Stitch n Bitch & the Peaceful Revolution: a love letter

Posted on by Janine Bertolo

I mean, if it’s not one of the top ten anti-capitalist things you can do, I don’t know what is.

Stitch n Bitch is one of my favorite things to do in the Kin Keepers’ Haven.

A big permission slip to show up, just as you are:

  • Permission to be imperfect
  • Permission to fuck urgency, and go slow
  •  Permission to release binary thinking
  •  Permission to cackle, long and loud
  • Permission to complain
  • Permission to create for creativity’s sake
  • Permission to reject perfectionism, hyper-indendependence, and the need to know it all
  • Permission to gather just to enjoy each other’s company
  • Permission to connect
  •  Permission to be messy and color outside the lines
  •  Permission to leave something unfinished
  • Permission to break the rules and go rouge
  • Permission to hang back and quietly count your stitches while the conversation flows around you like a warm embrace
  •  Permission to rip it up and start again

Or not

Once a month
Join from the comfort of your own space,
and be received,
without shame or agenda,
without expectation
without the productivity grind

And maybe plant the seeds of something bigger

Of course you can do it alone
But you don’t have to

Come sit in the circle

You’re welcome

Hello!

I’m Janine. My pronouns are she/her.

I am an anti-capitalist crone, post-trauma growth coach, and consensual copywriter.

I strive daily to identify and unlearn the voices of white heteronormative patriarchy that are insidiously planted in our brains from an early age – voices that, without critical inquiry, we often confuse as our own.

I dream of a return to the Commons and a world where all living beings have equal access to the necessities of life, including laughter, rest, creativity, and joy.

Even though I didn’t always have the words, this dream has been the undercurrent of all of my pursuits from an early age. 

I host the Caucus of Crones and Self-Centred in the Kin Keepers’ Haven, co-held online with my dear friend Trevia Woods.

I am available for 1:1 coaching sessions.

Drop a reply or check out my website if you’re interested in connecting.

the Cognitive Heart

Posted on by Janine Bertolo

What would life look like if we paid more attention to the Cognitive Heart that lives in each of us?

Graphic images of a brain and heart painted by Janine Bertolo, with the text "musings on a Cognitive Heart in the Self-Centred Newsletter
1

I attended a funeral service recently where the cause of death was described as ‘cognitive heart failure’.

The speaker hesitated on the words and (admirably in my culturally-conditioned perfectionist opinion) moved on.

My OCD brain tucked it away for chewing on after the service. Its first task to remember what the correct word could be.

True to nature of course, my brain woke me up in the middle of the night to tend to unfinished business. What did he mean by “cognitive heart’?

You’ve probably already surmised that the intended word was “congestive.” In fact, had I typed it instead of tucking it away for my brain to chew on later, autocorrect might have saved me some sleep.

As it was, I woke in the wee hours of the morning to muse about a cognitive heart.

The cognitive heart – it’s really a lovely concept, don’t you think?

I believe we all have one.

It’s the part of us that knows without words, without ‘executive function’, that knows from a primal and somatic place.

Our cognitive hearts may speak to us as a niggling that we just can’t put our finger on. Something we just can’t put words to. A niggling that tucks a misspoken word in a eulogy away for future reference. 

Could it be that my cognitive heart was awakened when my brain was honestly a little fidgety and distracted in the discomfort of having to sit still and quiet in an uncomfortable chair at a funeral for someone I didn’t know?

We tend to think of cognition as an activity centered in the brain. But in fact Oxford Languages defines “cognition’ as the mental action or process of acquiring knowledge and understanding through thought, experience, and the senses.

Thought, experience, AND the senses….

Tying in Somatics

This definition is helpful to me in describing something that is often difficult to describe: the concept of somatics and somatic practices, 

Here’s my take:

Our cellular DNA holds the map and history of generations that have gone before. We are composed of the same elements as the earth, sea, and sky. Every experience we have lived is imprinted on our cells.

Somatics is the practice of connecting to the wisdom and resources of the body. It is the practice of listening and learning. It allows us to move towards more authentic and aligned action. 

It’s not exclusively about intellectual thought and executive function – though of course the brain is part of the entire ecosystem of the body.

Somatic practices can be valuable in creating a coherent and integrated nervous system, allowing us to act in a more authentic, aligned, and peaceful way. 

It isn’t so much about avoiding ‘negative’ emotions or experiences. It’s more about creating the conditions for navigating a full spectrum of emotions and experiences from an expanded range of capacity, without dissociating or checking out.

Our organs, our cells, our limbs, our senses, have as much to offer in the way of wisdom as the brain. They are equals in an integrated somatic system.

I lean into the work and wisdom of Prentis Hemphill in exploring somatics and somatic practices. I am currently listening to their audiobook What It Takes To Heal and it feels like floating in a warm tub.

I also recommend this podcast episode with Prentis + Ijeoma Oluo.

It works

When my personal coach introduced somatic practices into our sessions, I noticed the change immediately without knowing intellectually what exactly had changed. I could feel healing happening, slowly, incrementally, potently, in a way that wasn’t accessible to me with more traditional talk therapy.

Somatics allowed me to connect to my body and its wisdom, in slow, doable steps that actually begins with remembering that I have a body that needs tending – that’s just how powerful my brain has become in managing my life. It tries to distract me from what’s going on below the neck as a means of protection, an overactive safety mechanism that I no longer need to survive. (Sorry brain, I love you but..)

At this stage, my body and my brain are in a tentative and new relationship of discovering interdependence and co-creation. I may be in my crone years, but this relationship is as new and exciting (and sometimes frightening) to me as I imagine it might be to a child.

It is reshaping my perspective and my relationships with myself, with others, and with my world.

(And, as an aside, it is reshaping my ideas about dusting off the Caucus of Crones to invite more participation, more vibrancy, more connection where connection is so desperately needed, but that is for another email. If you’re interested in knowing more before the next newsletter lands, drop me a note.)

What would life look like if we paid more attention to our cognitive hearts?

I’m curious to know what resonates with you, and invite your comments.

For now, I’m going back to the pool, back to the warm float, back to birds, to offer my brain a rest and cultivate a deeper relationship with my cognitive heart.

Sending you love from the unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishnaabe People on the banks of the Kitchi Zibi,

Janine

Ways to support me (and each other):

  1. (brain and heart illustrations created by Janine Bertolo with mineral watercolour paints on synthetic paper) ↩︎

Join Self-Centred in the Kin Keepers’ Haven

Posted on by Janine Bertolo

We all deserve access to abundance, rest, joy and justice.

As creatures of nature, it is our birthright.

Capitalism and all systems of oppression rely on our disconnection for their survival.

Connection is the antidote.

Join the Kin Keepers’ Haven now
$30/month, no contract
Join Self Centred in the Kin Keepers' Haven; graphic of a femme holding the tree of life in their heart; clicking on the image opens a Kin Keepers' Haven Instagram post

Joining Self-Centred

  • is a powerful healing move for all versions of us that have been decentered by systems of harm.
  • allows others to thrive, because your boundaries are healthy, dynamic and clear.
  • is a lifelong process of learning and unlearning.
  • is what we strive for together in the Kin Keepers’ Haven learning space.
Join the Kin Keepers’ Haven

Self-Centred is a space for
unlearning capitalism
&
soothing your nervous system

When we slow down and listen to our bodies, to nature, and to each other:

  • we remember our enoughness;
  • we remember our needs, and can ask for them to be met;
  • we are able to sustainably give from an overflowing cup;
  • we are able to support each other, and thrive

So we can return to a place where every living being has equal access to abundance, joy, justice, and liberation.

Join Self-Centred in the Kin Keepers’ Haven to explore: 

? Capitalism vs. Commerce 
? Nervous System Basics
? Knowing your Needs
? Dynamic Boundaries
? Truth Aligned Leadership
? Cultivating Rhythms of Care
? Connecting to Joy & Pleasure
? Essential Service – right time/size/pace/relationship
? & more as we follow the breadcrumbs together

Each monthly live call will include a check-in, a lesson, and an essential practice that you can integrate into your day.

Calls will be recorded and posted in the private space, so you can take your time.

Self-Centred draws on the teachings of many world-changers whose work will be named and referenced in the call notes, so that you can dig deeper as your capacity allows.

Join the Kin Keepers’ Haven

The Kin Keepers’ Haven is a space for us to remember and relearn our connection to ourselves, our communities, our environment, and each other;

a space to disarm the influences of systems of harm in our behavior and relationships;

so we can return to a place where every living being has equal access to abundance, joy, justice, and liberation.

Join Now

Join hosts Trevia Woods & Janine Bertolo
in the Kin Keepers’ Haven
to unlearn the messages of capitalism
and embrace interdependence
with a slow and delicious yes.

We can’t wait to meet you inside!

Kin Keepers’ Haven is a consensual, collaborative, co-creative space for culture makers, caregivers, and world changing witches to unlearn systems of harm and support each other.

Our best classroom is each other. We welcome members’ feedback to add offerings, make adjustments, and course-correct as required. 

She is Risen

Posted on by Janine Bertolo

When you were five, what did you want to be when you grew up?

When I was 5 it never occurred to me that I couldn’t be whatever I wanted to be…

Poor deluded Catholic school girl that I was.

So when my kindergarten teacher asked us to draw what we wanted to to be when we grew up, I drew myself as a priest.

My teacher took me aside to explain the patriarchy of the one holy and apostolic Church.

And that, my friends, is when this feminist was born.

Happy Easter

Self-Centred in the Kin Keepers’ Haven

Posted on by Janine Bertolo

Self-Centred
in the Kin Keepers’ Haven
is a space for us to
Unlearn Capitalism
& Soothe Our Nervous Systems

Capitalism and all systems of oppression
rely on our disconnection for their survival.

Connection is the antidote.

Join Self Centred in the Kin Keepers' Haven; graphic of a femme holding the tree of life in their heart; clicking on the image opens a Kin Keepers' Haven Instagram post

When we slow down and listen
to our bodies, to nature, and to each other,
we remember our enoughness;
We remember our needs, and can ask for them to be met;
We are able to sustainably give from an overflowing cup;
to support each other, and thrive,
So we can return to a place where every living being has equal access to abundance, joy, justice, and liberation.

Join Now

Becoming Self-Centred is a powerful healing power move for all versions of us that have been decentred by systems of harm.

Becoming Self-Centred creates space for others to thrive, because your boundaries are dynamic and healthy and clear

Becoming Self-Centred is a lifelong process of learning & unlearning

Self-Centred in the Kin Keepers’ Haven is a space for us to unlearn capitalism
and soothe our nervous systems.

Join Self-Centred in the Kin Keepers’ Haven to explore: 

? the difference between Capitalism & Commerce 
? Nervous System Basics
? You’ve got needs!
? Dynamic Boundaries
? Truth Aligned Leadership
? Cultivating Rhythms of Care
? Connecting to Joy & Pleasure
? Essential Service – finding right time/size/pace/relationship
? and more as we follow the breadcrumbs together

Each monthly live call will include a check-in, a lesson, and an essential practice that you can integrate into your day.

Calls will be recorded and posted in the private space,
so you can take your time.

Self-Centred draws on the teachings of many world-changers whose work will be named and referenced in the call notes,
so that you can dig deeper as your capacity allows.

We begin Saturday March 2
with our first live call
at 1:30 pm Eastern Time.

Join the Kin Keepers’ Haven

The Kin Keepers’ Haven is a space for us to remember and relearn our connection to ourselves, our communities, our environment, and each other;

a space to disarm the influences of systems of harm in our behavior and relationships;

so we can return to a place where every living being has equal access to abundance, joy, justice, and liberation.

Join Now

When you join today as a Founding Member, you will have access to the Kin Keepers’ Mighty Networks space to connect with other members and join live calls such as:

? Held: an intimate and brave space for reclaiming our lineage and honoring the land (hosted by Trevia)

????? the Caucus of Crones (hosted by Janine) a space for Culture Makers and Haven Members over the age of 50 to cackle, collaborate, and cultivate change.

?? Weekly Coworking Sessions

? Moon Circles to set intentions for the month ahead and connect to nature

?Monthly Stitch n Bitch Sessions where members come together to craft and crab (no judgment)

??Monthly Grief Circles to allow our grief to move & make room for more joy in our lives

Join Us!

Join hosts Trevia Woods & Janine Bertolo
in the Kin Keepers’ Haven
to unlearn the messages of capitalism
and embrace interdependence
with a slow and delicious yes.

We can’t wait to meet you inside!

Kin Keepers’ Haven is a consensual, collaborative, co-creative space for culture makers, caregivers, and world changing witches to unlearn systems of harm and support each other.

Our best classroom is each other. We welcome members’ feedback to add offerings, make adjustments, and course-correct as required. 

It’s not over – we can choose community care over harm

Posted on by Janine Bertolo
Janine facing the camera wearing red glasses and an N91 mask

It’s not over:

“Covid is a mass disabling event”?~ Imani

When you know better, you do better.

Systems of power want us to believe that Covid is over. It’s not

“The cultural messaging, and the ways that we’ve been manipulated into not caring for each other in our behavior around (Covid) is serving to massively disable and kill off a huge group of people.” ~ Rebecca Studer

My nervous system cannot embrace that truth without rebelling. There is no acceptable level of collateral damage.

We have a choice

I choose to navigate life focused on community care and disability justice

Despite being gaslit and distracted from the truth by capitalist powers, we have a choice – to recognize the science and mitigate harm in every way possible. In small doable messy and imperfect steps

“I would rather have a grief process than collude with harm.”

I have so much love and appreciation for Rebecca Studer, for sharing, for caring the science, the somatics, and the emotional process of navigating this reality in her Substack podcast Start Making Sense, episode 2:

“By ignoring the truth of the pathogen and listening to the cultural messaging of minimization, you could be permanently disabling or killing your neighbor. we need to baseline care about not infecting each other and creating spaces with clean air that everyone can access”

Choose a next doable step:

“By ignoring the truth and listening to the cultural messaging of minimization, you could be permanently disabling or killing your neighbor. We don’t need to be perfect or change everything all at once; we get to make the next doable step/choice towards care and community and let that be momentum towards a different future. We get to create something else, and I invite you to join me.”

“What is the next doable step? You are enough, you belong by being human, and you get to make choices that serve the collective”

Here’s mine: I am dedicated to wearing an N91 mask in shared spaces that vulnerable persons cannot avoid – grocery stores, medical clinics.

You can listen to/read Rebecca’s podcast episode here.

Hello!

I’m Janine. My pronouns are she/her.

I am an anti-capitalist crone, post-trauma growth coach, and consensual copywriter.

I strive daily to identify and unlearn the voices of white heteronormative patriarchy that are insidiously planted in our brains from an early age – voices that, without critical inquiry, we often confuse as our own.

I dream of a return to the Commons and a world where all living beings have equal access to the necessities of life, including laughter, rest, creativity, and joy.

Even though I didn’t always have the words, this dream has been the undercurrent of all of my pursuits from an early age. 

I host the Caucus of Crones and Self-Centred in the Kin Keepers’ Haven, co-held online with my dear friend Trevia Woods.

I am available for 1:1 coaching sessions.

Drop a reply or check out my website if you’re interested in connecting.

If you would like to have the Self-Centred Newsletter sent to you in real time, you can subscribe here. 

Reading, Writing, and Wrestling

Posted on by Janine Bertolo
woman in white shirt covering her face with her hands

Reading, Writing, and Wrestling

From the Self-Centred Newsletter January 20, 2024 – what I’m reading, writing and wrestling with

Happy New Year to all those who celebrate.

Personally, my body prefers the Spring Equinox as a more natural new year.

Winter is for hibernating, resting, warm soups and slow yesses.

That’s all to say, I get to wish you Happy New Year again on Tuesday March 19 at 11:06 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Winter readies us for spring.

I like to think that I’m preparing the soil of my being for spring planting at the turn of the real new year.

As well as launching a business, but in a slow-yes kind of way that’s actually working. I can honestly say that cohosting and participating in this space is giving me joy.

So, even though the Gregorian calendar has rolled into a bigger number, and tax returns are a thing I should be thinking about, it’s still winter here at crone central, and while there’s shit to get done, I remain in a place of hibernation, trying to rest and replenish and integrate.

My dear friend and business partner, Trevia Woods, is very busy with her graduate studies in social work, and I am trying somewhat successfully to refrain from distracting her, so I thought I’d tell all of you about what’s been going on here. (Hi Trevia!)

So you get to hear about what I’m reading, what I’m writing, who I’m listening to (and who I’m not listening to)…

What I’m Reading:

I chose the wording with intention because I find that my attention span and focus for reading has diminished greatly over the years, likely due to an overdependence (I didn’t say addiction) to screens and devices.

So, I am in the middle of reading a lot of books. (Which sounds better than saying I can’t finish a book because I’m addicted to my devices. Indulge me.)

Here is a sampling of what I have on the go. The ones that are really lighting me up:

Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver: from one of my all time favourite authors (I’ve read and reread Prodigal Summer and will inevitably read it again, to the end even. Curiously, most of my friends list the Poisonwood Bible as their all time fav, but after three times trying (so far because I am no quitter, except when I am) I can’t remain engaged. I just read something about the plotline recently that made me think I should give it a go again. This book was a 2023 Christmas gift; yes, it’s been more than a year, but the story is so memorable and vivid I know I can pick it up again without having forgotten a thing. (The Lacuna is right up there too; I may add it back to my read-again list)

The Overstory by Richard Powers: this one is an epic piece of ecofiction, brilliantly written and constructed. I’m almost done, I’m in the place where you put the brakes on the reading because you don’t want it to end, but you really want to know how it ends, if it ends. One of the characters is based on my grrl crush, Diana Beresford Kroeger who you may have heard me rave about before and likely will again.

Which brings me to book number three: To Speak for the Trees: also an unfinished read. Diana’s story is amazing and magical and you should listen to her interview with Jane Fonda here.

Next up is the five volume series called Kinship: Belonging in a World of Relations (spoiler alert, they’re not all human relations) One of the editors is Robin Wall-Kimmerer, another grrl crush. I haven’t done more than unwrap the set and smell the pages, but I’m very excited about getting into it. I have listened to a couple of the Kinship Podcast episodes available on the website, and found them to be very compelling.

Speaking of podcasts, here’s what I’m listening to:

Everything Jessica Lanyadoo; podcasts she hosts, podcasts she’s a guest on, particularly Episode 802 of the Heal Squad Podcast with Maria Menuounos

I honestly know nothing about Maria M, but I go where Jessica goes. Listening to her here has given me more hope for being able to remain engaged in the world and contribute to changing it for the better when all the horrible things happening activate the natural instinct to turn away. 

Except that nothing will change if I turn away and I so desperately want the world to change.

What I heard Jessica Say was that, especially those of us who are empaths and sensitives need to increase our capacity to hold difficulty and grief and still remain functional in the world. That’s trauma healing.

And that makes a lot of sense to me. Give it a listen and let me know what you think.

And the Upstream Podcast, particularly the 6 part series on Palestine, and most particularly Part 4: False Solutions and Paths of Resistance with Sumaya Awad.

I like to think of myself as a good socialist, or at least an aspiring socialist, and as such I have often adopted the stand of my socialist comrades, sometimes without passing it through the lens of critical thinking. Embarrassing as it is to admit.

One of the most popular and prevalent tenets of the socialists in my neck of the world is that the answer to the question of Israel’s existence relying on genocide in Palestine is a two-state solution.

Suffice it to say, after listening to Sumaya Awad in this podcast, I no longer believe that.

If you feel compelled to give these episodes a listen, or you’ve read these books, I’d love to know what you think.

Wrestling:

As far as what I’ve been wrestling with, it’s all in there – time changes, season changes, the refusal of the colonial capitalist patriarchy to recognize or honor that we are creatures of nature and should be able to follow those natural rhythms rather than be endlessly extracted from to keep the economy rolling, how to live in the world without contributing to its destruction, boundaries, grief, unlearning, creating kinships of all kinds, and finishing books.

I hope that you are finding ways of walking in the world without disconnecting from it, the ways of feeding your bodies, minds, and souls, so you can thrive.

Because my loves, the world needs you.

That’s why you’re here.

Hello!

I’m Janine. My pronouns are she/her.

I am an anti-capitalist crone, post-trauma growth coach, and consensual copywriter.

I strive daily to identify and unlearn the voices of white heteronormative patriarchy that are insidiously planted in our brains from an early age – voices that, without critical inquiry, we often confuse as our own.

I dream of a return to the Commons and a world where all living beings have equal access to the necessities of life, including laughter, rest, creativity, and joy.

Even though I didn’t always have the words, this dream has been the undercurrent of all of my pursuits from an early age. 

I host the Caucus of Crones and Self-Centred in the Kin Keepers’ Haven, co-held online with my dear friend Trevia Woods.

I am available for 1:1 coaching sessions.

Drop a reply or check out my website if you’re interested in connecting.

If you would like to have the Self-Centred Newsletter sent to you in real time, you can subscribe here. 

Are we there yet?

Posted on by Janine Bertolo

Self-Centred Newsletter – December 31 2023

Acknowledging my colonial settler privilege in living and working on the unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishinaabe People, in progress of learning right relationship with the land and its First People

Are we there yet?

In 2021, when the social media trend was to choose a word for the coming New Year (is that still a thing?) mine was ‘embody’.

2021 me had no idea.

I have always been astounded at the power of intention, of setting an idea/desire/concept/dream free into the universe and releasing attachment to an outcome (as best as this imperfect human is able).

So much wonderful has manifested in my life with a practice that I never really realized was a practice. It was just something I did.

I remember a past version of me as a cheerful warrior in high school in the 70’s, encouraging myself and my friends to embrace a PMI. That’s a positive mental attitude btw; a concept originally introduced in 1937 by Napoleon Hill in his book Think and Grow Rich – a book I’ve never read, a person I hadn’t heard of back then, but somehow that phrase seeped into my consciousness and sparked my imagination and optimism for creating something better, for myself, my loved ones, my world.

Perhaps it was written into my DNA by one of my genealogical ancestors before I was born. Who knows?

1970’s me had no idea.

In any case, when the troubles of living in a post-colonial late-stage capitalist world got to feel like too much for me and my capacity to bear, there was always something deep inside that called for a pause, for a retreat into myself and land in the stillness to try to imagine a better way.

When I practiced Nichiren Buddhism, the intention took the form of chanting for an hour a day each morning and evening for a couple of months. 

In a space of six weeks, three transformative events happened two weeks apart from each other and changed my life utterly and completely, and set me on the path out of crippling debt, isolation and toxic work environments.

The chanting was a form of intention that cleared out resistance and cleared a path for the universe to deliver the joy and abundance that I believe is the birthright of every living creature.

When my partner and I were forced to move from the house we were renting in a time of unaffordable housing prices (it’s only gotten worse since then) and my manager brain was working overtime to find a place to leave, I remember calling for a moratorium on the search, and creating a cozy bed retreat for us to dream and write our desires for the perfect home as a way of inviting it in.

And a few days later, I saw a real estate ad for a house in the hills north of us, in a town I’d never heard of, and whose kitchen had the word “Cucina” stenciled in large letters, and I knew we’d found our home before any of us had stepped foot in it.

Late in 2019, when I was burned out and exhausted from years of fighting the good fight as a union activist turned political staffer, I took my retreat. This time it didn’t feel so much intentional as unavoidable. I had been running on empty for too long, trying to pour from an empty cup, extracting every ounce of life and love towards the cause, like a good capitalist should. 

But there was somewhere deep inside of me that knew that the healing and transformation would come in the pause, as terrifying as it might be. This time the intention took the form of a pause.

When the Covid pandemic arrived a few months later and changed our lives, I remember feeling like I could deal because I’d been living in a sort of self-imposed shelter in place for months already. None of us expected it to last more than a few weeks. Right?

2019 me had no idea.

That retreat was an intention that created opportunities that would otherwise have been inaccessible to me because of geography, expense and time limitations. When the world moved online I was there.

So, in the true nature of both/and, a most terrible time was (and is, because despite what economists want us to believe, Covid is not over) also enriching and transformative.

An extended period of simultaneous expansion and contraction that now seems perpetual.

Birth is a death wish. (I wrote that to myself a few months ago and sent it in a post-dated email. Does everyone do that or is it just me?)

And I’ve heard Buddhists say that death is a birth wish.

Wishes are intentions.

Protests are intentions.

Intentions can take as many forms as our bodies can imagine.

I look back at the one-word intention for 2021 – Embody – and marvel at the time traveling me that planted a seed.

And as 2023 comes to a close, I know that seed has germinated and taken root, with the maturity of seasons still to come.

Have I arrived yet?

Once again, I have no idea. Maybe it’s because ideas are manifestations of our brains, and our brains are only a small part of the sum total of us as fully embodied humans. 

Maybe it’s time to change the question.

Because as cheesy as it may sound (as cheesy as a cheerful chant of PMI) the journey just might be the destination.

These words traveling from my laptop to your screen may be an intention of their own.

My wish for you and for all of us at the end of this calendar year, is for the days and weeks and years to move us all closer to peace, justice, joy, and community.

May it be so.

Hello!

I’m Janine. My pronouns are she/her.

I am an anti-capitalist crone, post-trauma growth coach, and consensual copywriter.

I strive daily to identify and unlearn the voices of white heteronormative patriarchy that are insidiously planted in our brains from an early age – voices that, without critical inquiry, we often confuse as our own.

I dream of a return to the Commons and a world where all living beings have equal access to the necessities of life, including laughter, rest, creativity, and joy.

Even though I didn’t always have the words, this dream has been the undercurrent of all of my pursuits from an early age. 

I host the Caucus of Crones and Self-Centred in the Kin Keepers’ Haven, co-held online with my dear friend Trevia Woods.

I am available for 1:1 coaching sessions.

Drop a comment or check out my website if you’re interested in connecting.

Subscribe to have Self-Centred delivered directly to your email inbox here.

Join the Caucus of Crones in the Kin Keepers’ Haven

Posted on by Janine Bertolo

Join the Caucus of Crones in the Kin Keepers’ Haven

Are you over the age of 50?
Do you identify as femme or non-binary?
Are you a culture maker, caregiver, kin keeper, world changing witch?
Do you crave a space for cultivating leadership and authority around age & aging?
the Caucus of Crones may be the space for you

Join Now

We live in cultures that devalue & erase us as we age:

  • Cultures that prevent us from being accepted, valued, and seen for our authentic selves????????
  • Cultures that make us invisible & hyper-visible all at the same time.
  • Cultures that have robbed us of access to elders as it was available in pre-colonial, pre-capitalist and pre-individualist times???????
  • Where institutional memory is intentionally erased & buried to concentrate power in the capitalist patriarchy????????

Imagine creating a future landing space for generations to come

As elders, we hold an immense resource of wisdom & experience that should be documented, protected, cultivated, disseminated, and shared????????.

The Caucus of Crones is an online space hosted in the Kin Keepers’ Haven to:

  • step into our full power & agency as elders
  • reclaim our ancestral legacy????????
  • celebrate and honor who we are and how far we’ve come????????
  • resist ageism in all its destructive iterations
  • release strategizing, manipulating, conforming, bargaining, or diminishing ourselves in order to find acceptance????????
  • collaborate and create ways for doing it differently
  • support & encourage each other
What is the Caucus of Crones?

We gather online in the Kin Keepers’ Haven

The Caucus of Crones is moving to the Kin Keepers' Haven

Previously hosted in Kelly Diels‘ Gathering space,
the Caucus of Crones is now open to
members of the Kin Keepers’ Haven aged 50 and over.

Crone Calls are scheduled for the second Thursday of the month at Noon and 7 pm Eastern. These calls will include a brief check-in and somatic practice to land in the space, followed by a discussion focused on issues of age and aging in late-stage capitalism.

Group coaching calls are scheduled for the third Thursday of the month at noon and 7 pm Eastern. A time to receive and give mutual support. Bring something you’re grappling with to the wisdom of the collective cauldron.

You are welcome to attend one or both calls each day.

Recordings will be posted for you to view at a later time if you are not available to attend live.

Embrace your inner Crone

We Begin January 11
in the Kin Keepers’ Haven

hosted by Janine Bertolo & Trevia Woods on the Mighty Networks platform

Join Now

There’s Benefit in Joining

Your membership in the Kin Keepers’ Haven gives you full access to the Caucus of Crones and more.

Subscribe now at the Founders’ Rate of $30/month in your own country’s currency.

You can pause your membership at any time.

In addition to the Caucus of Crones, you’ll get:

Live courses to support your nervous system, unlearn capitalism, and foster connection including:

  • Honor Your Ancestry and Lineage (hosted by Trevia)
  • Become Self-Centred – untangle the voices of capitalism from your own true voice; trauma-informed teachings & practices (hosted by Janine)
  • Support each other in moving through grief (cohosted monthly by Trevia and Janine)
  • and more as we follow the bread crumbs together

Learn more about the Kin Keepers’ Haven here

Join Now

We can’t wait to meet you there!

Remember Lupini?

Posted on by Janine Bertolo
Remember Lupini? A photo of a field with purple and white lupin flowers blooming

Lupini as Ancestral Holiday Food:

I was looking for a plant-based low-carb (don’t get me started) protein option & found that lupini beans fit the bill. Just 1 cup of lupini beans is a high source of protien, fibre, and vitamins K, C, and potassium.

These beans were a regular staple on the holiday snack table in my childhood home. If you haven’t experienced them, they have a sweet, nutty flavour, and they’re fun to eat! Squeezing the brined beans out of their skins to pop into my mouth gave me childhood glee.

Remember Lupini? A photo of a jar of lupini beans soaking with the caption "Ancestral Haven Holiday Foods"

My mom always bought canned lupini, but when I couldn’t find any in cans, I secured a bag of dried lupini from our local Italian grocery store.


Little did I know that preparing dried lupini for consumption a long, labourious process. Unprocessed lupini contain high levels of alkaloids, making them toxic & giving them a bitter taste (nature’s safety warning) Dry lupini need to be soaked and rinsed for WEEKS and when the alkaloids have leeched out in the rinse water, the beans are ready to be brined and eatern. A taste test tells you when the bitterness is gone


I have been tending to my lupini for weeks now and they still have a slight bitter taste. They should be ready to use as a Solstice holiday snack.

I feel connected to my ancestry and lineage and am flooded with happy childhood memories tending to my lupini jar. I wonder if the taste will live up to my memories; and I wonder if my non-Italian family will enjoy them. Maybe it’s an Italian thing?


Intentional Holidays in the Kin Keepers’ Haven is a space for sharing traditional holiday foods and ancestral practices. We gather weekly through the month of December to set intentions, celebrate and grieve collectively, share stories and traditions, and more.

Our first call was December 6, but if you feel called to join us, the recorded session is available for you to review.

A $30 monthly subscription that you can cancel and resume any time gives you access to the community care space.

My cohost Trevia (Tree-va) Woods and I would love to see you there!

Join us!

A note from your hosts Trevia Woods and Janine Bertolo: We are creating a co-creating a space that centers healing from misogyny and working towards a future where we can have spaces that can include all people without harm.
This is multigenerational transformation. This is a brave space for those who have been most harmed by misogyny to do the work of reclaiming our authenticity and dismantling all forms of oppression.
Do you identify as a cisgendered man? Please email us at kinkeepershaven@gmail.com with other options to work with us one on one.