I’m so excited to bring you Episode 113 of the Spiritual Seekers Podcast!
I will be geeking out about Taylor Swift and the Divine Feminine with therapist - and Swiftie- Meredith Beardmore.
Meredith Beardmore is a psychotherapist operating a private practice, the author of Hey Addiction, Thanks for NOTHING!: A Brutally Honest Guide to Loving an Addict Without Losing Your Mind, and is also known as “Mend with Mere” from her successful KZfaq Channel.
Meredith is an Ohio State University graduate with a master’s in Clinical Mental Health Counseling. Meredith specializes in substance abuse treatment, helping family members of addicts and treating emerging adults with various issues, from identity development to depression.
Her KZfaq Channel, “Mend with Mere,” initially intended for therapy discussions, became a platform for analyzing song lyrics, primarily Taylor Swift's, garnering thousands of subscribers and over 5 million hours of watch time.
I am so happy to have found MEND WITH MERE, her channel where she often thoughtfully discusses, dissects and reacts to songs. I stumbled upon her page in the research that goes along w dissecting lyrics! The recent Taylor Swift album - the Tortured Poets Department- is rich with amazing and meaningful songs that really sent me down rabbit holes.
I’ve recently become a Swiftie, and I’m not embarrassed to admit it! The more I’ve learned about Taylor Swift and her work, the more I’ve grown to love her! When she started the Eras tour last year I noticed all the girl mom friends of mine who went to see the show with their daughters were just as crazy to see her as their daughters were… this intrigued me and I ended up watching the Netflix Special on her called “MISS AMERICANA”. From there I really grew to really respect her as an artist and person. It’s clear she’s a smart and sensitive person. I only began delving into her catalogue since February of this year after watching her video for “You Need To Calm Down”. Seeing how she advocates for the LGBTQ really warmed my heart- I cried when I first saw it even tho it’s not necessarily a tear jerker! As a mom to a transgirl it made me even happier to see someone with this platform saying F U to the naysayers. I then started listening to her on Spotify, just letting it play… I heard the song “I did something bad” where she mentions how narcissists love her (common for empaths) and then she sang “They’re burning all the witches even if you aren’t one…. So light me up” and I got CHILLS so bad!! I could feel the power she was channeling and was floored!
I later learned about the song Willow and her video for that where it looks like a coven of women dancing around the moon-fun fact, this tree is associated with Hecate-Queen of the Witches, goddess of the underworld connected to magic and divination. Witch isn’t a bad word- a witch is a woman in her power who can transmute energy and Taylor Swift does just that. From the snakes being thrown her way w the bs drama she had with Kim Kardashian and Kanye West, where she turned it around for fuel for her Reputation album, to changing the script on London and her relationship to that city (We recorded this just prior to those shows… Travis Kelce is clearly the Divine Masculine and his performance with Taylor on stage was so symbolic and amazing. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, google it! Night 3 London, June 22). They both really embody the divine feminine and masculine so strongly.
Nothing prepared me though, for when she premiered her performance of “Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me” from her new album in Paris back in May. This was an empowered woman, not hiding her rage and playfully playing on people’s fears/accusations of her being a witch. I ate that shit up!! Every single time I listen to or watch that song I get chills and my eyes fill with tears. She channels such power and light.
Meredith and I speak about sacred rage, how it’s necessary to feel in order to heal, we speak on intuition and how it grows after the arrival of our children. We speak about our kids on the spectrum and their heightened sensitivities, and we also touch on the oh so common narcissist and empath connection.
I loved my conversation with Meredith, we meandered a bit and I love all the different directions we went in. I hope you enjoy it too!!
Find Meredith - ‪@mendwithmere‬