Joy Herbst, and the Sophia Sanctuary

02/11/2026

A new analysis shows that moving to music with others can be a powerful way to ease symptoms of depression. Unlike walking or yoga, dance engages the brain in a unique “neurochemical symphony,” blending physical activity with joy, connection, and self-expression. Here's why it helps and how to harness it, according to experts: https://on.natgeo.com/4cgaQxw

02/10/2026

The Mother Goddess (Mother of Gods) has been worshiped for thousands of years, associated with life, nurturing, healing, creation, music, abundance 🤗 but also underworld and rebirth. She is often depicted holding a ritual phiale, hand drum or horn of plenty, sitting on a throne flanked by two lions.

She might have many names in the different regions, Cybele, Kubaba, Bendida, Rhea, Arinna, Isis (just to name a few) but she is always the mother that has given life/birth to everything living. She is also known as Meter Theon and Mater Deum (mother of the gods).

Homeric Hymn 14 to the Mother of the Gods (trans. Evelyn-White) (Greek epic C7th to 4th B.C.) :

"The Meter Theon is well-pleased with the sound of rattles and of timbrels, with the voice of flutes and the outcry of wolves and bright-eyes lions, with echoing hills and wooded coombes."

Pindar, Dithyrambs Heracles the Bold (trans. Sandys) (Greek lyric C5th B.C.) :

"In the adorable presence of the mighty Meter Theon (Mother of the Gods), the prelude is the whirling of timbrels; there is also the ringing of rattles, and the torch that blazeth beneath the glowing pine-trees There, too, are the loudly sounding laments of the Naides, and there the frenzied shouts of dancers are aroused, with the thong that tosseth the neck on high.”

Photo collage: Л.Радев

02/09/2026

Necessary
🎨Tino Rodriguez

02/01/2026

Blessed Imbolc! 🐑🕯️❤️‍🔥🌱

Brigid’s day… 👁️

the quickening.

An intentional pause that senses the stirring within, as you first experience gentle movement from below the deep drifts of snow and hardened earth.

I hear the softening as sun shines down upon me, gentle shifts in that which has been set and slowed during the cold of winter.

The fire is kindled from first hopes of winter receding, of the lengthening days, the seeds below, & of the transmutation of that which is burned through flame.

Our eyes alight with anticipation, but are not quite focused on the road ahead.

Not yet, but soon.

May all blessings of light and protection fill your home, and kindle the flame within your heart.

01/29/2026

Imbolc — The Sacred Flame of Becoming

Imbolc is a holy pause between darkness and light, a liminal gateway where the soul awakens before the world does. It is the moment when winter loosens its grip and the sacred fire is rekindled — not to blaze, but to endure.

This festival speaks of purification and devotion. Of clearing stagnant energies, releasing what has grown heavy, and returning to the essence of who we are beneath the cold layers of survival. At Imbolc, we do not rush forward — we prepare the vessel.

It is the season of inner fire: the quiet courage to begin again, the vow to honor our truth, and the willingness to tend our spiritual hearth with care and discipline. What stirs now is fragile, yet powerful. Like the seed beneath frozen soil, it carries the entire promise of the coming year.

For us, Imbolc marks a conscious turning. We seek renewal without force, clarity without fear, and intention without illusion. We dedicate ourselves to what we wish to grow — knowing that devotion is the true magic.

Imbolc reminds us that light is not something we wait for.
It is something we keep alive.

01/29/2026

Our Mother, who art within us,
We celebrate your many names.
Your wisdom come. Your will be done,
Unfolding from the depths within us.

Each day you give us all that we need.
You remind us of our limits and we let go.
You support us in our power and we act with courage.

For you are the dwelling place within us,
the empowerment around us,
and the celebration among us.

As it was in the very beginning, may it be now.

~ Patricia Lynn Reilly

Art by Ila Rose Art

01/13/2026

Greetings everyone!

I’d love to meet healing practitioners who are seeking office or studio space in or near Fairfield.

Please comment or DM me if you’re seeking a space to offer your healing arts! 🙏

01/03/2026

🐍🌀🕯️

From Ananke to the Pythia, and even to Eve, the wisdom of the serpent has always been at the heart of women's power and spirituality. In this episode of The ...

01/02/2026

She Proved Women’s Brains Change During Motherhood, Permanently.
They told her motherhood was instinct.
Hormones.
Emotion.

Something soft. Temporary. Something you went back from once the baby slept through the night.

Then she put mothers in an MRI machine—and proved something far more radical.

Motherhood doesn’t just change your life.
It rewires your brain.

Permanently.

Her name is Pilyoung Kim, and her work changed how science understands motherhood—not as a phase, but as a neurological transformation on par with adolescence.

For most of modern medical history, the maternal brain was treated as an afterthought. Pregnancy research focused on the fetus. Postpartum research focused on pathology—depression, anxiety, breakdown. Motherhood itself was framed as something women handled, not something their brains actively adapted to.

Pilyoung Kim suspected that assumption was wrong.

She noticed a contradiction that wouldn’t let go.

Mothers routinely perform feats of attention, endurance, emotional regulation, threat detection, and multitasking that would overwhelm most people. They read micro-expressions. They wake instantly to subtle sounds. They anticipate needs before they’re expressed.

Yet culturally, motherhood was described as cognitive decline. “Mom brain.” Fog. Forgetfulness. Loss.

Kim asked a different question.

What if the maternal brain isn’t deteriorating—
what if it’s specializing?

Using high-resolution neuroimaging, she began studying women before pregnancy, during pregnancy, and after childbirth. What she found stunned even seasoned neuroscientists.

The brain didn’t just change.

It reorganized.

Regions associated with emotional processing, empathy, motivation, threat detection, and executive function showed measurable structural and functional shifts. Gray matter volume changed. Neural networks strengthened. Sensitivity to social cues increased.

This wasn’t damage.

It was adaptation.

Just as adolescent brains rewire for independence, maternal brains rewire for caregiving. The changes weren’t random. They were targeted. Purposeful. Evolutionary.

Most striking of all?

These changes persisted.

Years later, mothers’ brains still showed patterns distinct from women who had never given birth. The maternal brain did not “snap back.” There was no reset button.

Motherhood left a lasting neurological signature.

This explained something millions of women had felt but couldn’t articulate.

Why they sensed danger before it appeared.
Why they could hold an entire household’s emotional state in mind.
Why they felt both more vulnerable and more powerful than ever before.

It also explained why early motherhood feels so overwhelming.

A brain undergoing structural reorganization is not broken—it’s busy.

Imagine learning a new language while running a marathon while never sleeping fully while being responsible for another human’s survival.

That’s not weakness.

That’s neuroplasticity under pressure.

Kim’s research reframed postpartum struggle in a way many women had never been offered.

You are not failing to cope.
Your brain is actively remodeling itself for care.

The awe in this discovery is quiet but profound.

Motherhood is one of the few experiences that alters the adult brain at a structural level. Not temporarily. Not symbolically.

Physically.

And yet society treats it as invisible labor. Expected. Unremarkable. Something women should endure gracefully without recognition.

Science now tells a different story.

The maternal brain is more attuned, not less.
More responsive, not diminished.
More complex, not compromised.

That doesn’t mean motherhood is easy.
It means it is serious.

It deserves respect—not platitudes.

Dr. Pilyoung Kim didn’t romanticize motherhood. She measured it. And what she found replaced shame with pride.

The fog? A side effect of reorganization.
The intensity? A recalibrated threat system.
The emotional depth? Expanded neural connectivity.

Nothing about this is accidental.

Motherhood leaves a mark because it matters.

And once you see it that way, something shifts.

Exhaustion becomes evidence of work being done.
Sensitivity becomes skill.
Change becomes achievement.

The maternal brain is not a loss of self.

It is an expansion.

One that science finally learned to recognize.

If you value this work and would like to support the time, research, and care it takes to preserve and share women’s history, you can Buy Me a Coffee. Every contribution helps keep these stories alive and accessible, told with respect and truth.
Thank you for being here.
Thank you for remembering.
And thank you for honoring the women who came before us—and the legacy they continue to build.

https://buymeacoffee.com/ancientpathfb

10/30/2025

How exciting!! In NY!

10/16/2025

Live, community experiences of art are deeply meaningful & their beauty is so deeply needed, now more than ever! Our Veil & Ember fusion dance concert has been carefully curated with hardworking local artists as a labor of love.

We cannot wait to present our spellbinding evening of fusion belly dance to you THIS Sunday, October 19th 4-6pm at the Bijou Theatre in Bridgeport. Please come & support our event!

Movement, magic, and mystery await.

Tickets: bitly/4oaGbVT or joyherbst.com

10/14/2025

🙏✨ The JoyDancers are looking forward to dancing for you this Sunday!🔥
https://mailchi.mp/1683ad6b2e03/the-wheel-of-the-year-turns-17445736 The JoyDancers are Adeza, Dee, Joaquina, Joy, Krystalline, and Nadia. We work very hard in order to present our graceful and flowing contemporary fusion belly dance that blends folkloric dance with modern movement styles. This student troupe is directed and choreographed by Joy Herbst.

JOIN US THIS SUNDAY, October 19th at the historic Bijou Theatre in Bridgeport, CT! Get your tickets here: Bit.ly/4oaGbVT