Episode 87: Ceremony and Eldership

Episode 87:
Ceremony and Eldership

Guest: Annie Spencer

Hosted by: Marina Robb

Annie Spencer

Annie Spencer (MA Oxon, PGCE London, Dip IDHP), is a ceremonialist and workshop leader. Annie has been running groups and trainings for over 40 years and with a background in humanistic psychology and earth-based spiritual traditions, she is skilled at moving between spiritual teachings and the disciplines of psychology. She writes regularly.

In the early ‘80’s a Metis man found Annie in her homeland way in the far southwest of Cornwall. He introduced her to the teachings and practices of the First Peoples of North America. These teachings immediately resonated with her and their practice has been a part of her life ever since. She was apprenticed in a North American tradition in the ‘80’s and has studied Mayan teachings from Guatemala for the past 17 years. Annie has danced and sung for five Rainbow Dream Dances, undertaken ceremony at Macchu Picchu, sat sweatlodge in North America with elders form the Mi’kmaq and Ho Chunk Nations and has worked with Lorraine Mafi Williams, a First Nations Elder from Australia.

Annie does not forget the traditions of her own land and hopes to enliven and strengthen them with the teachings she brings (with respect) from other ancient ways. A well loved storyteller, Annie brings alive the old myths of Britain and enthrals us with tales from across the world as she creates magical spaces for change to happen.

In 1997 Annie was invited to visit Romania to work with adolescents about to leave their orphanage. There she learned how transforming time spent in nature can be for disturbed and angry young men. Since then she has been developing her work with young people and cooperated on a programme of initiation for young people in the States for ten years. For the past five years Annie has held a rite of passage for young women here in Britain. (Annie is deeply committed to working with young people in a way that reconnects them with the land and instils in them a sense of belonging; that kindles their imaginations and sense of hope; and inspires them to look beyond the life they know in a creative way)

Exploring eldership is Annie’s current journey as she believes that their wisdom is essential for a balanced society and yet they are seldom valued in our current culture. This is particularly true for women.

As a ceremonialist, Annie opens pathways for others – illuminating their life’s journeys. Her primary interest is the renewal of ancient ceremonial forms for creating a path of beauty upon Grandmother Earth.

Listen on Spotify

Listen on Apple Podcasts

In this episode ...

Sitting by the fire with Annie Spencer, we explore ceremony as lived relationship - with spirit, story, blood, grief, and the long arc from initiation to eldership - and what it means to keep dreaming a life-affirming world in times that feel increasingly divided.

Topics include:

Sitting by the fire together becomes a doorway into relationship - gratitude not as a nicety, but as a way of remembering life is alive, and not guaranteed.
Ceremony, for Annie, starts with intention and beauty - not “performing a ritual,” but making a space that might genuinely invite presence from beyond the purely human.
Fire is treated as a being with its own kind of aliveness - honoured, spoken to, and offered things, as a practice of not taking life for granted.
A simple daily practice can be enough: choose a time, choose a place, return again and again until something responds - an “altar” as an anchor for attention.
This way of knowing doesn’t sit easily inside modern culture - it can feel like being pulled between realities, and that tension can be exhausting.
Annie names both the fascination and the danger: exploring other realities without a well-trodden path can unground people - tradition can be a rope that helps you return.
Stories shape what we believe is possible - we live inside the story we tell about our lives, and the same event becomes different “truths” depending on who is telling it.
Dreaming isn’t escapism: in times of political fear and widening authoritarianism, Annie suggests we can either feed a reality by fighting it constantly, or step back and hold a different dream with strength.
Birth and menstruation are framed as everyday ceremonies - women making “a rich nest for life” each month, and the radical possibility of honouring life-giving blood rather than normalising bloodshed.
Rites of passage matter because adolescence is a “loose” time - when identity isn’t fixed yet - and a strong experience of belonging, mystery, and beauty can orient a young person for life.
Eldership isn’t a label you earn at menopause - it can take decades of turning toward death, letting go of dominance, and learning humility, until you can truly hold community.
The elder’s offering is presence, acceptance, and perspective - holding what others can’t bear alone, sharing stories with teachings (without “you should”), and making space for ceremony and healing.
The conversation keeps circling back to one core truth: life is relationship and reciprocity - giving and being given to - and even death is framed as the final gift back into the living system.