The Caterpillar Melts, the Memory Remains, with Sophie Strand

Myth As Biology, Rewilding Masculinity, And The Stories Shaping Our Future

In this episode, we sit down with writer and mythopoetic thinker Sophie Strand for a wide-ranging conversation on myth, illness, ecology, and the stories shaping our future.

Sophie shares how chronic illness changed her relationship to myth, not as metaphor, but as something cellular and lived: a way communities carry precious knowledge through collapse and transmit it through relationship. We explore the "supracellular" self, distributed intelligence, and what biology can teach us about collaboration, boundaries, and the fear-based pull toward simplistic good/bad thinking.

From there, we dive into The Flowering Wand and the rewilding of the masculine: composting the lonely hero archetype, recovering lost forms of stewardship and fathering, and creating a more biodiverse ecosystem of masculinity. Alex brings in Pan and Hephaestus, and the conversation turns toward the mythopoetic threshold: how to work with symbols, synchronicity, and archetypes without floating into spiritual escapism.

We also enter the big questions of consciousness: are we nearing a Copernican shift in consciousness studies? Sophie offers a striking image: caterpillars that melt in the cocoon, yet somehow carry memory forward. If the brain liquefies, what persists? Is consciousness a field we tune into, more like a radio than a machine?

Finally, we explore technology and AI with nuance: the material and extractive roots of the digital realm, "haunted technology," the ethics of knowledge production, and why storytellers carry responsibility for the futures we train into the world. Sophie closes with a provocative invitation: if you want ideas to last, plant them in love stories, because romance and eros still move culture at scale.

Guest: Sophie Strand
Books: The Flowering Wand: Rewilding the Sacred Masculine; The Body Is a Doorway

Hosted by Alex de Carvalho and Rudy de Waele, Voices of Emergence brings together thinkers, builders, and creators exploring how new systems of meaning, leadership, and regeneration are emerging through us: voicesofemergence.com

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🎵 Intro & Outro Music
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Track: Journey Live 5
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