Episode 76 - The Principles of Matriarchal Wealth Ecology with Isha Vela

🐚Topics covered

• Isha's journey from somatic psychotherapy to founding the Wealth Ecology Institute
• Six principles of wealth ecology: stewardship, sustainability, circulation, enoughness
• Relating to money as a lover rather than something dirty or shameful
• Why commitment, not inspiration, creates actual behavior change with money
• The spiritual bypass pattern of believing you're above money
• Decolonizing money: separating the energy of exchange from its historical abuse
• Ancestral colonial wealth & the grief work of tracing extraction in your lineage
• The great wealth transfer: trillions moving from boomers to women by 2030
• Funding women-led innovations in the Global South versus polished pitch decks
• Raising financially literate children equipped for matriarchal economic systems
• Matriarchies as ancient & ongoing, not a new invention

About Isha Vela

Isha Vela (she/they/feral) is a somatic psychologist, financial strategist, matriarchal wealth activist and founder of the Wealth Ecology Institute, where she teaches women to steward money in service of land, lineage, and legacy.

Isha helps women get feral with their money: shedding scarcity and individualism, building redistribution portfolios instead of empire portfolios. She believes the land is not an asset, but a relative, and that a satisfied woman is ungovernable.

Isha is a queer, world schooling parent of 2 neurospicy teens savoring a minimalist life.

Where to find Isha Vela

Instagram: @wakingup_wealthy

Facebook: Wealth Ecology Institute

YouTube handle: @wealthecologyinstitute

Website: www.wealthecologyinstitute.com

About the Host

I’m Iris Josephina, a functional hormone specialist, orthomolecular hormone coach, circadian biology practitioner, and entrepreneur. Through Cycle Seeds and The Inner Rhythms Podcast, I support people in reconnecting with their cyclical nature, deepening body literacy, and reclaiming hormonal harmony from a place of sovereignty and embodied knowledge. Most people know me from Instagram, where I share stories, tools, and inspiration on cyclical living, menstrual cycles, fertility, hormones, and more. 

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Transcript

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[00:00:00] Iris Josephina: So for this episode, I had the absolute honor to sit with Isha Vela to talk about a topic that I feel that we don't talk about enough, especially as small business owners, especially as women who serve the world with their craft, with the work that they love to do. And I sat down with Isha, and Isha is a somatic psychologist, a financial strategist, a matriarchal wealth activist, and the founder of the Wealth Ecology Institute, where she basically teaches women to steward money in service of land, lineage, and legacy.

[00:00:42] Iris Josephina: And Isha helps women to get feral with their money, really shedding the scarcity and the individualism that goes around money, building redistribution portfolios instead of empire portfolios, and she really believes that the land is not an asset but a relative, and that a satisfied woman is ungovernable.

[00:01:05] Iris Josephina: Isha is a queer world schooling parent of two neurospicy teens, savoring a minimalist life. And in this conversation, we really pulled open the topic of money, how we look at money, how we are raised with beliefs around money that are not serving us, and how we as entrepreneurs can step into what she calls wealth ecology to see money differently, to use money differently, and to really create a more matriarchal, egalitarian wealth system so more money gets into the hands of the right people and those people can do more good with money than, whatever is happening right now.

[00:01:56] Iris Josephina: I hope you enjoy this episode. I definitely did. And let us know what you think

[00:02:01] You're listening to the podcast of Iris Josephina. If you're passionate about exploring the menstrual cycle, cyclical living, body wisdom, personal growth, spirituality, and running a business in alignment with your natural cycles, you're in the right place. I'm Iris. I'm an entrepreneur, functional hormone specialist, trainer, and coach, and I'm on a mission to share insights, fun facts, and inspiration I discover along the way as I run my business and walk my own path on Earth.

[00:02:38] Here, you'll hear my personal stories, guest interviews, and vulnerable shares from clients and students. Most people know me from Instagram, where you can find me under @cycleseeds, or they have been a coaching client or student in one of my courses. I'm so grateful you're here. Let's dive into today's episode 

[00:02:58] Iris Josephina: Today we have a very special guest. Welcome, Isha. Welcome to the show. 

[00:03:05] Isha Vela: Thank you. Thank you so much for having me. 

[00:03:08] Iris Josephina: You're so welcome. So I saw your work on Instagram, and it's centered all around matriarchal views on money and wealth, and I'm an entrepreneur myself. And the reason I became an entrepreneur is because I found it so important to know where my money was coming from, and know where- Mm-hmm

[00:03:31] Iris Josephina: I as a woman am going to spend it, and that there was no, stages between where my money comes from and where I'm spending it so that there is total transparency and overview. 

[00:03:42] Isha Vela: Mm-hmm. 

[00:03:43] Iris Josephina: And when I saw what you're doing, I was like, "I need to speak to this person." So can you tell us, first of all, a little bit more about who you are and what it is exactly that you do and teach?

[00:03:56] Isha Vela: Okay. Thank you. well, I am a somatic psychotherapist. So I got my doctorate degree in psychology, trauma psychology, and then w- as I was recovering from burnout after I had my two children, I went into a four-year somatic certification. So that was basically a decolonization process. Hmm. What I thought was gonna be burnout recovery was sort of this unraveling and a decolonization.

[00:04:22] Isha Vela: And through that process I began to see, you know, I started to sort of understand through, through shadow work how, how a lot of these shadows were tied into money, relationship, and things like that. And then I, through money work I ended up in finance because I knew that there was a next step an up level that I needed to make.

[00:04:43] Isha Vela: And so being in the world of finance, I was having conversations with the spirit of money, with my ancestors, healing my own money wounds. And, and as I was having conversations with the spirit of money, it was just very clear to me that it was like I wanna move, I wanna move like water moves, like love moves.

[00:05:03] Isha Vela: Like, it was just... I was just getting so many messages around it, and this was, like, this was six, five or six years ago. And, um, it's been sort of there in the ethers, and I haven't really done anything with it. And, as a financial strategist, a holistic financial strategist, you know, the conversations were still around accumulation and growing money, and I was like, "And, like, when do we get to the part where we circulate it and do amazing things with it?

[00:05:29] Isha Vela: That's what I wanna talk about." Mm-hmm. And so when, you know, when everything blew up in February, like when the world blew up in February, I was like, "I am, I'm tired of waiting for other people to create this conversation. I'm gonna start it myself." And I decided to be like, I'm gonna be an educator around this new type of financial literacy, like the matriarchal financial literacy.

[00:05:52] Isha Vela: And I'm gonna call it the Wealth Ecology Institute. And that's how it was born. It was born through this, desire for, like, the little girl in me who knew from the very beginning, like, like, women are amazing, and we are leaders, and we change the world. That's sort of the... It's an homage to that part of me and to all children who are gonna be inheriting, you know, what- sort of the mess we have on our hands right now.

[00:06:18] Isha Vela: So that's the long story. 

[00:06:19] Iris Josephina: Yeah. Thank you for sharing. 

[00:06:20] Isha Vela: Yeah. 

[00:06:21] Iris Josephina: And I love that you mentioned also the little girl in you. I recently saw a video somewhere that girls, when they're little, they're actually natural leaders. If you look at how little girls play and how they set up their play and how they- Yeah

[00:06:38] Iris Josephina: distribute power, , how they naturally lead and take, you know, agency over where the play is going. I was like, "Wow, this is so true." Mm-hmm. And then somehow we are raised into this idea that we just need to submit and just do as somebody else tells us to do, or men tell us to do, while we have this, like, inherent thing inside of us- Yeah, yeah

[00:07:02] Iris Josephina: that makes us natural leaders in how, you know, everything happens. 

[00:07:07] Isha Vela: Absolutely. 

[00:07:08] Iris Josephina: Um- 

[00:07:08] Isha Vela: Yeah ... 

[00:07:09] Iris Josephina: when you're talking about matriarchal wealth ecology, can you take us into what that is and what that looks like? And you've mentioned earlier to me before we hopped on that there was a couple of principles that are important to know about this.

[00:07:25] Isha Vela: Yes, yes. 

[00:07:26] Iris Josephina: Can you share the principles of wealth ecology and what they are? Yes, 

[00:07:31] Isha Vela: absolutely. And not necessarily in any particular order, right? Mm-hmm. These are not in order. They're just overarching principles. One of them is stewardship over domination, right? Mm-hmm. So we, humans have dominated the earth. they also have used money to dominate people.

[00:07:49] Isha Vela: And so what I'm inviting people to think about or, and to step into is more of a stewardship and to not, these, some of these principles overlap. Not into being owners of m- the wealth that they have or the resources that they have, but of stewards, like of holders, and really, like, have the responsibility of, "Okay, so how does this wanna move?

[00:08:12] Isha Vela: What does this wanna... How does, how do I wanna co-create with this?" Right? So stewardship is really recognizing that money is not yours, but that you are the holder of it, and that you have a responsibility there. Then there's the piece around sustainability over extraction, right? When we have a business- How do we structure the business?

[00:08:33] Isha Vela: How do we... Is the business, is the business ultimately extractive? Like, are we selling something that's ultimately extractive? Are we, is the business itself sustainable to our bodies, right? Um, do we have a sustainable b- business model? So all of that, right, really looking at those aspects of things. Then there is the relational accountability over the individual accumulation.

[00:08:57] Isha Vela: And so, so this is where, um, a lot of the, a lot of the ways that we consume, when we consume something, right, um, when we purchase something, we don't see the, the sort of the, we don't track the thread. Mm-hmm. So there's a thread that's tracked backwards and forwards. So how does my purchase impact a community?

[00:09:21] Isha Vela: How does my purchase impact the land? How does this product, how was it made? Where was it made? Who did it extract from in order to, like, be here in my hand right now? So those are the things that we wanna be considering, is tracking the thread. , and relational accountability is, like, our, initial relationship, or our first and most important relationship is with the land.

[00:09:41] Isha Vela: So we're considering always how does this impact the land? Then there is the capacity over speed This is really about building at the speed of trust and safety, right? When we're in community and building community, we're not overriding, but building at the speed of trust and sort of like bringing with ourselves the parts that are vulnerable, the parts that are scared, the parts that are like, you know, things move slowly in, in growth land, right?

[00:10:15] Isha Vela: So we honor that process. And then circulation over hoarding is essentially like the, the main principle in a way because it, it is about recognizing that in a, in the patriarchal, in the pyramid, right, where wealth flows to the top and it's siphoned from the ones at the bottom. It really is about shifting into a circle where the wealth flows outward to where it's needed- 

[00:10:42] Iris Josephina: Mm-hmm

[00:10:43] Isha Vela: um, not to where it already lives, right? And so that actually strengthens the circle versus, you know, the triangle really strengthens what's at the top and collapses what's at the bottom. And then finally, the last one is one of my favorites because it's enoughness over endless expansion, and this is where we really tap into, you know, in nature, in, in, in ecology, right, there are certain populations, right?

[00:11:11] Isha Vela: The deer population will go up, um, but then it's balanced out because the, you know, if there's an overpopulation, there's gonna, you know, they're gonna run out of food eventually, and then the population's gonna go down. So there's a way that the ecology balances itself naturally. And so we have to, we have to think about like when we have something, like or when we accumulate something, we're like, "Well, how much is enough?"

[00:11:38] Isha Vela: Like, how much do I really need? Like when I go- Mm-hmm ... to the supermarket, how much do I really need? Or when I eat, how much is enough to satisfy me worth it, versus getting full? So it's really looking at like where is that line for me. And sometimes we don't know because we grow up in an environment and in a system where we're told that, you know, we grow up around the hungry ghost.

[00:12:00] Isha Vela: We're, we live inside a hungry ghost system that is like, "More, more, more." And so we really have to connect to our bodies and really ask ourselves, what is it that I need versus what I want? And those are two very different things. And what I have found through my own process is that I need a lot less than I think I do.

[00:12:21] Isha Vela: So those are the six principles. 

[00:12:24] Iris Josephina: Mm-hmm. Beautiful. And earlier also mentioned about this relational foundation of money, and it really comes forward when you, Well, you mentioned these six principles, and I'm, I'm curious because to me it sounds all very logical, um- 

[00:12:42] Isha Vela: Yes ... 

[00:12:43] Iris Josephina: because it's how I wanna live, how I want, you know, how I want the world to thrive.

[00:12:48] Iris Josephina: I, I don't only just want myself to thrive through my business, I want everyone to thrive, my family, friends, you know? I wanna see- Mm-hmm ... I wanna witness that. 

[00:12:57] Isha Vela: Yeah. 

[00:12:57] Iris Josephina: Where, where do you see that this, there is like a, a rupture of, of this relat- re- relationality? 

[00:13:06] Isha Vela: Mm-hmm. 

[00:13:06] Iris Josephina: Um, and how can we- Yeah ... because as you said, we've, we've been growing up in this accumulation mindset of this patriarchal triangle where wealth just sits at the top.

[00:13:19] Iris Josephina: How can we as smaller business owners, how can we inspire one another to move towards a more matriarchal circular economy? What is your dream? What is your vision with that? How, how we can get there? 

[00:13:37] Isha Vela: Well, I think, you know, to answer your first question, the relational piece is really, is... This was a big breakthrough for me, and this came through Carolyn Elliott, who just recently passed away.

[00:13:49] Isha Vela: Mm. But really thinking about money as a lover. And this was a big deal for me because I used to have a relationship with money that was about neglect, that was about maybe some resentment. But really about like, you're dirty. you are getting taken care of by somebody else, I don't wanna deal with you, right?

[00:14:08] Isha Vela: So that kind of relationship is what I used to have with money. And through my process of healing, I re- really began to face money and recognize that money had always been there for me, even in the moments where I thought it had abandoned me when I was broke or when I was struggling. And the truth was is that it showed up.

[00:14:27] Isha Vela: It always showed up, and I was like, "Wow, you've always been there." And then I started to pay attention to it and take care of it. And I realized that, you know, as I took care of it- There is an aspect of it that is, that is very much about taking care of myself. Mm-hmm. It is about showing up to myself, and showing up for, um, my own d- desires to co-create it, and, and to co-create on this earth, and to, to do amazing things with it, right?

[00:14:56] Isha Vela: So there's, like, a responsibility that goes along with it. Um, and then in terms of your question around how can we inspire people, I ... You know, I think that it's less about inspiration. I think it's a commitment. Mm. I think because we can be inspired to, oh, like, it sounds really great to do all those things that Isha is saying around circulation, but we don't do it because at the foundation of our relationship with money is scarcity.

[00:15:27] Isha Vela: Mm-hmm. There is individualism. So we have been taught to just kind of, like, yep, we make the money, and we make the money, we make the money, and maybe we invest the money, and we, you know, we grow the money. but we're not necessarily inspired. I feel like it's more of a decision of I'm committed to circulating this wealth, and I'm committed to also feeling the discomfort of stepping into that kind of a stewardship because shit will come up.

[00:15:55] Isha Vela: shadows around, fears around maybe it'll run out, and I'm giving it away. Like, what are you thinking? My business may have, days where it's not generating income, right? Because we're taught from the very beginning, save for a rainy day. Like, most of our financial education is rooted in scarcity.

[00:16:14] Isha Vela: Yeah. And so we have that from the very beginning. So I think it's less of an inspiration, 'cause I meet a lot of people who are inspired and don't do shit with it. So for me, it really is about a decision, and that decision is something that I did. I made that decision when I was having this, this, you know, money breakthrough or money co-creation.

[00:16:35] Isha Vela: And, you know, money asked me, "Well, how do you wanna move?" And I was like, "Well, I wanna support Black children's education." And they were like, "Okay, let's do it." And so I gave $50 a month. That was, like, the beginning of my stewardship when I was flat broke. Like, I was going through a divorce. My, my, you know, my bank account was doing this.

[00:16:54] Isha Vela: It was, like, dwindling into nothing, and I made a commitment to be like, "I'm going to steward wealth," because it is a deep desire that I have. It is a deep commitment to my community, and I'm going to do it despite feeling fear and trepidation. And what I found was that when I would see the, you know, my PayPal, notification would come up like, "You have just donated to such and such," I actually felt really good, and it actually helped me expand my capacity to give- Without it feeling like a loss to me.

[00:17:27] Iris Josephina: Mm-hmm. 

[00:17:27] Isha Vela: Right? So I feel like there is a practice that goes along with it, not just inspiration, and that people don't move from inspiration. People move from commitment and like, "I'm gonna do this practice." You know? And it's the, it's the doing and it's the practicing that actually expands your capacity to circulate 

[00:17:44] Iris Josephina: I love that, and I, I really feel that this m- it's also like a mindset shift from what you want money to mean to you.

[00:17:53] Iris Josephina: Yes. 'Cause I- 

[00:17:54] Isha Vela: It is 

[00:17:54] Iris Josephina: meaning ... you know, yeah, 'cause I, I grew up in, like, a, like, a mediocre family in the Netherlands where I was always told, like, "Oh, you have to work hard for your money, and you need to save money because, you know, it can run out, and that's dangerous, and da, da, da." so I developed a really weird relationship with money where I didn't wanna have anything to do with it.

[00:18:15] Iris Josephina: I don't wanna look at it. I don't wanna- ... feel into it. I don't wanna- Yeah ... look at my bank account. I just want it to be there, and that's it. Yeah. But then I also realized I don't wanna work for other people. I wanna run my own business, and all I wanted to do was serve, and I didn't want to look at the money part.

[00:18:33] Iris Josephina: Mm-hmm. And I think this is a, a, a, a very similar story to what a lot of- Yes ... entrepreneurs with a good heart who wanna do good work have experienced. Mm-hmm. And it's because what you mentioned, this scarcity mindset that we grew up with, that the system just kinda, like, spoon feeds us from when we were very young- 

[00:18:52] Isha Vela: Mm-hmm

[00:18:52] Iris Josephina: that we don't have the ability to expand our minds into other possibilities of meaning giving when it comes to money. And for me, it was a similar story where I needed to review my beliefs about money and how I related to money, how I didn't relate to money, or how I didn't want to relate to money, and really started to befriend it- 

[00:19:18] Isha Vela: Mm-hmm

[00:19:19] Iris Josephina: and not run away from it. Yes. 'Cause I was like, "I just wanna do good work, and I don't wanna look at the finances." "I just wanna serve." And I think this is something a lot of entrepreneurs have, and I've been an entrepreneur for 13 years. And the first couple of years, it was a struggle because I didn't want to have a relationship with money.

[00:19:37] Iris Josephina: Yeah. I didn't wanna have anything to do with it. Yeah. And it was a bit similar like you where it was, like, dirty. No, money is something that belongs, like, with the disgusting people at the top who do bad stuff with it. 

[00:19:48] Isha Vela: Mm-hmm, 

[00:19:49] Iris Josephina: mm-hmm. Um, so it's this whole redefinition of meaning and this, this rediscovering and re-meeting- Yes

[00:19:58] Iris Josephina: money as something I can actually relate to. Mm-hmm. And I feel that a lot of people who are entrepreneurs in my field or in other fields, they can relate to this because this is what we grew up with, and it's also... I think for me, it was also a g- a grief process because I grieved what I could have done with the money if I didn't abandon it.

[00:20:21] Iris Josephina: Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. Like, what I, I really went into this, like, what could my life have looked like if- Yes ... I wasn't so repulsed by money? And I had befriended it earlier. I didn't- Mm-hmm ... you know, then the struggles that I had could probably have been prevented or weren't as hard. 

[00:20:39] Isha Vela: Absolutely. 

[00:20:40] Iris Josephina: Um, and- Yeah ... where, where I am now, it's, um, it's such a, it's such a different relationship.

[00:20:48] Iris Josephina: And I can also see, like, the money that I am generating now is not just for me. It's also for the legacy of my children and the legacy of the children in my life that are not even mine that I want- Mm-hmm ... to support. So yeah, it's, it's a whole movement of meaning that I had- Yeah ... to do in my own spirit and my own mind to- Yeah

[00:21:14] Iris Josephina: to get to this place, yeah. 

[00:21:17] Isha Vela: And it's interesting that you talk about this, you know, you and I have very similar archetypes in terms of our relationship- Mm-hmm ... to money, right? We have this, um, what I call the, the, a pattern around leaving, right? There is a, a lot of spiritual people, right, that are, you know, healers and things like that, energetic people, people who understand energy, have this particular pattern with money where they're like, "Ugh, money is disgusting.

[00:21:46] Isha Vela: It is part of, like, the dirty humanity." And that part of us, right, thinks that we are above money. We're better than money, right? But there is the, the healing process for that particular archetype or pattern is about grounding in the earth plane, and really committing to being here on this planet, and using money as a medium to do good, right?

[00:22:11] Isha Vela: It isn't just your transmission. It isn't just your healing capabilities, but your actual, right, the tangible of moving money that is part of the good that you do. 

[00:22:22] Iris Josephina: Mm-hmm. 

[00:22:22] Isha Vela: Yeah, so it's, it's awesome that you bring that up. And yeah, like, this piece around, like, I think in, in Europe in particular, my mother is German and I grew up very much also in that, in the scarcity narrative, you know, post-war, post-war par- post-World War II parent, um, was very much about working hard and, right, there isn't enough.

[00:22:47] Isha Vela: There is this, like, this feeling of, like, having to save for a rainy day is very, very, very deep. Mm-hmm. And it took me years to unravel that, um, in my lineage. 

[00:23:01] Iris Josephina: Yeah. 

[00:23:02] Isha Vela: Yeah. 

[00:23:03] Iris Josephina: And what really helped me with money is to- recognize that as people, we have always worked with the principle of exchange. Like exchange- Yes

[00:23:15] Iris Josephina: amongst people and reciprocal exchange between people. 

[00:23:18] Isha Vela: Yeah. 

[00:23:18] Iris Josephina: Whatever the means is, whether it is money, whether it is shells, whether it is plants, whether it is- 

[00:23:23] Isha Vela: Exactly ... 

[00:23:24] Iris Josephina: tools. It's 

[00:23:25] Isha Vela: commerce. 

[00:23:26] Iris Josephina: we have done this for many, many, many e- eons. Like- Yeah ... so many years as human beings roamed this earth, and- when I trace it back to that, it feels so natural.

[00:23:41] Isha Vela: Mm-hmm. 

[00:23:41] Iris Josephina: Because it's just like, oh, you're giving this to me, so I give this to you, and we both have an exchange, and we both get richer, whether that is richer- Mm-hmm ... in mindset or knowledge or skill. Um- Absolutely ... and it's what humans have always done. Like- 

[00:23:57] Isha Vela: Yeah ... 

[00:23:58] Iris Josephina: and, and when I started to look at money in that way, I could breathe with it again, and it didn't- Mm-hmm

[00:24:04] Iris Josephina: feel like, oh my God, I'm so repulsed by it, like, oh my goodness. Um- 

[00:24:09] Isha Vela: Yeah. 

[00:24:09] Iris Josephina: It's s- So I'm so happy that this is expanding right now, and you are helping people remember what it actually means. 

[00:24:18] Isha Vela: Yeah. I, I think that, you know, what you said earlier, struck a chord with me, too. It, you know, when I think about decolonization, right?

[00:24:27] Isha Vela: When I think about decolonizing money, it is about separating how money has been used from the energy of money, right? Yeah. 'Cause you're describing sacred exchange. That is the energy of money. There has always been energy flowing between people, right? Whether it's love, whether it's commerce-based, but that is, it is a sacred exchange.

[00:24:50] Isha Vela: And it's b- because it's been used to dominate, to hurt people, to exploit people, to extract from people and the land, we've just become disgusted with it altogether. We've thrown the baby out with the bath water. But it is a process of separating the two and really recognizing that they are two very different things.

[00:25:07] Iris Josephina: Mm-hmm. 

[00:25:07] Isha Vela: You know? So separating the energy of money from how it's been abused is a, is a, like a fundamental process of decolonization that then helps you step into, like, okay, so there's this, there's two different things happening here, and how can I connect to the energy of money and the, the energy of exchange as part of my healing process?

[00:25:28] Iris Josephina: Mm-hmm. 

[00:25:29] Isha Vela: Yeah. 

[00:25:29] Iris Josephina: And I feel this, what you're describing right now, is also why a lot of people feel so much resistance. Yeah. Especially I think as a, I mean, I'm a white person. Like, to start unravel your money story, especially if you trace back your ancestry- Mm-hmm ... you're gonna come across a lot of shit. Like there is- Mm-hmm

[00:25:49] Iris Josephina: a lot of stuff that you have to witness, and acknowledge, and look at that is really not nice. Mm-hmm. Like, it's really not nice knowing what my ancestors of the Netherlands went to do all over the world to- Mm-hmm ... extract from other people to give our country the wealth that it has now. Like, it's a really dark- disgusting place to go.

[00:26:15] Iris Josephina: Mm-hmm, 

[00:26:15] Isha Vela: mm-hmm. 

[00:26:15] Iris Josephina: And to undo yourself from that and to recognize it in you, and where the beliefs are connected to that story as well, it's tough. Mm-hmm. And I think a lot of people have... don't wanna go there, and I feel that there is, you know, even when, when, when I speak about this with some people, people are like, "Oh, but did, you know, it wasn't that bad."

[00:26:37] Iris Josephina: I'm like, "Yeah, it was that bad. It was really that bad." Yeah. Yeah. 

[00:26:40] Isha Vela: Yeah. And, and this is where, like, you know, the pieces around shame and accountability come up that- Mm-hmm ... this is the shadow work, right? We're... You're talking about the collective shadow, right? The collective shadow of, of our countries and our people who hurt other people to extract, and it's, it is a reckoning.

[00:27:02] Isha Vela: It is a process of grieving, of, of real remorse, right? If we really allow ourselves to m- to maybe not so much feel the shame- Mm-hmm ... but to feel the grief and the remorse. The part of you that feels actually sorry for what happened and can really feel through all of the emotions. there's a real transformation that can happen that I think a lot of, I wanna say like white people, but, you know, Euro, Euro and Anglo people don't allow themselves to have- Mm

[00:27:31] Isha Vela: because they fear feeling the shame. They fear... There's a deep, deep fear of being, like, bad. I don't wanna be a bad person, right? And so this is like, this really holds people back from, from the very rewarding work of, of moving through that process. 

[00:27:47] Iris Josephina: Yeah, I can definitely see that. But I also feel when you actually move through it, the motivation to make the decision becomes even bigger, because then you step- Yeah

[00:27:57] Iris Josephina: then you step into the realm of I want to contribute to reparation. I want to contribute- Exactly ... to, to, like, restoring what was lost or repairing what was lost. 

[00:28:09] Isha Vela: Yes. Yes. It's the same thing like in a relationship, right? If in a two-person relationship, for example, if you can't admit that you hurt somebody- 

[00:28:20] Iris Josephina: Mm-hmm

[00:28:21] Isha Vela: right, if you can't s- if you can't take accountability or responsibility for, like, yes, what I said was very hurtful, then you can't engage in the repair process, and the repair process is actually what deepens the intimacy. 

[00:28:36] Iris Josephina: Yeah, it's true. 

[00:28:36] Isha Vela: Right? And so that's what is happening on the collective level is by not saying, "Yeah, I fucked up," they're really stopping themselves from really having that deeper connection with maybe the, the, the cultures or the countries or the, the people that were hurt.

[00:28:55] Isha Vela: And then also the reward of the repair. 

[00:28:58] Iris Josephina: Mm-hmm. 

[00:28:59] Isha Vela: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I know a lot of people who have, um, who have relationship with, with indigenous people whose maybe they live on the land of a- an indigenous, um, nation or a group, and they pay reparations to, to the people every month or every year, and it just feels kind of like, ah, just a little bit more restoration, right?

[00:29:22] Isha Vela: It feels just like a little bit of the lightening of this ancestral load, right? So you really get to... It's l- it's really deep lineage work. Like, through you, it's happening, like, seven generations back and even seven generations forward. It's very, very powerful. 

[00:29:41] Iris Josephina: Yeah. It's true. 

[00:29:42] Isha Vela: Yeah. 

[00:29:43] Iris Josephina: And it's... I can... Uh, as we're having this conversation, I can just feel the potential of this when more people would move through this work, and they would, you know, start doing this in their life, and I'm really praying and, and wishing that more of us can, you know, start to do that.

[00:30:03] Iris Josephina: Mm-hmm. And before we hopped on, you also mentioned, uh, something that you call the great wealth transfer that is- Yeah ... potentially, you know, coming up. Can you share a little bit about what that is and why it is important for us to know about that? 

[00:30:18] Isha Vela: Absolutely. Yes, it's so amazing. It's- It's basically the transfer of wealth from the baby boomers, meaning the people that are retiring or are retired now.

[00:30:29] Isha Vela: They are going to be transferring their wealth to Gen Xers and to Millennials and g- younger generations. And most of the recipients are going to be women, partially because women outlive their male partners, right? So there's gonna be a concentration of wealth, and we're looking at trillions of dollars.

[00:30:49] Isha Vela: Trillions are gonna be arriving in women's hands, right? And so I'm really passionate about women having the financial literacy, even in existing patriarchal systems, to know how to grow that money and also how to deploy it in a way that supports women in the Global South who have innovations that can actually support our survival as a species.

[00:31:20] Isha Vela: For example, , I'm working with an angel investor right now who spoke about this woman who had a ... who made these, these sanitary napkins out of bamboo, and this was gonna, like, help a bunch of people in her community. And she didn't get the, she didn't get the grant or the, the investment because she didn't have a good pitch.

[00:31:41] Isha Vela: Mm-hmm. But, like, women would not care if her pitch was good because women would just sit there and be like, "Oh my God, this is a freaking amazing idea. Let me throw money at you so that you can help your, your community," and then we don't have, like, sanitary napkins polluting the water, waterways, and all that kind of stuff, right?

[00:31:59] Isha Vela: That they don't, they don't break down. Mm-hmm. So it's just things like that where it's like women in the Global South who are much more connected to the Earth, who haven't, um, had the ... They haven't been as close to the privilege as women in the Global North have, but who are more connected to the Earth, who understand these ecological wealth systems better, who have innovations that can actually move us forward.

[00:32:23] Isha Vela: They just need the funding. And so we need to get together, talk to each other, and see, like, let's match each other up because that's really, I think, like, Incredible timeline opportunity, right? 

[00:32:35] Iris Josephina: Mm-hmm. 

[00:32:35] Isha Vela: Women of the Global North receiving this money, and this is happening all over the world, not just the United States.

[00:32:41] Isha Vela: Receiving this money and then deploying it in a way that really kind of like, okay, well, let's move the money to this project and, you know, this innovation. Uh, we get rid of all the plastic forks and knives because there's an alternative, and we all adopt it because it makes so much sense. Or, you know, I don't know what else, but there are so many ways that, you know, we get rid of all plastics, for example.

[00:33:05] Isha Vela: yeah, so things like that is that's, that's really like a, a really unique moment in history. And I think that in four years, right, by 2030, there's gonna be several trillion, like, I think of two-thirds, two th- thirds of the wealth will have moved and will be in the power of, like, will be in women's hands.

[00:33:25] Isha Vela: So it's a big deal- Wow ... and we're not that far away from it. 

[00:33:29] Iris Josephina: I love that. I've actually never thought about that, but as you were mentioning this entire story, I was thinking about a, a company in the Netherlands that I really love. it's called Zazi, and it's a clothing company of a woman who solely works with indigenous women and where the entire chain is clear- 

[00:33:51] Isha Vela: Mm-hmm

[00:33:52] Iris Josephina: and transparent. Um- Love it ... and she works, like, directly with so many communities all over the world in every single continent. And she has created this circular economy in her business, and it's so cool to witness her do that. Yeah. And now you explaining this, and for me, that is really the future, and that is what is going to solve a lot of problems in the world.

[00:34:19] Iris Josephina: Mm-hmm. And with that, I also feel we should really pull back, um, the curtain on how much money is, like, guided towards destruction, and just pull the plug from there- Absolutely ... and, and redirect that money, uh, into places that focus more on, on creation, reparation, restoring. 

[00:34:41] Isha Vela: Exactly. Yeah. 

[00:34:42] Iris Josephina: That's my dream.

[00:34:43] Iris Josephina: That's my wish. I really want my future children to witness a shift- Yeah ... in, in economy and, yeah, I really pray that's what's going to happen. 

[00:34:54] Isha Vela: Yeah. I mean, when you think about matriarchy centering the great mother, right? Mm-hmm. First and foremost, but then also the children. Like, our children are inheriting quite a mess, right?

[00:35:06] Isha Vela: No, 

[00:35:07] Iris Josephina: yeah. 

[00:35:07] Isha Vela: And we have to equip ourselves in these new wealth systems because they are the architects of what comes next, right? Yeah. Like, matriarchy, I probably won't see it in my lifetime. I'll probably, like, get as close to it as possible, but it's my children who are going to be really building it. You know, they're gonna be- Yeah

[00:35:26] Isha Vela: in the trenches. And so we have to equip and educate our children in those new financial systems, in the new economics, so that they're prepared to do the task- Mm-hmm ... and feel... Oh, I did, um, some content around this today around, like- You know, my children, oftentimes children who are alive now, let's say the Gen, Gen Y?

[00:35:52] Isha Vela: Is it Gen Y? No, Gen Z. Gen Z and below, um, often feel very burdened by- 

[00:35:59] Iris Josephina: Mm-hmm ... 

[00:36:00] Isha Vela: the task of, or, or feeling the burden of inheritance. Of like, "Oh my God," like, "Y'all are leaving this mess." But we have a responsibility to them to equip them with the tools so that they can feel not, not burdened, but feel, like, excited about the responsibility, and excited about like, "Yeah, we have the tools.

[00:36:17] Isha Vela: We know how to do this." Mm-hmm. Like, we know, we know what it looks like, right? What the arc of transformation looks like. We know what the, what the principles are, and we can, we can lead and create from that place, you know? And I've seen that in my children as well. I see it developing in them. Like, they don't feel...

[00:36:36] Isha Vela: Their mental health is good, which is, like, a priority for me, because it's like, it's, it's hard raising children who are witnessing everything that is happening in the world. And I protect them as much as possible, but they go on Pinterest and they read the news, and they, uh, do all that. And, you know, I let them know, like, "We are doing this together.

[00:36:54] Isha Vela: We are working on this." Like, this is what the project is, right? We are matriarchs. You are a matriarch, I'm a matriarch. We have a responsibility to, to create this. 

[00:37:05] Iris Josephina: Yeah. 

[00:37:06] Isha Vela: Yeah. 

[00:37:07] Iris Josephina: I think it's very beautiful to just uphold this vision. Even though it's not here, even though we know we may not, like, witness to be here, I think we hold such a great responsibility to stand strong in the vision and transfer- Mm-hmm

[00:37:24] Iris Josephina: the vision and the tools. So if, like, if you would have to share with anyone who wants to learn about this or do this as well, what are three things that you would say to anyone who is listening to this and is like, "Oh my God, yes. This is it. This is what I want. This is what we need to do"? 

[00:37:46] Isha Vela: So how to learn about it?

[00:37:48] Iris Josephina: Yes. 

[00:37:49] Isha Vela: Um, well, I have a website, and I'm, I'm actually, selling a course right now that is, that provides the fundamental frameworks. Mm-hmm. And this is... You know, I designed it for children, but it really is for adults to transmit to their children. so it's a very, it's like the lowest hanging fruit. It's very easy, very accessible, and also embodied.

[00:38:11] Isha Vela: It isn't, like, an intellectual kind of- Mm-hmm ... exercise. It really is about implementing those steps and creating that environment in your home, and actually doing the behavioral pieces that I talked about earlier. , so that's something that I'm sharing with people now. And, you know, just kind of, um, listening to my podcast, I go through some of the principles in there.

[00:38:33] Isha Vela: And, you know, looking at my content on Instagram. you know, I feel like- You know, my role is to really be a, um, a translator of what women in the Global South have been doing, what Black women in the United States have been doing forever, um, without getting acknowledgement or credit for it. I'm just kind of like a translator of what's already been happening, and so that's what my role is, is it's like I'm just a messenger, right?

[00:39:00] Isha Vela: And what I share with people is just downloads, right, of, of my understanding and my, my process. And so, yeah, welcome to look at the Wealth Ecology Institute website that is under construction. It's fairly new. Um, and listening to my podcast, Waking Up Wealthy. Um, but people, there's, there's books on matriarchy.

[00:39:24] Isha Vela: I forget the title of it, but there are scholars who are, have been at this forever , um, mostly coming out of the, the women's movement of the 1970s, right? Mm-hmm. There was a big wave of, of matriarchal scholars. Um, and yeah, really diving deep. You know, doing a Google search on matriarchal books, you will find them.

[00:39:45] Isha Vela: There are... Um, I recently came upon a book about, like, how women's bodies are, like, the foundation of all of this wisdom, and it is, like, mind-blowingly incredible. So there's so many different rabbit holes you can go into. It really is about, like, what is, what is sparking your curiosity and desire right now?

[00:40:04] Isha Vela: 'Cause the knowledge is there, it's just not, like, mainstream. Mm-hmm. It's becoming mainstream, but it's been kind of, like, hidden in plain sight essentially. 

[00:40:13] Iris Josephina: Yeah. Thank you for, for also naming that this is not something new. No. This is something ancient, something that has always existed, and that people in the Global South, uh, indigenous people, Black people, they hold this wisdom.

[00:40:30] Iris Josephina: It's always been there. And- Mm-hmm ... um, I think it's really time for us to shut up and listen. 

[00:40:37] Isha Vela: Yeah, exactly. 

[00:40:38] Iris Josephina: Shut up and listen, and really learn what is possible, and that there are ways to not fricking destroy everything along the way. There's ways- Mm-hmm ... to do this constructively, circularly, respectfully towards each other and- Mm-hmm

[00:40:56] Iris Josephina: the earth. And I think that's the most important thing that I want people to remember from this entire conversation. It is possible, it has always existed, and sometimes we need to know when to shut up and listen. 

[00:41:08] Isha Vela: Exactly. Exactly. Yeah. And one thing that I, that I just wanna end on is that part of my, part of my desire, because matriarchies have always existed even while in these last 5,000 years of patriarchy, matriarchies has, have always existed.

[00:41:26] Isha Vela: But the reason why they haven't been visible or they haven't been legitimized or, you know, the reason why we haven't known about them is because they haven't been as widespread. Mm-hmm. They've been more sort of in pockets, and they haven't been systematized, right? There haven't been- Yeah ... like legal systems around them, and they haven't been, widespread.

[00:41:47] Isha Vela: And so part of my desire is to, let's systematize it. Let's create... I don't like, like to use the word templates, but let's create frameworks and, and, you know, adaptable frameworks so that we can all have sort of a, a skeleton or an idea of what this looks like and what, what are the components so that we can recreate it in a way that in our specific communities, in a way that feels right for us, right?

[00:42:14] Isha Vela: Yeah. I feel like the, the, the scaling of it is really important, is to not just sort of be like, "Oh, I'm gonna create my little pocket over here," but really kind of like thinking about the bigger picture and, like, widening it. 

[00:42:27] Iris Josephina: Yeah. I 

[00:42:28] Isha Vela: agree. Yeah. Putting in the legal structures in place, and governance and agreements and all that kind of stuff.

[00:42:36] Iris Josephina: Amazing. Yeah. I really want to see all of this happen. I'm so excited- Yeah. ... about this, and I'm so grateful that you have chosen for this to be your path, or that you have accepted for this to be your path, to be the messenger, to help us become, you know, financially literate in a matriarchal way. And yeah, thank you for bringing that forth and teaching us about it and, and uncovering it, unveiling it, and making it accessible.

[00:43:07] Iris Josephina: I think that's a very beautiful skill and task in this lifetime with the world being as it is right now. 

[00:43:16] Isha Vela: Mm. 

[00:43:16] Iris Josephina: Yeah. 

[00:43:16] Isha Vela: Thank you so much for the invitation to share. Thank you. 

[00:43:19] Iris Josephina: Mm-hmm. You're welcome.

[00:43:22] Iris Josephina: Okay, this wraps up today's episode. Thank you so much for listening. Want to know more about me? The best way to reach me is via at Cycle Seeds on Instagram, and if you heard something today and you think, oh my God, wow, I learned something new. Feel free to share the podcast on your social media and tag me or leave a review of rating.

[00:43:44] Iris Josephina: In this way, you help me reach more people like you. Thank you so much.