Mother Maker Cauldron Christmas Edition

Including Substack chats replay, and a Giveaway!

Hello hello friends!

I haven’t been here with a MM Cauldron in a while, simply because there’s been so much to write about.

Though here I am, with my last post of this year before taking some time offline in this way to be with my sweet family.

I will be back either between Christmas and New year or first thing in the new year.

The Mother Maker Cauldrons are (firstly, a free read - enjoy) secondly, a bit of a “sprinkle of this, sprinkle of that, mix it together in the pot, and what have we got?”. Magic.

Which means today is a

• little life update chat. Santa, Christmas, Poetry slams etc

• A poetry book giveaway for this time of year

• The Substack chats replay link

• Some posts/ reading suggestions for your holidays

• Some Celebrations.

• Some Questions.

  If this email appears too long in your email browser, you can click through to the app and continue reading easily x

  The Substack chat’s live call replay link will be at the bottom of this post.

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Before we begin I just NEED to say thank you. Like, a huge thank you. When I began Substack as a newsletter in October 2022, I literally had no idea what I was doing. I genuinely assumed this was an alternative to mail chimp and that I could start building an email list in case my social media got removed as it had been threatened multiple times. I didn’t realise I would grow here, and that in return, this space would grow me. It has helped me claim an identity as a writer, had me working on my skillset and developing as a creative. It has given me a space to explore topics deeply and have more of the conversations I actually want to have - with you, and surprisingly I’ve actually met community here that I didn’t know existed.

I SO appreciate being out of the echo chamber of mainstream social media and having the opportunity to be received here with fresh eyes. I so appreciate being newly connected to so many of you. 3135 of you to be exact. Over 75% of you, have found me through Substack and are trusting me here for the very first time. So thank you. None of it has gone unnoticed. Every restack/share of a post/email. Every comment. It’s been a huge year for us with lots of travel, moving houses and having a baby - and though I haven’t always had the space to respond quickly, you have all kept showing up again and again. I can really feel this community of creatives, mother makers, and friends forming and I really look forward to next year to see how we all bloom together in our creative endeavours. I am excited to hold an ecosystem together here.

I haven’t completely found my feet in this time of year. Firstly, It’s summer and the only Christmas decorations I can find for my very northern hemisphere looking fake tree, are snow flakes, and mini Christmas trees covered in snow. The irony of this is that I’m literally dripping in sweat most days right now. The humidity is making the air look blurry. I exist for the middle part of the day, within the air conditioned bedroom, with a sleeping baby and a toddler who has succumbed to the pressures of cabin fever.

Last year Tully and I looked at each other with that “We are never doing another Queensland Summer, this is nuts” look. Perhaps you wouldn’t have seen that look if you aren’t from Queensland, but it’s probably similar to the “Let’s move to a tropical island” look that you give your partner when you’re two months into a UK winter.

So it’s Christmas, and houses have fairy lights, and today we were down at the river, hiding our sweat, and a “Santa” came jetting past on his boat in his board shorts, Christmas hat, throwing bags of treats to all the kids in the water.

I’m unsure how to approach the “Don’t accept lollies from strangers” conversation with Rafi, my three and a half year old at this point as Santa is waving “Ho Ho Ho”. Especially as all his buddies are also loosing their minds at the fact they just saw Santa AND he threw lollies/candy.

Each parent slowly hiding the bags behind their backs as the kids begin to be distracted by something else. Praying they don’t remember to come back and ask for the Red 40 and Blue 1 dyes that we will all later regret at 4pm.

I’m also unsure how to entirely approach Santa in general.

When I was 8 weeks pregnant in 2019, I was bawling my eyes out on the couch, in our little bush shack home.

“Tully, we are NEVER celebrating Christmas again. I don’t know what to do about Santa, or who’s house to have Christmas at, and I don’t agree with buying something for everyone on this one day of the year, and I am not even religious.”

It was a level 8 meltdown. Level 10 is reserved for offline.

Though, here I am, four years later writing ‘Love Santa” on a few gifts, and anticipating squeals of joy all morning.

To suit this time of year, closer to our values, we approach Santa like fairies.

Magic.

You know, the mushroom man from the north pole who is filled with magic and likes to celebrate birth and bring magic to the children, plus has super cool rain deer.

We aren’t religious, even though I was baptised and did my holy communion when I was younger, we kind of have to make up our own meaning of Santa this time of year. We don’t use him as a tool to bribe behaviour. It freaks me out a little that mainstream society uses an imaginary man to make their children "“good or bad” and that determines if they are worthy or deserving of gifts (Love) at Christmas. Or that Santa could bring them a toy car, and the neighbour an electric toddler car worth thousands. Doesn’t quite make sense.

We also don’t dive deep into the consumerism.

We have successfully stuck to the poem:

“Something they want,

something they need,

something to wear

and something they read”

For the kids, one of those things, will be special and from “Mum and dad” (Because why should the big guy get all the credit) and the other simpler ones will be… magic.

I get the whole “Don’t lie to your kids” thing. Really, I do. Though I also haven’t actually met someone in person who despises their parents for creating magic for them as a child. I remember feeling elated that I finally knew and could now help keep the magic alive for all my younger siblings.

Who knows, I’m so open to this morphing over the years,

I just got a bit tired of overthinking it. We can do Christmas intentionally, and mix honesty with magic for the kids. It can be simple.

I’m also unsure how to approach Christmas movies. Raf is pretty sensitive when it comes to any movie with 2% suspense, though will watch David Attenborough narrate two lions fighting to the death, and scream at me “NO MUM, I LOVE IT” when I pause it to ask if he’s okay.

I would SO appreciate positive geared movie recommendations that have a sense of magic for him during this time of year.

I would also LOVE your top Christmas movie suggestions for adults. Anything light hearted… or romantic of course. You think that’s for me but it’s for Tully. He loves a good Rom. Please share below!

Last night I took my littlest (3.5 month old Ren, also known as Reniboy by… everyone) out to a poetry slam grand final held locally by Liquid Lyrics. The night was amazing, with 17 incredible poets performing, and a half time hip hop ecstatic dance session and rap performance. Warm chai served and a special kind of magic that filled the air as we all felt the physical manifestation of words on a page flying through the air.

I would love to share with you a snippet by one of the Poets who won the final, Ellen. Her Instagram is @Ellen_Living_light. It was incredibly moving and had goosebumps up and down my legs the whole time.

What was also moving, was the embodied experience for myself, of creating micro moments of freedom as a mother.

When I birthed Rafi (My first), we slowed life and career down a lot. For three years. I didn’t go out in the evenings as we breastfed and we valued a routine (Even though it was flexible) and a lot of slow intentional living. There were many aspects of life we (willingly) chose to sacrifice, as the pay off felt greater. It felt like Rafi initiated us into a slowdown, and a recalibration of priorities.

For Ren’s pregnancy, I unexpectedly felt guided into “more”. A whisper of “I’m not here to slow you down mum, I’m here to come for the ride. Let’s go”.

So with that I took it as a sign to keep doing the things I love, embrace this creative energy and invite my children INTO those experiences, rather than pull myself too far out of my own life. (Within reason of course.)

So at 10pm last night my friends and I were running into the car in the pouring rain, me with a newborn being buckled into his seat, my friends with two pieces of the pram between them, and we drove home in a thunderstorm, sopping wet, after a stunning night of poetry dancing and laughing.

In the spirit of poetry I have a poetry book giveaway a little further down if you keep reading!

This year has been big in so many ways - as it has been for so many of us.

I will anticipate a post next year about the transition from one child to two. It’s actually been a very highly requested post. I haven’t written about it yet, is simply because we have been so deep in it, that I have needed space to seperate myself from our experience in order to see it more clearly. We are almost there. I’m excited to share.

We also head back to our hometown of Margaret River, in Western Australia early next year to visit family and introduce Ren to his grandparents. It’s a beautiful little spot in Australia. Surf capital of the state and a town that held us for almost six years.

*Reminder, this full post will cut off soon on some email browsers and you’ll need to open on desktop or app to keep reading, for the giveaway, substack chats call replay, my recommended reads for the holidays, and more.

After that, I’ll really, really excited to be introducing monthly online workshops/classes here. (And some in person events for the local community too).

These will be ticketed workshops with myself or incredible and renowned guest teachers from around the world.

My intention is for these workshops to really support you in your creativity, your motherhood and your businesses.

Topics such as

• Human Design for your business

• Soulful sales

• Your cycle and creativity (and how they are one of the same)

• Social media

• How to use creativity and the entrepreneurial world as shadow work.

• Energetic business and rituals

• The art of Storytelling

• Poetry night (Yes! I’m very keen for a online poetry slam!)

And more!

I’ll get together an itinerary and release it in the new year.

Those who are here as paid subscribers to my Substack will receive special priced tickets, and VIP perks suck as a Subscriber only QNA session with guest speakers, Discount codes to offerings Etc. Those who are subscribed here as a “free” reader (For lack of a better term), You will absolutely have first access of tickets too before I open to the public on instagram.

Next year I will be raising the price of this publication by a couple of dollars to create a balanced value exchange here.

Those currently paying for a subscription (Almost 300 of you! Thank you!), Your subscription price doesn’t change. The new price will only be for anyone new readers subscribing.

If you are currently subscribed here as a free reader but think you’ll want the perks next year, I invite you to lock in the current price before it increases - you can upgrade now. through the desktop or email version of this post.

In the spirit of giving, I would LOVE to give away something special to a couple of fellow poetry lovers!

This year I bought four copies of “The week before I bleed” by

KJ Stone

which is a collection of stunning, funny, moving and considerate poetry all written in her Luteal phase of her cycle over the course of a year.

I had this book on my bedside table and would read a couple of poems each night before bed and it was just JOY.

KJ Stone

is an incredible multi creative and a woman I am absolutely inspired by in so so many ways.

I bought four copies with the full intention to gift them to my community. I didn’t have anyone in particular in mind, I just knew when the time was right, I’d know.

I would love to gift two copies of this delicious book to two of you.

As a thank you for being here, reading my work and being apart of this community of dreamers, creatives, mothers, makers and mystics.

Now because this post goes out to both Email and Substack, and I know there isn’t a complete cross over with readers (Aka some of you just read on email and never frolic over to the substack app no matter how many times I tell you it’s way more fun)

And some of you are on the app and much prefer to read me here instead, plus you know how to actually use the app…

I’ll give one book away to my email friends, and one away to my substack friends.

Here’s how you can win.

Email Readers:

You can grab my substack link here: Kat River's Substack

and you can choose either the entire link or one of your favourite posts of mine,

and share it in your instagram stories.

Make sure to tag @The.kat.river so that I can see it and put your name in the draw!

Substack Readers:

Simply re-stack your favourite post of mine here on substack, and tag me in the caption so I can see it.

And of course, if you do both, you get an entry in each category.

All entries close Wednesday 27th December.

Then I’ll announce the winner of these poetry books and they’ll fly through the sky into your hot little hands for you to get lost in, laying naked in the sun flipping through the pages, and romancing life, with a little love letter from me too.

HUGE thank you to

KJ Stone

for seducing her own life experiences and putting them down on paper in incredibly moving, relatable and hilarious ways. Thank you for being a creative, and an incredibly attuned mother, a community nourisher, and a woman who honours the self in a world that tells you - you shouldn’t. Thank you for being a rebel at heart and making beautiful things.

If you want to read more about

KJ Stone

Journey - I very intentionally chose her to be the second interview within the "Sundays are for mothers" series. You can click that link to be taken through to the article. It’s a fucking joyyyyy to read!

The Substack chat’s live call replay link will be at the bottom of this post.

But, before we go there -

I want to take you here: Into some READS, CELEBRATIONS and QUESTIONS to close the year with.

First up, some light holiday reading for you all.

Look - I know full well, I wont have a whole lot of space for reading these holidays. It’s going to be Christmas lights, beach days, a trip to the mountains for a few days offline, and then flying across the country for a few weeks.

HOWEVER I am absolutely holding the intention that you, get to steal a moment alone to read some of your favourite substacks… or even more so your favourite spicy fantasy erotica… no? Just me?

Here are some great posts here on substack you may love to read. I recommend (again) for you to get the app or read on a desktop/laptop as it’s a much nicer user experience and like opening a little library curated just for you.

Firstly, of course - My husband

Tully O'Connor

who writes Liberating love. He releases podcast episodes for relationships so, if you’re into that

Ep 03 : Seven Steps to Rekindle the Spark (after having kids)

This amazing article by

Leyla Kazim

How to slow down the passing of time

This, by

Rachel Katz

Menstruating in Silicon Valley

This epic, down to earth, transparent and genuine read by

Summer Brennan

"How To Succeed On Substack"

These beautiful and romantic New York memories in the form of poetry by

Carly Rose

New York Memories

This incredibly thoughtful and specific read by

Rosie Spinks

The friendship problem

Another read by

Both Are True

that had me giggling.

i used to play poker, now i play social media

This profound read by

Asia Suler

The earth umbilical cord

Another sensual experience by

Brooke Solis

Geographically promiscuous – the sex appeal of places

This great podcast episode by

Sarah Fay

The Power of Substack with Sarah Fay

This piece of magic by

Abigail Mann

Becoming a mother is the witchiest I have ever felt

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I hope you can find something there that tickles your fancy and fulfils your craving for a laugh, some learning, some blood pumping through your veins, a reminder of magic, or your libido, or whatever else happens in your body when you read.

Now, I just assume some of you miss my posts. I get it - Life is totally full as is. I absolutely do not expect everyone to open and read everything I write.

However, incase of of these topics is of interest to you while you have some space during this time of year, here are some of my own posts that you may have missed.

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CELEBRATIONS

Those who know me, know I love to celebrate others. I believe the micro wins are just as important to celebrate as the big loud stuff.

This Mining for gold practice is great to close out the year while acknowledging and celebrating yourself.

But right now I’d love to acknowledge the following.

Congratulations to you

Kat Harding

for officially starting Substack. Kat is a friend of mine here on the coast and she is a mother, yoga teacher and someone who holds a very special kind of energy in the community. She is writing here with the intention to share yogic perspectives both on and off the mat, simply in the way she lives and breathes in life. She has the mind of an artist, and I can really appreciate that about her. She’ll be sharing themes from her (offline) classes, here with you so you can journey with her often. I anticipate video flows coming soon. Please go and say hi!

Congratulations to Allie Michelle who writes

What’s the Point?

and her official launch of her first fantasy novel. You can read the unpublished prologue here

In a future dystopia, Zia Alexander lives in crumbling ruins playing the world’s most illegal and addictive virtual reality game. After the loss of her mother, she plays the game for her shot at freedom. Zia discovers a map that leads to Lemuria—a real fantasy world full of dragons, wicked faeries and assassins where her mother is alive, and two princes try to win her heart.

And you can pre-order her book Legends of Lemuria here.

Big congratulations to both

Erica Perry

who writes

The Arcane by Erica Perry

and

Claudia Wilde

who writes

A Life of Less by Claudia Wilde

who have both officially left mainstream social media to focus full time here on substack and in their lives. I admire the leap of faith and know that in today’s world - it’s an incredibly difficult thing to do, and leave years and years of work behind.

Congratulations

Elin Petronella

for also landing on Substack and having her first post be picked up and circulated widely as a completely new writer here. This is the post that got featured by substack itself. I celebrate you Elin because you are a mother maker, a beautiful writer and someone who has very similar values to me in guiding other mothers when it comes to intuitive business and creativity.

And A big welcome to

Sigourney Belle

whom I just interviewed for Volume 05 of Sundays are for Mothers. Sigourney is a renowned revolutionary when it comes to the world of magic, the body, science, and how we live close to our innate nature. Her philosophy and perspectives are bold and wild. She’s a multi bestselling author and is also writing for the forbes business council. I’m excited for her to have begun her Substack experience and would loveeeee to have you all welcome her too.

You can read more about Sigourney here in our interview together.

I’d love to give a special mention to

Claire Venus

from

Sparkle on Substack

who has been the upmost support this last 6+ months for me.

A woman with a huge, generous heart and open warm energy. A mother. A creative. A writer and a visionary. She has been a huge reason behind my growing passion for this platform and is the sole reason that I can understand the platform in the first place. I feel incredibly grateful to have connected over the oceans, and hope to meet in person one day soon. Claire, I see you both showing up for others AND challenging yourself creatively.

And thank you to

Russell Nohelty

for taking the time to read and share my work. I know that in this beautifully diverse space of Substack, there are “manyapeople” to read and engage with, and I appreciate being connected to you in this space. I know we have chatted briefly on this before - but I really enjoy reading your work and I can so appreciate you coming to learn about the perspective of a mother maker though we lead very different lives.

Nolan Yuma

You too! Thank you to you both for “receiving” my work here and staying curious.

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Before I go, I’d love to leave a few questions with you to ponder over this year.

Let me know if anything comes up for you in the comments below!

1. If you could simplify this year ahead, what would you do?

2. Which parts of yourself are being called forward, and which parts are being guided to relax for this year to come?

3. If you could have it all your way… what would you choose for your experience of 2024

4. What is an aspect of yourself you are ready to let go of?

5. What is ONE wild dream you would love to experience next year (Claim it!)

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In October I did a post called Look Dad, I'm a paid writer which was viewed by over 7000 people and widely shared here on substack. It was a FREE transparent and thorough post about my entire first year here with timestamps, including everything I did to grow in this space.

Part TWO of that post was a casual LIVE call to chat about substack for my paid readers.

We did it on the 7th of December, and that night, both my kids struggled to get to sleep when they normally do. Tully was attempting to get our 3.5 year old Rafi down, and so he couldn’t take Ren (Our 3 month old), who was overtired and sweaty down in Tully’s mancave of an office haha!

So PLEASE forgive the dis-sheveldness of this video replay. I almost didn’t share it and considered re-recording. BUT, I thought it would have been ironic if I bang on about mother maker-ness and having to work it around our kids sometimes, then expect my kids to not “Be kids” around me, and my work. SO, with saying that - I did have to take a quick break in the middle of the call, to see if Tully was available to take Ren yet. After that point, I feel like we dropped in a bit deeper. I still hope you enjoy what was spoken about and please feel free to leave any further questions.

So, for paying readers, you can scroll down and access the REPLAY link, and the passcode to access the call.

I hope everyone has a beautiful rest of the year, and I’ll be back in the new year with a big delicious post on leadership, one on the transition of 1-2 and I am more than happy for you to request topics you’d love to see covered.

Love Kat