the docu-mental podcast Whitney McKnight

episode 39
Greetings,
I’m really tired of being used by a corrupt system to keep it generating more corruption. And that is too much of how debt is used in this country.
In this episode, my guest is Marie Megge, a Michigan-based debt counseling expert who is not easy to find because she doesn’t use your money to prop up her company through expensive ad campaigns. But once I did find her as sought help to come out from under insurmountable debt post-divorce, I wanted to offer a way for my audience to find her, too.
Marie and I discuss a range of issues related to the debt industry, but the primary focus here is how you can use her knowledge to help yourself become unstuck from a corrupt system that is all too willing to let you suffer so they can profit.
I do want to give you the heads up that not all of the aspects of the industry that I had wanted to cover made it into this podcast. So, I will do a follow up!
In this episode, Marie and I discuss:
* The moral injury the debt industry hinges upon
* How to ensure you don’t get scammed by debt counseling firms who can be jsut as evil and predatory as the banks!
* How much energy and hope can return to your life when you have help facing an industry designed to make you feel badly about yourself
* How long it takes to restore your credit rating once you’ve entered into debt settlement negotiations
* The process of debt negotiation itself
What I will circle back to is:
* How and why banks assign our credit ratings using secret metrics that allow them to justify whatever interest they want to assign.
* How interest rates often are irrelevant to the lenders’ calculus
* How they remain profitable regardless of whether we ever pay off our credit cards.  
Thanks for listening. Please share this episode with as many people as possible.
Peace,
Whitney

And if you’re curious what News from the Ensouled Universe is…


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Episode 38
Greetings,
You would not be wrong to count me among the astrologers who have proclaimed the ingress of Pluto into Aquarius as a time when power will shift to the people.
But what the heck does that mean, and if power isn’t already with the people, where is it then? And how did power get where we aren’t the ones who have it?
In this conversation with Australian astrologer, Cassandra Tyndall, I explore these questions and get Cass’s fresh, frank take on the Plutonic potentials for people to liberate themselves from trauma, from mind control, and from empire.
First things first, according to Cass: we must reckon with the ghosts that are returning, the pain points of colonialism, the secrecy hidden at the top of trickle-down templates. But also, we must admit our inability or unwillingness or both to take personal responsibility.
The problem, says Cass: “People aren’t ready to be challenged, yet.”
To that end, you might be surprised to hear our respective views on the cosmological underpinnings of “cancel culture” and how the next two decades of Pluto in Aquarius might not be as rosy and calm as some astrologers — myself included — have initially proclaimed. This conversation offers a peek at a recalibrated calculus of the steps we must dance if we’re to obtain the freedom we seek.
I am still certain we will get there, “there” being a place where we are liberated from our conditioned responses to see each other as other, and will instead just grow the f*ck up and get on with kindness and innovation, not anger and blame.
More likely, it will take these next 20 years to till and seed the ground for Pluto in Pisces when universality will be the astro-tone.
And we will then be ready to responsibly handle the power we say we want.
The inspiration for this interview comes from a YouTube video Cass released earlier this year, where she challenged the prevailing astrology community to reconsider that Pluto in Aquarius will not be all that we have thought, but will instead force us to confront the tremors of feudalism. It’s something we address in this interview.
This is a longer than usual podcast, and yet there was so much more we could have explored. Thankfully, Cass has agreed to return later this year. I hope you will be as excited as I am to welcome her now and in the near future to deliver her take on the news from the Ensouled Universe.
To learn more about Cassandra’s work: CassandraTyndall.com
Still to come…
T. SUSAN CHANG
Coming soon to the docu-mental podcast is a disscussion with the astoundingly polymathic T. Susan Chang, whose approach to her many disciplines, which range from policymaking to sewing Tarot-themed comforters, to teaching creative writing, to cooking, and more, is derived in part from her Classics training at Harvard University.
Although Susie’s voice might be familiar to many in this audience as a food commentator and cookbook reviewer at NPR, we’ll primarily be discussing her expertise in archetypal mythology as made practical for every day living through her latest book, The Living Tarot.
My hope is that our discussion will give you ideas for how to reframe our quotidien existence, with all its trials as well as triumphs, as an endless psychodrama where we encounter ourselves by way of encountering the Gods.
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Thanks for listening!
Peace,
Whitney


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vol. 5 episode 36
Greetings,
It’s a bit of word jazz on this episode of the docu-mental podcast. I wanted to have Ethel on last year when he was nominated for a Grammy for his spoken word album, Black Men Are Precious, but the time wasn’t right for either of us.
So, instead, we have a little spoken word back and forth of our own, debating whether it’s the Christonationalfascists who are winning, or just whomever is clever enough to turn off the infostream long enough to hear themselves think.
Two particular bars of thought music worth noting in this episode are the reveries on rediscovering our myths vs. reimagining everything all over again; and, whether AI will force us out of our old stories and into being present for the now.
And if you pay attention, you will hear the strains of me confessing my ETs on earth theory, or at least a significant portion of it.
Ethelbert has been prolific of late, publishing about a book of poems a year since the pandemic, the latest being We Eclipse into the Other Side: Twoness Poems, a collaboration with poet and translator, Miho Kinnas.
Previously, Ethel was a two-time Fulbright scholar in Israel, the chair of the Institute for Policy Studies, and for more than 40 years, was the director of the Afro-American Resources Center at Howard University.
Peace,
Whitney
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vol. 5 episode 35
Greetings,
What’s the point to life if there is no joy, no beauty, no clean dirt to play in?
Such a line of questioning is the current that runs through this conversation with novelist, podcaster, and all-around muckraker, Greg Olear. It’s Greg’s second visit to the podcast, this time to talk about Sunday Pages, the pause for reflection he offers in between his other work uncovering the “fuckery” of fascists as part of PREVAIL, his home on the Substack platform.
Greg and I laugh a lot as we enter into a deep — and deeply irreverent, yet never irrelevant — conversation about the importance of art and beauty in politics in order to “recharge the spirit”, and why today there is a movement afoot to quash and control the words we use.
It’s an erudite conversation, but not a stuffy academic one. And there are a few salty words, which makes things tasty.
We discuss the rise of fascism in the US, whether it’s been there all along, and whether and how it might continue. We muse about the role of the Roman Empire in spreading Christianity and how that impacts our public policies today, prompting me to posit my theory that we might be “misremembering” the actual nature of the birth of Christ and all that was supposed to mean for humanity, a theory that scandalizes the Jesuit-educated, Catholic-raised Greg (but only for a moment).
Plus, Greg reads a few lines of poetry and shares a funny story about a bar in Hoboken, New Jersey and a little ditty called Jessie’s Girl, and we agree that residents from the Garden State tend toward a certain practicality we’d all do well to aspire to…
Which is why we agree that in a democracy, even fascists should have a voice, regardless of whether it’s dead wrong.
Thanks for listening!
Peace,
Whitney
docu-mental: mapping the american states of mind is a reader-supported publication. Podcasts are free to all, but for access to all content, please consider becoming a patron subscriber.




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vol. 5 episode 34
Greetings,
It’s great to be back with another season of the docu-mental podcast!
In this episode, I asked Dr. Gwilym Morus-Baird, a professor of Celtic mythology and Medieval literature, and founder of the Celtic Source series of courses, how he views the utility of ancient myth as an effective counter to today’s propaganda.
Think dragons and magical swineherds vs. Tucker Carlson or Don Lemon.
I wanted to know whether myths of old can clue us into what systems of governance our ancestors found effective before empires, including media empires, came in and smashed everything to bits.
Dr. Morus-Baird and I end up talking about direct democracy. We also talk about how pre-empire there were morals and beliefs that did indeed work. We just have been trained to forget them because previous systems, if left intact, will eventually threaten the status quo held in place by the Powers That Be.
The key to power is narrative, according to Dr. Morus-Baird. So, I wanted to know: What narratives in the myths of old still resonate with power we’ve yet to reclaim? How do we get that power back? And, once we do, how do we wield it in order to liberate us from the current dumb s**t we’re force-fed by the corporate media, by our politicians, by our corporations, by anyone who thinks they can get away with disempowering us because we’ve shown them that they can?

It’s a discussion that flies by, so be prepared to listen close and to consider how when you think you’re catching up on the news, you’re just getting indoctrinated.
All power is myth, says Dr. Morus-Baird. And I say, all power is apolitical.

Keep that in mind as we consider how a “love of the land” is far too often turned into jingoism and hatred of others instead of a way to express love and support for the earth and all those who live upon it.
And surprisingly, because they cling to the same top-down paradigm, so-called sustainability proponents themselves only perpetuate an exhaustion of the earth, not a regeneration of it.
Why? Because without myths and language that reflect an inside-out understanding of how we actually come from the land, we won’t ever treat it with respect. As long as our mental constructs hinge on hierarchical, empircal thinking, we will continue to view the land as separate from us.
For example, what are “sacred lands”? Why isn’t all land sacred? The languages that preceded the Romanization of our thoughts with the relentlessly left-brained Latin, told of one world: Nature. There was no super-natural. Everything was natural.
I just love this conversation. It’s fun, smart, and provocative, and kind. We leave behind the angry derision in that “tone” the Department of They, as in the “they say” folks, all seem to speak with these days.
I think you will enjoy it, too. And best of all, you will start to notice the manipulation all around you, if even just a little bit more. And then, you can decide to ignore it, or better still, think beyond it.
The questions are yours for the asking. All you have to lose is nothing. All the Powers That Be have to lose is your attention…and their hold over your mind.
One last thing, don’t forget that on May 15, much of the content in docu-mental will live behind a paywall. This is my job, and you are my investor. What is this effort of helping you test your truths to develop deeper mental roots worth to you? If you are unable to invest financially, please share these posts and podcasts with others and leave comments below. It all adds up! Thank you.
Peace,
Whitney



This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit documental.substack.com/subscribe

vol. 3 issue 27
Greetings,
At long last, the promised interview with Alice “Ace” Sparkly Kat, author of Post-colonial Astrology: Reading the Planets through Capital, Power, and Labor.
It’s an important piece in our examination of the sentiment that it’s easier to imagine the end of the world than it is the end of Capitalism, the end of the hierarchy we have invested in, yet which cannibalizes us all in the end.
I tried to keep the conversation focused on the book’s innovative way of viewing the deleterious impacts of hierarchy, being mindful of not alienating my non-astrology audience.
However, for context, just know that as far as astrology goes, Ace deconstructs what the various planets in our Ptolemaic solar system (the 7 heavenly bodies we can see with our naked eye) have been assigned to represent pre- and post-Roman Empire.
She asks us to consider whether the assignments are actually helpful to us as we develop relationships with the greater forces in our lives, with ourselves, and with one another. If these assigned meanings are not helpful, why not, and what other interpretations make sense to us instead?
This interview is an excellent follow-on to the podcast I did with author Brian Muraresku about his book, The Immortality Key, a New York Times bestseller linking psychedelics to Jesus, but also to the way the Roman Empire quashed access to the Eleusinian mystery ceremonies where psychedelics were featured, and where women priestesses guided initiates to the world beyond, the one that once we are reassured exists, imparts meaning to our lives lived here.
From my perspective, it was at that moment in history that whatever evil there is in the universe that seeks to stamp out the glimmers of human liberation and continual reunion with the Source, found its foot soldiers in the Roman Empire.
They trashed the Republic, stamped out Antiquity’s emerging democracy, orchestrated the hostile take-over of the Eleusinian mysteries, and established hegemony through the Empire’s subsidiary, the Roman Catholic Church, which sold to us the Eucharist as a sanitized version of the mystery that was more like a bait and switch: “Come for the communion, be separated from your true self by the holy hierarchy!”
Yes, the Roman Empire engineered sewers, sanitation, roads and running water, but did so on the backs of slaves and others, all of whom they forbade to partake in the woodland Eleusinian mystery ceremonies that the Eucharist is based in. Thus, the Roman imperialists achieved subjugation by separating the people from themselves, orienting them instead toward the Roman leadership, or as Ace says, “towards capital,” and away from their internal governor, the one that naturally regulates one’s longing for commune with the Greater Source.
In other words, an orientation towards capital/the capitol is unnatural. But we’ve been conditioned to think it is the only state of existence to which we can aspire, if not through the church, then certainly through our system of Capitalism packaged as the only way to ensure democracy.
Is there any wonder, then, why we feel so much anxiety and depression here in the US? We know instinctively we are not living in our natural state, but we don’t know how or why. It’s been so long, across so many generations, that we’ve been conditioned to accept that we can only access higher truths — and liberation — if someone packages these things and distributes them to us first.
And all the while, we’re told we’re free, simply because we are Americans, or that as Christians, we will be “saved” because we are obedient. Obedience is not freedom.
These are the kinds of questions and considerations that make Ace’s book not just culturally relevant, but important. As I say in this interview, to one degree or another, as long as we do not consider the origins of our stories, then we are all living a lie, even if we are not liars.
Race and astrology as forms of ‘ma