Episode 2: Femininity and ancient Matriarchies with @the-princess-left-the-tower

Foreign. Welcome to the Matriarchy Times, the podcast where we explore the power and potential of matriarchal society. I'm Farah, I will be your host. Today we dive into inspiration internal conversations with individuals who are passionate about positive feminism and the transformative impact of female leadership. From activists and scholars to everyday advocates, our guests share their insights and experiences and visions for a world of equality, empathy and empowerment. So we are here to celebrate the strength of women and envision a future where matriarchalies to it. So whether you're a long time supporter or new to the movement, welcome and I hope you enjoy our thought provoking discussions. And today, joining us is Merida Katron, as she's more popular known, the princess who left the tower. She is an influential voice on the subject and we ourselves as a community have drawn on her many times to inspiration and we are privileged to have her here with us today.

And.

And without further ado, let's begin our conversation. Hi Merida. Welcome to our show.

So. Oh, thank you. Yeah.

Can we begin by hearing a bit about you and your journey in matriati?

Yes, of course. So.

Hi, Farah.

Hi. Hey everyone. First, let me tell you this. I feel so honored and I have, it's a real pleasure for me to be here and also thank you for letting me share a bit of my story. This means a lot to me. So, yeah, my name is Marilda. As you said, I'm from Italy and my journey towards matriarchy has been quite the ride. Meaning that it wasn't something that happened overnight. It was more like a gradual unfolding over the years. So let me share a bit of that. I will keep it short, interesting, not boring, I promise. So let's start from this. I spent like 20 years, almost 20 years as a, working as a project manager in a corporate world. At the beginning I did think it, much of it, but I was actually working in a male dominated world. I just didn't think about that at the beginning because for me it was, you know, the way things were. Right. Over time I started to see these little significant differences in how men and women were treated. At first it was about who was sitting at the table, literally, you know, when you have a meeting and stuff. And then, you know, I started to notice difference in behaviors, in expectations, and then later on also in wages. You know, this thing started to have my attention because when you really, you are studying at university, you don't really think about that. That was not even on my radar. Okay. When you start working, then you start Noticing, you know, all these things. Anyway, I was just working in this environment. But then the real turning point for me came when I became a mother. So I got twin boys who are the light of my life. But when they arrived, everything shifted, changed, collapsed in a way. Suddenly I was balancing a demanding career as a project manager with the realities of motherhood, which is not easy really. It was tough. The struggle was real. And I saw even more clearly how the corporate world actually was stuck against women or mothers maybe. The whole work life balance felt like kind of tightrope, you know, the pressure was non stop. You know, after years and years of doing this and, you know, kind of juggling the two things, it got to be too much. I hit a wall, I got burnout. I fell into a deep depression. And admitting that I needed to stop and heal was one of the most difficult things that I've done in my life. So I decided to quit the job, that job, the project manager job, and focus more on my recovery. Now, during that time, I started to learn about women, rights, feminism, and eventually metropolitan. And what I discovered was shocking eye opening. And it became so clear to me how deeply imbalanced the world is and how crucial is for us, for all of us to work to change that. So I felt this huge to raise my voice. It was terrifying at the beginning. I mean, I was someone who could not even take a selfie, right. But I was already thinking to speak, you know, in front of a camera and in English. But I knew it was necessary. So I started making short videos, you know, like breaking down the things that I was learning about sociology, anthropology, women's studies, and then especially about matriarchal communities. And my goal was and is to make these important ideas accessible to everyone, to make them more digestible, kind of. And my goal is to raise awareness about this topic and maybe about the need, you know, for a change. So that's I'm here. That's where I'm here on the jo. On my journey. I'm driven by this belief that together, really, we can make this world more balanced, more just for all of us, you know? Yeah.

Oh, wow. It is that. I'm sure that a lot of people listening to you can relate to experiencing burnout after, like entering motherhood while working in a corporate environment. Is there anything that you can, like, anything you have to say to these women who might be thinking that, you know, there's no way forward, like, they are going to be trapped forever, like, not being able to get out of the depression, like, how did how did you manage? Like what was exactly, was it about matriarchy that helped you to get out of your situation? Like, what did you learn? What was your first kind of learning?

Yeah, I learned that we, we need to rethink. You need to rethink things because we are following a pattern, right? We grew up, we go to university, we start studying, then we start a job, then we start a family. You know, we are following kind of a pattern, which is good as long as you really enjoyed it. But if you feel that you don't belong to that, if you feel that there is something more out of this, my suggestion is just to stop a little and think and connect. Really. What, what are your true values, true desires, also your true needs? For me, you know, my priority at the time, and even now, I mean, my priority are my kids. And I just understood that I could not stay in an environment where my priority was always, always dismissed. You know, so for all women there in this situation, just stop, think, reflect and ponder, consider things and look for a day out. Because there is. And it doesn't take decades, honestly to make the shift, but it takes lots of courage. That's why you need to stop, think, be ready. Oh, well, probably will not. I mean, you will never be ready, but just decide to take the step out of that. Out of that. For me, it makes so much more meaning to be out of that environment and build something for myself, which. Which I'm doing at the moment.

Yeah, I think that your kind of way of getting out was you started your YouTube channel, Marilda, aka Princess at the Tower. And also you have a page called Living my Digital Life. So I understand that these were your outlets. So can you tell us more about your journey to start these kind of social media and information?

Yeah, yeah, exactly. So basically after I decided to quit my job as a project manager, I find myself in a tough spot. That's why you, you need to have courage. Yeah, it was tough because I had no income and I needed to figure out something out fast. So in those challenging time, I started to, you know, search for a way out. As I said earlier, something, you know, to do without going back into corporate world because I didn't want to do that. Right. And during my research I stumbled across something that really caught my attention, which is huge, huge, super huge. But I didn't considered it before. And this thing is the digital economy now. What amazed me was realizing that online, the gender gap and all these gender issues that are very common in traditional industry are not existent. They just don't exist online. Just think about it. Whenever you are buying anything online, let's say e commerce business, Amazon, whatever, are you really interested in knowing who is behind that e commerce shop selling you things? Are you thinking it is a woman, it is a man? Do you think about that? You don't just, you don't care, right? But when you are okay in an office and you are sitting around the table, people are going to look at you, they are going to judge the way you speak, the way you are dressed that day, your hair, the voice, what you are doing. They are going to judge you. That's it. This is my experience in 20 years. People are just going to judge you when you are around the table in a meeting and you know, just sharing your knowledge and doing your job online, that does not exist. So that's the first thing that I said, all right, that might be, you know, a nice place to be. But there was a problem. I had no idea how to run an online business. I had no idea what to be the business to start in the first place. So okay, I said listen, you need to face this, right? And you lean, you have to learn some digital skills. And that's why I started this program in digital marketing. And that, you know, gave me lots of knowledge. It gave me the right mindset, it gave me really so, so many things. And so it gave me also the tools, you know, to open a YouTube channel. And it gave me the tools, the confidence and everything to sit in front of a camera and start speaking. So at that time all these things were coming, you know, together. Now my YouTube channel, which is Marilda Akka the Princess Left the tower is a passion project. It's not profit, okay? I don't live from that. That is a place where I can share my thoughts, share my passion for matriarchy. And it's a place where I can just openly talk about what matters to me. That's it. And my mission is to raise awareness, you know, about this topic, is to talk to women, especially not, not men, just me, women. Because I have the feeling that there are so many women that they are masculinized, meaning that they are playing the man role in a male dominated world that makes them feel disconnected, probably from their true nature. And we can see that in this leadership it's not really people like losing.

Their connection with feminine energy when they're forced into corporate environments. So what do you think? Like what is important? Like how important is it that women maintain their connection with their feminine energy or that we kind of have control.

That's a really brilliant, brilliant question. And now let me share a bit more of myself. I'm being very vulnerable here. So personally, I had forget. All right, I've forgotten. Sorry about my feminine energy for so many years because I was playing the role of a project manager, you know, in a male dominated environment of working, you know, hard, super hard, please the boss, to please, you know, to reach the, the milestones, you know, all the things that, the goals, the whatever, achieve some specific results. And by doing that, I just, you know, ignored my feminine energy. I was, you know, following my career as a male. Then the kids arrived and I start feeling like, uncomfortable because there was something in myself. It was, you know, I don't know, like I could hear this voice very loud, streaming, you know, to give attention to this part of myself that I had ignored for so long. So that's why, you know, I started all this. I also, in yoga and meditation, I always try to find tools that could help me connect with this, but I was not fully aware at that time. I have to have to be very honest here. Just over the years and when I finally hit that wall and I got burnout and the depression and everything, then when I, you know, touched rock bottom, that is where I really understood that I need to connect with my true self. My true self is pure feminine energy. And I have to work on that to, you know, make it come to the surface. This is so, so important because I see so many women that work and go through life on an auto, autopilot, kind of, you know, following the path, following some patterns, following some, I don't know, predictable ways, ignoring all the rest. But at the end of the day, they always feel empty, maybe disconnected. They don't know that this discomfort comes from. Because I didn't know myself. But then I understood, okay, right, this comes from this, that I am ignoring this voice inside which is so powerful and we just don't connect with it. So yeah, this is so important. And while studying matriarchal communities, I really got to understand that. I really understood how this works because just think about that. All ancient communities were matriarchal, although mainstream anthropology and mainstream history often dismiss that or just, you know, sometimes mock these theories. But they are not theories, actually. There are facts, scientific evidence. So the matriarchal communities were the first communities on this planet, you know, and I'm talking about Neolithic, Mesolithic, you know, ancient history, right? Those community were thriving around the matriarch, the mother or the goddess. What is it? I came to the Conclusion. That is pure feminine energy. So you don't need to think about the goddess as we see the God. Now, you know, God is an entity in monotheistic religion. And before that, also in the first patriarchal religious gods were some kind of powerful entity. And the God, where does he live? Up in the sky, deep in the sea, up on the mountains. It's not easy to reach the God. All right, the God is fierce, is powerful, is judgmental, and you have to do this, this, this, this and that to stay in that order. Right. But the goddess is different. The goddess who was worshipped in those ancient times and still now in some communities, the goddess is in the fire that warms. Our house, is in the cave where our ancestors used to live, is among us and let me tell you, is around us, is in the nature, is within us. Women especially, but also men. Let's don't forget that in a matriarchal society, men are very important. This is not about, you know, destroying the man. Absolutely. Quite the opposite is trying to create a balanced society, you know, so, yeah, maybe I'm going somewhere else, considering your first question. But yeah, feminine energy is crucial. And to raise that, we have so many tools, you know, that we can use to connect and raise it. But also we need to add some kind of knowledge. What was at the beginning of our mankind. Matriarchal communities, how they used to work, how they work now, what is, you know, the main characteristics of these matriarchal communities? What was the value behind, you know, all this? This is very, very important. And it's, it's, it comes spontaneous, it comes natural. When you start working on this and learning about all this, you know, research and stuff made by anthropologists, then you understand that you really need to connect to your source and your source is energy and our energies is feminine as well. So, yeah, that's my journey at least.

Yeah, I like how you actually highlighted the fact that men are important in a matriarchy and plus, like even they will thrive if they connect to feminine energy. I know there's so much negative propaganda and negativity about matriarchy and saying that it's going to be like against men, which has completely destroyed the whole outlook of matriarchy and the outlook of, you know, female led societies. And I think that you kind of made it easier for people to kind of know that everyone gets to be a part of a society that is led by matriarchs instead of one kind of section dominating the other section. There is no power struggle, there is no conflict. There is always empathy and kind of understanding. And is there any connection between goddess worship, as you said, and brainchem energy? Like, if someone wanted to connect more to their feminine energy, would goddess worship be a kind of avenue to that? Would that be a part? Like, if someone didn't know how to connect to their feminine energy, if they had no idea, like what it felt like or what it was that they are missing, like, would Goddess worship kind of be a start that they could take?

Yeah, absolutely. So first of all, for me, you need some knowledge. So really my suggestion is to dig deeper, go into these topics, learn about matriarchal ancient communities and learn about the role of the goddess in those ancient communities. And that from that knowledge, then try to understand how to, you know, make it real in your own life and your own experience. And that is a spiritual awakening. It's a spiritual path anyway. It's a spiritual journey. And there are so many things that we can do. We can do meditation, yoga, as I mentioned, I'm, you know, in my program, I'm also offering different tips, practical exercises to do that. We can do many, many things. But everything starts from this point. Take a moment to go inside, just, you know, start to go within, which is not so common in our Western communities, our Western society. We always, you know, run from year to die. Living in the past, living in the future. Please, though, that's my suggestion going in. Go within, live in the moment and try to understand all this inside. You first, having the knowledge that I said before. And then there are so many things that you can do as well. Like for instance, I take part every, every month, usually to this little circle, circle of women where, well, also men actually attend. And we gather usually in the. During the new moon. And we gather in little circle around the fire usually. So in the countryside, outside, you know, in the countryside. And we lit the fire, we stay there. And then what we do is just share our emotions, try to connect with each other. Maybe we sing, maybe we dance, we. Maybe we set intentions very clearly. We can say poets, poetry, you know, poems, whatever. It's a very nice way of connecting to this energy which is wipes, right? So you can feel the vibration that is raising from the group. And this is interesting. There are so many groups of women around the world doing, doing this, right? And you can kind of raise these vibrations and then you will feel at the center point, there are. That reverberates with other groups around the world. So it's. It's so powerful, it's so nice. So my suggestion to women who are listening to this right now. Just try to see if there are groups of these kind of women, you know, in your place where you live. Try to connect and try to create this. The more the better. You know, the planets really reverberates from these vibrations. I'm kind of positive, by the way, and I mean it, because the. This planet is going through a new stage, I guess, and now there is more attention, you know, to these topics, to women and all this stuff. So we need to really step into this and make it bigger and bigger globally. When I started my studies, I obviously started from feminist book, right? So I started to learn about feminine.