What if descent wasn’t something to fear, but a sacred invitation — to soften, to surrender, to remember who we truly are beneath the noise? This conversation with Carly Mountain felt like sitting beside a fire, slowly warming the parts of ourselves we’ve hidden away. With tenderness and deep wisdom, Carly guides us into the mythic, sensual, and often-forgotten terrain of the body, of feminine cycles, of descent and rising. This is a conversation about remembering — not just with the mind, but with the whole body. It stayed with me long after we stopped recording. I hope it touches you, too.

Carly Mountain is a writer, author of the book Descent and Rising, psychotherapist and initiatory guide. She facilitates women and the people who love them, to remember, reclaim and reconnect with their sensual, emotional, embodied aliveness and instinctual knowing that is rooted in the earth. She draws on twenty years of embodied practice, training and space holding and has a trauma informed approach.

In this conversation we explored:

💫 Carly`s story and what she rebelled against and is softy rebelling for! Yes, coming home to your body is an act of rebellion. But don’t do it for that. Do it for you. For your body. For your sensuality. For your creativity. For your relationship with yourself and all things.

💫 The myth of Inanna and her descent into the underworld …

💫 Carly shares how this myth mirrored her own personal journey and why it continues to speak to modern women facing burnout, identity shifts, or creative rebirth.

💫 How women’s bodies are encoded for this ancient map and the journey of descent and rising in a special and powerful way. Woman, you are made to descend and rise!

💫 How our culture medicalises the experience of a “break down” when in fact to fail is to birth - a break down invites us to descent, to embrace what we have abandoned in our (earlier) life and it’s the beginning of a healing journey. We descent into wounding to raise into healing!

💫 We explore the myths call to reclaim erotic intelligence, surrender, and embodied wisdom. Carly reframes surrender not as weakness but as the courage to meet what’s real - and sees descent not as failure, but as the doorway to collective healing.

Enjoy!

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💛 The Soft Rebellion Podcast is created and hosted by Flurina Dominique Thali. I love hearing from you. To contact me, email softrebellion@flurinathali.com.

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Links:

Flurina Dominique Thali & The Soft Rebellion: @flurina.thali / www.flurinathali.com

My guest, Carly Mountain: www.carlymountain.com, follow Carly on instagram @carly_mountain

Credits:

Intro/outro music – ‘Hymn for Jim’ by Aspyrian: Robin Porter – saxophone, Jack Gillen – guitar, Matt Parkinson – drums, composed by Robin Porter, listen to the full track here.

Graphic: Annina Thali, for more information click here

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit flurinathali.substack.com