectional feminism and all of that and then, the field of people who either love the earth or protest for the earth or are very earth conscious in some way like piecing those two communities and those two movements together and just seeing how, yes, because our sexuality is just affected by everything or at least speaking for me personally, it’s affected by everything.
Ev’Yan Whitney: Yes.
Luna Dietrich: And so this just seemed like a way to bring in even more pieces.
Ev’Yan Whitney: Amazing. So for someone who doesn’t now what eco-sexuality is, like in layman’s terms, what does that look like? What is eco-sexuality? What does that look like in practice?
Luna Dietrich: So Annie Sprinkle and Elizabeth Stevens made the term popular and two phrases that they’ve said to identify, because it’s a social movement but then it’s also a sexual identity, and so they said a person who finds nature’s sensual sexy or a person who takes the earth as their lover. It can look so many different ways and I think that’s what really resonates with me is how like, what does that mean to have the earth as our lover? or what does that mean to be turned on by the earth? And I’m such a geek when it comes to anything that’s ambiguous like making pleasure really ambiguous or making gender really ambiguous. I think that there is so much understanding and empathy when we stop putting things into boxes and stopped compartmentalizing, “Oh, this is sex. This is the act of sex. And then this is a relationship. This is what it means to be in relationship with someone.” When we unpack that and we lay out all of the pieces, there’s just so much there and it actually is connected to one another.
Ev’Yan Whitney: Yes, that was going to be my next question. I feel like eco-sexuality and polyamory are kind of the same in which, you know, polyamory can be an umbrella term for like many different kinds of manifestations of non-monogamous open relationships or arrangements and so I’m interested in how you identify and how you practice eco-sexuality because it does sound like it’s really different and it varies from person to person.
Luna Dietrich: A huge way that I practice is self-enquiry and asking me like really tuning to my relationship with myself, my relationship with others and my relationship with the earth. And checking in, is this a hell yes? Is this consensual? Does this feel in alignment with my truth? Does this feel like my hell yes? And sometimes, that can be really hard to do. So, one thing that I love to practice is I go camping almost every single weekend. That’s something that’s accessible to me, which is freaking awesome. And so just being outside and taking away the layers of our modern culture and technology. I work a lot online; I’m very active on instagram so being able to just be myself, my authentic like animal self outside. Something I love to practice is being naked outside. It just really helps me unpack shame about my body like especially my body hair or my body smells or wrinkles or just like, all of it just looks so beautiful when I’m outside.
Ev’Yan Whitney: Yes.
Luna Dietrich: I can intellectually know, I love these parts of myself and I can tell myself that all I want and I can follow amazing people on instagram to affirm that and read things that are really affirming but sometimes it’s really hard to embody the wrinkles,
Ev’Yan Whitney: Yes.
Luna Dietrich: The cellulite and the stretch marks and the acne but then when I’m outside and I’m naked, it just feels so right. I mean that’s something that’s like really been a huge part of my acceptance and love for my sexuality was body acceptance and that came through just being outside naked and then also seeing me in photographs naked. So that’s again why it resonated so strongly with your sensual selfie challenge. It was such a huge part of my path of becoming a sexual empowerment coach and teacher. It was having my photograph taken and seeing myself as a sexual creature of the earth, a human of the earth. There was just no shame in having a body anymore like the shame around sexuality didn’t make sense anymore.
Ev’Yan Whitney: Yes, what you’re saying, I actually have experienced it, that feeling of being outside naked, being outside just like your bare self amidst nature with trees and the wind. I mean there’s something very animalistic about that and then also like, in those experiences with myself, I have also found a sense of centeredness and groundedness in my own body. Like suddenly, I’m not fixated or focused on like what my nipples are doing. If they’re like totally erect or if they’re just like, you know, I’m just like, “Whatever, this is my body.” In the same way that like when I go outside in my backyard, I’m not judging a tree. I’m not judging the tree because it has a certain color of a leaf. It’s really interesting how like peeling back those literal layers of your body can help bring a sense of body awareness and body acceptance that I don’t think can, I mean, it does happen when you’re fully clothed and you’re being witnessed by other people but there’s some kind of magic involved when you’re outside in nature so I totally know what you’re talking about.
Luna Dietrich: Yes. And swimming naked and just noticing how pleasurable the earth can be and how much connection is available. I think that was a really huge thing for me. That started happening before I ever heard about the term eco-sexuality. Before I really came into my own sexual empowerment. Before I really started teaching, I went through some really hard break-ups, like really challenging, sad, grieving times and the thing that really helped me moved through it was being outside. Like, I remember one summer where I was just so freaking heartbroken. I felt just like rejected on such a poor level. I think I was dating two people and they both broke up with me at the same time and it was just really hard and a total shift and I moved locations but what helped me move through all of that, the feel of all of that was almost every single day I would get off of work and just go into the woods and go walking and spend just so much time feeling and just being with the trees and I didn’t know if I know was going to come out of it like I had some of those of thoughts of like “Oh My Gosh, am I going to be depressed forever?” or “Oh, how pathetic I am for being so depressed over a break-up” like just all the thoughts but just continuing being called to be outside and it really helped me find myself.
Ev’Yan Whitney: I’m curious to how it was you decided to identify as an eco-sexual. What was that process like? How did you know? How did you come to find out that, “Yes, this is me. This is who I am.”
Luna Dietrich: I didn’t grow up having a strong connection to nature. I watched a lot of television as a kid. I was inside a lot but then fortunately, like so fortunately and so much privileges that I got to go to this amazing little school called Warren Wilson College that’s nestled in the mountain top side of Asheville, North Carolina. It’s on a thousand acres Farm and all of the students worked for the college. I got to be on the herb crew where we would grow and create plant medicine for the students. I was also studying chemistry and getting a degree in chemistry so I had this amazing balance of stimulating my brain and kind of like having sex with my brain and the realm of math, chemistry, physics and I had this amazing connection with the plants. So that’s where I really came into myself of knowing that this was such a deep part of me. After graduating, I travelled to the other side of the world and I fell in love with a woman. I learnt so much about my sexuality and dismantled so many stories of my sexuality that I thought I needed to please and care take men and that my pleasure was for men and for someone other than me. So I had this two pieces of knowing that I was so in love with plant medicine and so in love with the plant world and then having this huge awakening and curiosity with sex and then having these nerdy brain cells that loves systems because that’s what drove me to study chemistry. Soon after that, when I started my business of Pussy Witch, I learned of the term eco-sex and it just all came together. I was like, “Holy Shit, that’s me”.
Ev’Yan Whitney: You’re talking about how eco-sexuality is like a sexual identity but it’s also like a movement like it’s an environmental justice kind of movement and so I wondered if you could speak more of what that looks like in practice like what kinds of things are eco-sexual activists doing, not just in terms of like how they’re, you know, healing the planet, helping the planet but also the ways in which they are active in social justice, you know.
Luna Dietrich: I’d love to come at it from the angle that it’s so inclusive and so it can look so many different ways like whether that is people going to protests or calling their senators or just really being informed and it can also be how we spend our money and what practices are we supporting or boycotting. A thing that’s really important for me as identifying with this term, is that it is accessible to anyone so I don’t like the idea that eco-sexuality means that we have to live super sustainably and we have to buy local organic and we have to have this specific cookie cutter relationship with the earth. That’s one classist and it’s just not possible for everyone so I think the justice part comes a lot with education and meeting people where they’re at and what does feel really good for them and coming at it from a place of pleasure activism. A place that feels really good. I don’t want to spread more shame of “Oh, we should be doing this. We should feel really crappy about what’s happening to the earth.” We should grieve, we should feel and we should move through that feeling and then choose how to show up with that and have it be this place of love like being in lover ship and seeing the earth as our lover and so wanting to do things and feeling pulled to do things because it feels right and good and not from a place of shame and obligation and stress.
Ev’Yan Whitney: Oh My Gosh so much good stuff that you just said and like I’m having a lot of stuff come up about my own relationship with the earth and my own philosophies but you said something a moment ago about taking the earth as your lover and I know this depends on the person or depends on the practice, but what does that mean to you? What does it look like for you to take the earth as your lover? I’m like so intrigue by this.
Luna Dietrich: Yes. Just to give a little background. I first heard that term; maybe it was Annie Sprinkle who brought it up, by her saying, “not seeing the earth as this mother archetype” because that archetype, commonly in our collective psyche is this archetype of giving and giving and giving and we just take and take and take and when you translate that to lover, all of a sudden it’s like, “Okay, how am I in a consensual relationship? How do I want to show love for this lover?” Oh, I have tingles all over my body! How do I…?
Ev’Yan Whitney: Oh My God! Me too! I’m like literally, Oh My God! Yes, I’m resonating with all of this. It’s so good. Basically what you’re talking about is having a collaborative relationship, like a co-creative relationship that doesn’t look like, “Okay, you’re providing me with all this stuff and I’m just going to take all of it.” But it’s like “Okay, yes, you provide for me but here are the ways that I can provide for you. Here are the ways that I can protect you.” I love all of this.
Luna Dietrich: And how to be in, and again to bring it back to shame like if we think about our relationship with humans, if we operate by “Oh, this is how I’m a good lover” but from a perspective of shame and just going through the motions of this is what I’m supposed to do. If we’re honest with ourselves, that normally doesn’t go well. It’s not sustainable for either person because it’s not living from our authentic place. So the same goes with the earth and I mean I do it in so many ways and I think one of my most favorite practices is just simply going on a walk and not bringing my cell phone. That does so much for me because like I said, so much of my work is online. If I separate myself from that piece of me, then it’s so much easier to just feel that connection with the earth and just start listening and listening and listening. This is a really important piece for me to name and that this isn’t new information. It’s ancient indigenous wisdom and eco sexuality, is just a, like I like to say, a modern adaptation for this ancient wisdom like what do we need now, what feels right now without culturally appropriating one culture or are stealing something but just knowing that every single person on this planet is in relationship with the earth and all of us have the accessibility to listen like, we all have to right to be in relationship with the earth. Like for one example, I used to sell herbal products. These sensual yummy products, I made like lubes and pussy pedal serum and they were so yummy and scrumptious and it just didn’t feel right. Something didn’t feel right and I had a really intense vision basically where the earth was just like,” you’re not doing this in right relationship with earth like you are looking at these plants and you’re just wanting to sell them and profit off of them.“ By me saying that, I’m not saying that that’s ever a problem that other people are doing it. It’s not bad to sell botanical medicine. I think it’s so amazing. Just my relationship, I wasn’t able to have enough integrity with the medicine that I wanted and that I held for me to want to sell a product and so I listened to that and a few months ago, I stopped selling it. I took everything out of my Etsy. This just doesn’t—it doesn’t make my heart sing. It doesn’t feel good. Teaching feels more like where my path is and my relationship with the earth really helped with that and I started really loving plants again like I am able to listen to them again and have joy from them again rather than seeing them as something that I make and sell.
[ SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT FROM EV’YAN ]
Ev’Yan Whitney: Hey, so if you’ve been paying attention during this episode, you’ve likely heard me and Luna gush about something called the Sensual Selfie Challenge. It’s something we both did back in March and it was incredible. So much beauty and vulnerability was shared and the community we created, my God, it was pure magic. And I have amazing news. I’m doing it again.
On September 5th, I’m going to be hosting another round of the sensual selfie challenge on instagram. The Sensual Selfie Challenge is a 5-day challenge I created that encourages you to take up space with your body and celebrate your sexuality all through the fun and fine art of selfie taking. It works like this. Each day, for 5 days, I’ll be challenging you to take a selfie to help you take up space and connect to your sensuality. I’ll send you a prompt and an affirmation via email and you take a selfie that’s inspired by it then you’ll post your selfie on instagram using our special hash tag and your photo will be added to a bustling community of other sensual babes taking the challenge with you.
More than 1000 women and fems took part in the challenge last time and I have a feeling it’s going to be even bigger this time because we have some killer hosts this round like Gala Darling and Emilia Ortiz who you might know on instagram as ethereal1. So yes, it’s going to be lit!
To join the sensual selfie challenge, go to sexloveliberation.com/sensualselfie, all one word and sign up. The challenge officially starts next Wednesday on September 5th, so definitely mark your calendars and I’m so looking forward to witnessing your sensual selfies. It’s going to be so much fun. I literally cannot wait.
[ INTERVIEW WITH LUNA DIETRICH ]
Ev’Yan Whitney: I love what you were talking about how eco-sexuality isn’t anything new like people have been doing this for thousands and thousands of years. This is a tradition that goes back to indigenous folks, people of color and I so appreciate that, that is something that you’re thinking about because I’ve certainly been in spaces where I don’t know if they would necessarily call themselves ecosexuals but they certainly are in this frame of work where you know, they are using plant medicine and doing certain things like that. I mean, I live in Portland, Oregon and they’re like everywhere, those types of people. And I’ll just call it for what it is. Like most of the time, these are white people who are taking these kinds of traditions and these kinds of philosophies and ideals and not paying homage to the source like where those things came from and so it means a lot for me to know that like this is something that you are thinking about, that this is something that you are doing your best to be better about in terms of giving those props to marginalize folks and also just reminding people that this isn’t new. I didn’t create this. This has been around for a long time. It’s really refreshing to hear that.
Luna Dietrich: Thank you.
Ev’Yan Whitney: Yes. The other thing like, I’m listening to you talk about eco-sexuality and what it looks like in practice and just listening to everything you’re that saying about your own practice and I think, I don’t know, I don’t know if I want to say this. Okay, I’ll just say it. I think I might want to be an eco-sexual.
Luna Dietrich: Yes!
Ev’Yan Whitney: Because I’m listening to everything you’re saying and it resonates so deeply with me, not just on an intellectual level but I actually, I don’t talk about this enough and I feel like this conversation that we’re having right now is going to catapult me into talking about this but in my other life when I’m not on the internet, when I’m not talking about sexuality, I am very passionate about living a zero waste life style and being very mindful about what I bring into my home, making sure that I’m not buying products from people who, you know, I can’t trace the source of where those products are coming from. I’m making sure that any type of meat that I eat is pasture-raised like, no exception. Any type of dairy that I eat is pasture-raised, no exception. I’m doing all of this stuff in the background that is in alignment with, I guess just, I’ve always seen it as reducing my carbon footprint and just being earth conscious and environmentally friendly but I’m also recognizing that as I’m having this conversation with you that, I think that I’ve been taking the earth as my lover. That’s like wild for me to put those things together like I’m already doing it. I’ve been doing it. You know what I mean but it’s just wild. My brain is kind of like exploding a little bit.
Luna Dietrich: Oh, I love that! That’s so exciting. I was really feeling into before our conversation of, not wanting to come from a place of like “Okay, I’m not spreading propaganda here”. I don’t even know if I’ll always identify with this term. I’m not trying to convince people to be ecosexuals. I’m just really excited about it.
Ev’Yan Whitney: Yes and I mean it’s something that just thinking about how important this work is and not even just the work that you do necessarily but just having this mindset that we can’t keep like fucking the earth. We have to be very conscious about the relationship we have with it. Not necessarily in the things that we buy or the things that we are putting into the earth but our relationship with it, you know, like the things we could be unknowingly doing to, I don’t know, create a sense of disconnection. I mean, even if that means going outside more, breathing in the air like, I mean, I do the best I can to take off my shoes and put my feet on the earth at least a couple times a day. I’m almost always barefoot and just doing things like that to create more of a connection and more of an intention. I mean that’s so doable. It’s so doable.
Luna Dietrich: Yes. I think about it a lot too like, “Okay how could this be accessible to people in the cities?”
Ev’Yan Whitney: Yes.
Luna Dietrich: You know even having a relationship with a houseplant and even having the awareness of, “Wow! Every single thing that’s in my apartment came from the earth.” And then, you know, breathing in the gratitude for that and just that awareness of literally everything around us including ourselves is from the earth. Besides a few maybe asteroids or whatever. I don’t know. But my point being that, it is everything and feeling that gratitude and then just connecting. I live in Asheville, North Carolina so I am surrounded by new age communities that I have been very much a part of and very much connected with and more and more and more, I’m just waking up to all of the problematic stuff that just they’re spiritually by-passing…
Ev’Yan Whitney: Yes.
Luna Dietrich:…and they’re just like sending love and light and prayers but there’s no informed action or deep listening and just not addressing all of the –isms and these communities and these spaces and then the appropriations. So there’s a lot of sadness and frustration there and at the same time like not wanting to throw the, oh I don’t like that idiom, not wanting to just like reject all of it.
Ev’Yan Whitney: Yes. Yes. Yes.
Luna Dietrich: Yes. Just finding the element of like, okay, the earth connection peace is so important to me and feeling that gratitude is so important to me and then how can I incorporate that into my pleasure activism? How can I incorporate that into my work, into my writing and my relationships and everything? My life?
Ev’Yan Whitney: Yes. It sounds like that a big part of eco-sexuality is like sensuality; connecting with your senses, connecting with your body and also connecting with how your senses and your body is connecting to the earth, if that makes sense. Like the way that your being here, is a part of a larger structure, is part of a larger energy or something like that.
Luna Dietrich: Yes.
Ev’Yan Whitney: I love that. I also love how accessible this is because I have to tell you, when I was prepping to have this conversation with you, like I’ve heard of eco-sexuality before, I think. I think I saw something somewhere like people literally fucking the earth like actually, you know, rolling in the mud, licking dirt, riding on trees as a way to get themselves off which is like no shame to anyone who does that but like that was what I was imagining that we were going to be talking about and the ways that you practice it. But the way that you’re talking about it now, the way that it’s actualized by you and the way that you practice it, that’s so accessible. I mean, it really, literally just is like, going outside, being mindful of the way that your body is, you know, in nature and just prioritizing self-care and prioritizing the connection with your senses and your sensual body like, I mean, I don’t know if it’s safe to say this because obviously people get too self identified but it sounds like most people if not all people could be eco-sexual people.
Luna Dietrich: I felt the same way and also, I mean both pieces of everyone gets to self identify. Also that everything is eco-sex, I mean, because we are all of the earth and so it’s kind of humorous. It’s just piecing everything together and again it’s just honoring that this isn’t new knowledge. It’s just a new term to try to speak to our times, try to incorporate what medicine we need now and I think that’s why I love it so much because it is just new terms so it’s also, Okay what do we need now? How do we connect all the dots? And yes, even just so much of what I see with my clients and my work and I’m sure you see this too, and Emily Nagoski talks about it in her book. Stress being such a huge thing that makes it hard for people to get in their bodies and enjoy their sexuality. I mean along with their bodies, I mean there are so many things but just stress being such a big thing of it and then in our modern culture and then the everyday stresses of just being in traffic or our technology or work or anything like that. It’s so hard to turn that off and the all of the sudden be sensual or sexual creatures. So I think for me having this relationship in connection to the earth and getting outside and then shaking a little bit can do so much.
Ev’Yan Whitney: Yes.
Luna Dietrich: To discharge that.
Ev’Yan Whitney: Yes.
Luna Dietrich: Like discharge the stress because we can’t, you know, I mean, I don’t want to say we can’t do anything but traffic’s not going to go. away.
Ev’Yan Whitney: Right.
Luna Dietrich: Like there’s just things that we can’t control.
Ev’Yan Whitney: And we’re just getting even more connected. It’s not like technology is going away anytime soon. We’re continuing to be more digital. We’re continuing to be more on our computers and so it seems even more imperative for us to adopt practices that get us off of our screens and out of the house and just connecting to our bodies because yes, you’re right, that’s like one of the main complaints I hear from the clients that I work with is okay like, “Yes, so I’ve had a really rough day, and it was super busy and I was stuck in traffic and my boss is an asshole and then I come home, I’m expected to be the sensual being who now all of sudden wants to have sex with her partner.” For some folks, they can turn it on and off like that but for a lot of people, that’s really difficult to do and so it’s interesting, like one of the things that I tell my client who are having trouble with things like this, like being too much in their head and not enough in their bodies when it comes to sex is like, being able to get into their body like through going outside, through being able to really disconnect from whatever is it that is keeping them riled up and just focusing it on the senses so yes, that hugely resonates.
Luna Dietrich: Yes. It can also be a means to an end. I have struggled and I’m transforming a lot and it’s pretty vulnerable just with co-dependency patterns. I open relate and I have multiple partners often and I can get very attached in certain ways and notice my co-dependency. When I can call myself out on it, such a way that I find healing is by stoking my relationship with the earth and finding self-pleasure. Well feeling that connection to the planet and knowing that I am always connected and I am independent and interdependent rather than co-dependent on these people for my pleasure and my validation.
Ev’Yan Whitney: Yes.
Luna Dietrich: And that I’m a creature of the earth.
Ev’Yan Whitney: Yes.
Luna Dietrich: And that I always have a lover. That is myself and earth and that is so empowering when I remember that.
Ev’Yan Whitney: Yes. If you were to give whoever is listening right now who is like, “Okay, I’m diggin’ this idea of getting back into my body, this idea of taking the earth as my lover. I’m interested.” If you were to give that one person a homework assignment as far as one doable step that they can take to be more eco-sexual, what would you tell them to do?
Luna Dietrich: I would encourage them and invite them to prioritize taking some time to get outside. I would first say and invite them to write to clear their head, time it for 10 minutes and tune in to what their relationship is, ask themselves, “What is my relationship to the earth? Is my relationship consensual? Is my relationship pleasurable with the earth?” Have them, stream of consciousness, write for 10 minutes and just whatever comes through, don’t strop writing. Just let it flow. Whatever thoughts come up even if it’s silly, say “this is silly!”. Let that be as it is and just take at least enough for 10 minutes. Again time it. I love timers because I think it just sets a container to fully be in it and just listen. Listen for that connection. Feel. If you’re naturally a sensual person, I would say take in the earth with your senses; with your sight, with your sense of smell, with touch and with texture. If you're more of an energetic person, try feeling the connection, visualizing it. You could imagine that there's a cord from your body down into the earth and stoking that relationship and finding whatever resonates with you and maybe more if your type of sexuality is more primal and not so much in your senses but just more like grounded and more in your root. I would say, yes, just feeling like an animal. Feel that sense of self that is an animal and just being on the earth in that way.
Ev’Yan Whitney: Amazing. That’s amazing. That is very doable. Yes, very doable. I’m so glad that we had this conversation. I’m so glad that you shared your wisdom and your philosophies and really opened my mind up to what eco-sexuality is. I don’t know. I’m going to play around with that label. I don’t know if I’m brave enough to actually claim that but I definitely can see how my own relationship to the earth and my own philosophies about sensuality and connecting to nature could definitely be eco-sexual so I thank you for opening my mind to that and for making it feel so accessible and so easy to do.
Luna Dietrich: Thank you Ev’Yan. It’s such a pleasure finally getting to talk to you.
Ev’Yan Whitney: I know! Likewise. Tell people where they can find you, your work. Especially if they want to maybe hire you to help them become more eco-sexual type of people. Tell us everything.
Luna Dietrich: Thank you. Well my name is Luna Dietrich and my business is called “Pussy Witch”. You can find me on instagram, @pusssywitch with three S’s. You can also find me at pussywitch.com
Ev’Yan Whitney: Fantastic. Thank you so much. It was such a pleasure to talk with you and I am literally going to get outside right after I hang up with you.
Luna Dietrich: Yes! Me too!
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Ev’Yan Whitney: The Sexually Liberated Woman is produced, edited and designed by me, Ev’Yan Whitney with editing help by Justine Mclellen and community support from each one of my very special patrons on Patreon.
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