Episodes

Friday Mar 15, 2024
Guest Angel Sullivan On True Kinship With Animals
Friday Mar 15, 2024
Friday Mar 15, 2024
With us today is guest Angel Sullivan. Angel is here to be a light in the darkness, and to remind you of yours. She’s also here to build and re-build mutually beneficial nourishing connections with people of all kinds (human and non-human). she does that in lots of ways, but the most present in the moment are the lenses of archetypal astrology and a deep and visceral awareness of Death as an ally in life. Her websites are listed in the show links below.
Episode Quotes
“I feel a connection. Not only with that person, but with Life in general. THIS is part of Ordinary Magick for me. When I'm paying attention in this way, everything becomes enlivened and my life becomes more magick-full.”
~Angel Sullivan
“That - truly - the only way this world is going to change (including all the things we are seeing and don't like seeing) is if each of us is brave enough to step into our full beingness and our Truth. That includes how we're interacting with each other (and not just *human* others).”
~Angel Sullivan
Show Links
Angel’s archetypal astrology site rootedmystic.com
Angel’s VA site angelsullivan.com
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Sunday Feb 25, 2024
Stories About True Kinship With Animals
Sunday Feb 25, 2024
Sunday Feb 25, 2024
Today’s episode is all about true kinship with animals stories. That’s a story about how you coexist with animals so that you’re no longer the “owner” and they’re no longer the “pet”. In other words, moving from power-over to relationship-with animals. There’s one story about a cat and another about a horse.
Episode Quotes
““That coat - and I still have it and wear it - is laden with memories from when horse Shiloh and I came together in 1998. It has 18 years of Shiloh chewing on it, pulling on it, slobbering on it, spitting unwanted medicine on it, dribbling water on it and rubbing up against it. And the smell, it still carries his smell, as faint as it’s becoming.”
“This podcast is devoted to helping you show up in the world for animals from the fullness of your authentic self. encouraging you to look at your relationship with animals differently so that a new place of understanding begins to open for you.” Host Janet Roper
Show Links
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Tuesday Jan 16, 2024
True Kinship In Your Winter Ecosystem With Guest Deb Fate Mental
Tuesday Jan 16, 2024
Tuesday Jan 16, 2024
On this episode animist shamanic practitioner Deb Fate Mental joins us in taking about the effects climate change has on local ecosystems and animals.
Hear other episodes with Deb talking about seasonal change and the ecosystem: #71, #65 and #56
Episode Quotes
“Up here in the Northeast we’ve had beavers come back, and I’ve been to several places where beavers have been at work for 5-6 years, and have created this liminal space and it’s no longer just a pond, but the beavers have created space for not only animals to return, but liminal beings to come back.” Guest Deb Fate Mental
“She’s very fancy, her name is Fancy……she grew these long elaborate fins, she’s very interactive with me. It’s interesting to watch how she interacts with humans.” Guest Deb Fate Mental
“This podcast is devoted to helping you show up in the world for animals from the fullness of your authentic self. encouraging you to look at your relationship with animals differently so that a new place of understanding begins to open for you.” Host Janet Roper
Show Links
Guest Deb Fate Mental’s website
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Monday Dec 11, 2023
Grieving When Neurodivergent
Monday Dec 11, 2023
Monday Dec 11, 2023
This is an encore performance, first published in 7/2023.
Welcome to True Kinship with Animals where we believe we all do better when ALL creatures do better. I’m your host Janet Roper and each week you’ll hear stories and suggestions on how you can begin to dismantle your connection with colonized influences so that you can deepen your relationship with animals, moving you from ownership to true kinship, one animal at a time.
Content warning: This episode talks about death, dying & grief over cat family member Raven.
Disclaimer: Each of us experiences grief differently. What I am sharing in this episode is my personal experiences and the understandings that have come to me with the death of cat Raven. It is not meant to advise or counsel you. I am simply sharing my story with you.
If you’d like to hang out on social media can find me on Twitter and Instagram @janetroper.
If this show resonates with you, support it by making a financial contribution at the link below. Be sure to follow so you don't miss an episode!
Show Links
Harvard Health Publishing Neurodiversity

Wednesday Nov 29, 2023
The Rainbow Bridge & True Kinship
Wednesday Nov 29, 2023
Wednesday Nov 29, 2023
Content warning: On this episode we’re covering the deathcare, death and dying of animal family members and the grief those of us left behind feel. Our guests are human Stacie Mason, angel cat Martha, with the occasional appearance of angel cat Raven.
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Episode Quotes
“My job was not to tell Martha what I thought she ‘should’ want, but listen to what she thought she wanted and needed.” ~ Stacie Mason
“I find that when you allow them to approach, your relationship is immediately off to a good start. I do my best to respect their boundaries while setting my own.” ~ Stacie Mason
“[I want people to know] how special Martha is, and what a gift our 13 years together were. We had a deep, deep connection because we both allowed it. From the beginning, she is the one who initiated that connection, and we shared a great love for one another.” ~ Stacie Mason
Show Links
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Tuesday Nov 14, 2023
Connection Between Curiosity & True Kinship
Tuesday Nov 14, 2023
Tuesday Nov 14, 2023
There needs to be a ceasefire and a stop to the genocides. There needs to be the delivery of medical supplies and care, life support, food, fuel and water, which is the bare minimum. You can help by contacting your representatives, amplifying palestinian and other oppressed voices on social media and following those social media creators who stand for anti-oppression liberation. You will find a couple of suggestions in the comments.
This episode dives into the connection of curiosity and true kinship.
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Episode Quotes
“LOL! That’s what our settler culture programs us to think: if I do a the natural consequence is b, and if that doesn’t happen something is wrong with me.”
“That also is colonized conditioning - tricking you into thinking it is what it is and there’s no possibility of change.”
“Acting from curiosity is one way to move in true kinship.”
“A lot of what you experience with animals is cultural programing that’s been internalized.”
Show Links
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Wednesday Nov 01, 2023
Remembering Your Dead Animal Family
Wednesday Nov 01, 2023
Wednesday Nov 01, 2023
Content warning: This episode covers death, dying and the celebration of the dead.
On this episode we’re talking about honoring dead animal family members during this time of the thinning of the veil
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Episode Quotes
“Settler culture encourages you to always be in the light, to bring in the love and light. It infers that to be in the dark is to pull in low vibrations, but there’s light and love in honoring the dead.”
“It’s often said that the dark time brings in a thinning of the veil between worlds of the living and the dead.”
“Nature honors both light and dark. This seasonal change reminds us of the integrity of the dark.”
Show Links
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Kelley Harrell, animist, author, deathwalker, and death doula

Friday Oct 27, 2023
Bringing True Kinship Into Halloween
Friday Oct 27, 2023
Friday Oct 27, 2023
On this episode you hear about helping animals feel more safe and secure during Halloween celebrations by implementing true kinship.
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Episode Quotes
“Safety hazards such as candles, the frequency of a door opening and closing, indoor and outdoor decorations, excess litter on the ground - all of this can be confusing and frightening for domesticated and farm animals and wildlife.”
“Halloween is the second most common holiday for pets to get lost."
“True kinship asks you to be aware of the impact of your intentions on animals and change as necessary.”
Episode Links
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Halloween Facts from Pet Releaf

Tuesday Oct 17, 2023
True Kinship With Animals: Pause Before Responding
Tuesday Oct 17, 2023
Tuesday Oct 17, 2023
Welcome to True Kinship with Animals where we believe we all do better when ALL creatures do better. I’m your host Janet Roper. I identify as she/they and respectfully acknowledge I am on the traditional and ancestral territory of the Salish and upper Kalispel or Pend d’Oreille People, who have stewarded this land throughout the generations.
In this episode I’m sharing with you a true kinship practice of taking a pause before responding so that you’re not acting from a sense of artificial urgency. You’ll hear a story from listener and past guest Deb Fate-Mental about a trail ride with her horse Dixie that clearly illustrates what can happen when you take that moment to listen, then respond.
Subscribe to my Substack newsletter at https://truekinshipwithanimals.substack.com/ and hang out on social media with me at Instagram @janetroper or my site janetroper.com
Episode Quotes
“That pause is the opposite of the call to urgency created by colonized culture and is therefore essential.” ~ Janet Roper
“In horse Dixie and Deb’s story, that pause kept them both safe and sound from a potentially dangerous experience.” ~ Janet Roper
“I don’t have that kind of relationship [old school horsemanship practices] with Dixie - I listen to her, she listens to me.” ~ Deb Fate-Mental
Show Links
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Tuesday Oct 03, 2023
Cleo The Cat Renames Herself Luna
Tuesday Oct 03, 2023
Tuesday Oct 03, 2023
Welcome to True Kinship with Animals where we believe we all do better when ALL creatures do better. I’m your host Janet Roper. I identify as she/they and respectfully acknowledge I am on the traditional and ancestral territory of the Salish and upper Kalispel or Pend d’Oreille People, who have stewarded this land throughout the generations.
This podcast gives you stories, conversations and suggestions on how you can radically reimagine your relationship with animals by freeing yourself from the inherited, colonized beliefs and assumptions we’ve all been socialized into.
In this episode you’ll hear why true kinship with animals is necessary and receive 3 practical steps to implement it into your everyday life. There’s also a story from listener Stacey about finding a name for a newly adopted cat.
If you’d like to hang out on social media can find me on Instagram @janetroper
If this show resonates with you, support it by making a financial contribution at the link below. Be sure to follow so you don't miss an episode!
Show Links
Subscribe to Janet’s Newsletter