Rooted Healing

In this rich and timely conversation, we sit down with legendary rainforest activist, eco-philosopher and elder of the Deep Ecology movement, John Seed. For over four decades, John has stood on the frontlines of ecological protection -spearheading rainforest-saving campaigns, offering experiential deep ecology workshops, and co-creating the powerful ritual known as The Council of All Beings with Joanna Macy.We explore the concept of the Ecological Self - a radical shift in identity that sees the tree, river, stone and storm not as separate from us, but as expressions of a shared being.  As John puts it, “I try to remember that it's not me, John Seed, trying to protect the rainforest. Rather, I am part of the rainforest protecting itself. I am that part of the rain forest recently emerged into human thinking."  From blockades and biodiversity to reEarthing rituals and the resurgence of ecological consciousness, this is a conversation that bridges inner transformation with outer action.This episode is an offering for all who are seeking deeper relationship with the Earth, and it speaks directly to the heart of our work at Rooted Healing. If you're drawn to this path, you may also wish to explore our year-long programme, Deepen Your Roots, which weaves together deep ecology, animism, and community ritual. Join us at a gathering or on a course at rootedhealing.org.  We have a space left at our signature Earth Medicine psilocybin retreat this September...You can access our free hour-long workshop in Embodied Deep Ecology here.The music in this episode is from Mae Bird, Eric Idle & John Seed, and Bonnie Medicine.Thank you Niamh Murray of Enviromentality for sending John Seed this way.Support the show

“We are rainforest people living on a rainforest island… and the greatest challenge is truly remembering that.”In this episode, we sit down with Merlin Hanbury-Tenison, a rainforest guardian, author, conservationist and founder of the Thousand Year Trust - exploring the healing potential of restoring Britain's ancient temperate rainforests.From his home at Cabilla, a sanctuary on Bodmin Moor where native thousand year old Celtic oaks still grow, Merlin is leading a soulful mission: to reweave ecological resilience with cultural memory, and to bring people back into relationship with our Atlantic rainforests.  We also explore Merlin's powerful debut book, Our Oaken Bones - an emotive reflection on place, belonging, healing and the intergenerational task of tending what remains.This episode includes a book giveaway for our Patreon community - one listener will receive a hardback copy of Our Oaken Bones. Visit patreon.com/rootedhealing to enter and support the podcast.Learn more about our offerings and join our free Embodied Deep Ecology workshop at rootedhealing.org.The music stitched into this episode is from The Children's Forest and Bonnie Medicine.Please leave a comment, rate 5*, subscribe and review, to help others find these stories of healing and regeneration. Support the show

In this episode, we welcome Maile Kalokura, a Somatic Educator, Shamanic & Evolutionary Astrologer and founder of Kalokura Astrology & the Golden Rose Temple.  With a passion for deepening self-awareness and activating a sense of aliveness in the body, Maile guides us through the art of softening - into presence, authenticity and embodied truth.She shares her personal journey of confronting power dynamics and radical initiations that led her to rediscover the strength in vulnerability, the power of boundaries and the beauty of slowing down, sensuously.  Through her studies in somatic healing, mystical traditions and sacred arts, she has cultivated a path of attunement to life's deeper rhythms, where sensuous presence becomes a gateway to freedom.Receive our free workshop in Embodied Deep Ecology.Join us at Earth Medicine.Listen to more of Maebird's music.Support the show

Mairead, the creatrix behind Bonnie Medicine, is a singer, song weaver, and medicine musician from the ‘Bonnie' isles of Scotland. Rooted deeply in her Celtic heritage and a profound connection to story and place, her music is a prayer—an offering of freedom, unity and truth, inviting us into remembrance and harmony with all beings.Over a year ago, Mairead's music became a core thread of the Rooted Healing Podcast, weaving its way through many episodes and into the audio chapters of our year-long course, Deepen Your Roots. It was a joy to finally meet her in person at our Ancestral Gathering last year, where she brought her fiery, vibrant Scottish spirit. Her passion for ancestral life-ways is utterly contagious, and her devotion to the songful, ancestral path is something we deeply respect.This episode is woven with songs from Mairead's newly released EP, Belonging, alongside a piece from her previous album, Wide Open. Explore our new Giving page.We have 2 spots left at Earth Medicine.Mairead's Wilderness Retreat.Support the show

In this episode, we are joined by Philiswa Makhaye, a traditional Zulu healer from South Africa. Initiated as a Sangoma at the age of 12, Philiswa has dedicated her life to ancestral communion, intergenerational healing and ancient earth-based spiritual wisdom.This conversation offers a rare glimpse into animistic spirituality, free from the limiting frameworks of non-animist worldviews. It continues a thread of enquiry explored in a recent episode with Dr Andy Letcher, who highlighted the animistic discourse as one of the most disruptive to the reductionist Western paradigm. Through Philiswa's insights, we delve into the deep relationality between the land, the ancestors and the healing traditions that have traversed across generations and cultures.Philiswa's presence at this year's Medicine Festival left a lasting impression, particularly during a powerful collective ceremony for peace, where wisdom keepers from around the world offered prayers from each cardinal direction. Her songful prayer, graciously recorded for this episode, is woven into the conversation - a gift to carry in your bones.For those who wish to experience the full, uninterrupted recording of Philiswa's prayer, it is uploaded on our patreon, available for all listeners. Additional meditations and resources are also available for those who wish to support the show. We have recently launched a free hour-long workshop on embodied deep ecology.  Bookings have now opened to join us at Earth Medicine, our signature ceremonial retreat.Support the show

In this heartfelt episode, we are joined by the wonderful Marina Delamar, an artist, educator, and ceremonialist who explores life through the twin lenses of death and beauty. With a lifelong connection to the natural world and its more-than-human kin, Marina creates installations, shrines, and environments that invite transformation, reflection and storytelling.Drawing from her background in event management, outdoor education, animal husbandry, and animist principles, Marina collaborates with communities to co-create ceremonies and educational offerings that honour life, death, and the in-between. She is currently working at a nature school, while apprenticing as a death doula and funeral celebrant.Marina is also a beloved participant of our 2024 Deepen Your Roots cohort and will be returning this year as a community tender to support the next circle of participants. For those new to Deepen Your Roots, it is our year-long, life-affirming programme in embodied deep ecology, Joanna Macy's Work That Reconnects, and an animistic, folkloric exploration of the ecological Self. Together, we weave belonging and relationship to place as a healing response to the uprootedness and disconnection many feel in modern life. Learn more at rootedhealing.org/deepen and enjoy a 10% discount with the code ROOTED10 as a thank you for being part of our listening community.In this conversation, Marina shares her personal mental health journey, a mystical encounter with a very lost emperor penguin, and how moments like these with the natural world can guide us back to belonging and offer healing amidst the rising tide of disconnection in modern life.We've also added Marina's full story, written beautifully, along with photographs of her encounter, as a free offering for all listeners at our patreon page. For our patrons, this year we're introducing new meditations every moon cycle alongside our guests' offerings, making a truly nourishing time to support this show.  As always, we begin by inviting our guest to root us into the lands that shape them and to call in a being or beings in spirit, opening the door to a broader, porous sense of self and connection.Learn more:Deepen Your Roots: rootedhealing.org/deepen10% Discount Code: ROOTED10Music in this episode is from Bonnie Medicine and Nathalie NahaiSupport the show

In this rich and winding conversation, we are joined by Dr. Andy Letcher — Senior Lecturer at the University of Exeter, former Programme Lead for the MA in Engaged Ecology at Schumacher College, and author of Shroom: A Cultural History of the Magic Mushroom. With doctorates in both Ecology and the Study of Religion, Andy is a singular voice in contemporary psychedelic research, animism, and the revival of folk wisdom.We explore the deep well of his research into the ritual and animistic use of psychedelics by British Druids, hints of myths and traditions of the Fly Agaric mushroom, and the discourses that shape our understanding of psychedelic experiences. Andy's insights bridge folklore, embodied ecology, and mythopoetic storytelling, offering a compelling perspective on how we frame and make meaning within animate landscapes.This episode is laced with music from Andy's former folk band, Telling the Bees. For our Patreon supporters, we're offering a curated selection of Andy's most elusive and fascinating writings — rare gems that are otherwise difficult to access.Andy will also be one of 14 special guests on our upcoming Deepen Your Roots programme — a year-long journey beginning on Imbolc (1st February 2025).  This programme offers a slow, spiralling incubation of Joanna Macy's Work that Reconnects, guiding you to unearth your ecological niche and mythopoetic calling amid the Great Turning. Registration is now open — visit rootedhealing.org/deepen to learn more.Support the show

In this episode, we dive deep into the mycelial network with world-renowned educator and ethnomycologist Darren le Baron. Known for his transformative Shroomshop Masterclasses and groundbreaking work in mushroom cultivation, Darren shares his journey from growing gourmet and medicinal mushrooms to pioneering the UK's first accredited Mycology and Mushroom Cultivation course for schools and at-risk youth.We explore how ancient fungi medicine traditions intersect with modern psychedelic research, the role of fungi in community empowerment, and the potential of mushrooms to heal both individuals and ecosystems.  Darren also discusses his innovative approach to permaculture and organic horticulture, weaving together sustainability, education and holistic community building.Join us for a conversation that blends science, spirituality, and practical wisdom to illuminate how "we are mushrooms having a human experience".The music in this episode is from Bonnie Medicine and Cynefin.  Reach our if you would like to gift your music to these rooted stories. Deepen Your Roots for a year-long slow spiral of Macy's 'The Work That Reconnects, weaving an animistic, embodied Deep Ecology into finding and tending your calling toward stewardship. Explore our world and work at rootedhealing.org and follow along on instagram.Access exclusive content at Patreon.Support the show

Hayley Frances is a poet and poetry therapist from Birmingham. Her debut collection, Administer the Laughing Gas (VERVE Poetry Press), is a raw and unfiltered exploration of grief, trauma and body autonomy, offering profound insights into the human experience. As the first Poet in Residence for Birmingham Women's and Children's Hospital, Hayley's work bridges the worlds of creative writing and healing, helping individuals navigate loss and re-encounter life through the power of words. With over 15 years of experience, she integrates poetry into healthcare settings, leading therapeutic workshops that foster emotional and relational awareness.This episode delves into Hayley's unique approach to poetry therapy, her personal journey through grief, and the deep insights she gained from our Earth Medicine Grief Tending retreat earlier this year. Register now for next year's slow study Deepen Your Roots.The music in this episode is by the wonderful Bonnie Medicine, with tracks accompanying Hayley's poems by Ojhro.Hayley will be offering some poetry practices for our patron community, along with her powerful article about her motherline.If you would like to gift your music to the show, please reach out to us.Support the show

‘Cynefin' (pr. kuh-neh-vin) is the creative vision of West Wales native folk musician, Owen Shiers. Fascinated by music and history, it aims to give a modern voice to Ceredigion's rich yet neglected cultural heritage. Starting from his home village of Capel Dewi in the Clettwr Valley and travelling through the local musical landscape, Owen has unearthed seasoned songs and stories, some never before recorded, and given them new life in the present.The result of three years of research and work, his debut album ‘Dilyn Afon' (Following a River) is distinct in its concept and ambition. From talking animals and tragic train journeys – to the musings of star-crossed lovers, farm workers and lonely vagabonds, the album provides a unique window into the past and to a vibrant oral culture of story and song – it moves, probes and reveals forgotten aspects of the tradition, whilst raising questions around our modern malaise of disconnection and rootlessness.As any of you who have listened to the podcast for a while now will know, belonging is a big theme within our work at Rooted Healing, and yet Owen roots belonging back into the true sense of Cynefin and discusses themes worth sitting with at a deep level.  Owen questions our responsibilities in the protection and revival of diversity, in the broadest ecological sense that involves culture, language and story, which is big theme that we are exploring in our online course ‘Deepen Your Roots' and at our upcoming gathering ‘Ancestral', which is the 23rd-28th July in Eryri, North Wales.  So it is especially joyful to bring Owen onto the show as we approach this time in community on home soil.Intro music by the wonderful Bonnie Medicine.Support the Show.

Dr Matthew Zylstra is a systems ecologist passionate about deepening the human-nature relationship for the healing of people and planet. He has 20 years of international experience in social-ecological research and outdoor education. With an MSc in Environmental Science and PhD in Conservation Ecology & Sustainability Education, his doctorate research explored how meaningful nature experiences and nature connectedness motivate pro-environmental behaviour and regenerative leadership, which - 10 years on - remains relevant today more than ever. Insights from this research and his publications have informed several global initiatives and university curricula. Matthew is Programme Director with the Kwendalo Institute and Research Fellow with the Centre for Sustainability Transitions at Stellenbosch University. He lives in South Africa with his family and finds happiness and healing in exploring intertidal life above and below the surface along his local coastline.  Accompanying this episode, Matthew has gifted 2 PDF books to our patron community: Cave and the Contemplator, which he wrote in 2015, and Cultural and Spiritual Significance of Nature in Protected Areas (edited by Bas Verschuuren and Steve Brown).For more on Matthew's past research visit eyes4earth.org and for current endeavours, see earthcollective.net .   See also  https://bio.site/drmattz.If you'd like to learn more about our work at Rooted Healing, you can head to rootedhealing.org and join us at our ceremonial nature-led gatherings or online courses in animistic deep ecology.  We have a very special gathering coming up this summer in Eryri, North Wales, called Ancestral, where you can join us and embody ancestral village life, full of songs, ancient stories, craft and ceremonies, all to bring us closer to our early ancestors and our role for the next generations to come, to the land and to our more-than-human kin.  The music in this episode is from Bonnie Medicine.Receive additional resources via patreon.com/rootedhealingSupport the showSupport the show

Mercury Prize-nominated folk singer, conservationist, song collector and activist, Sam Lee, plays a unique role in the British music scene, breaking boundaries between traditional and contemporary music and the assumed places and ways folksong is appreciated. Sam's voice has helped challenge what old songs hold for us today. His latest critically acclaimed album Songdreaming comes out today, of which Sam has said:“I wanted to sing a vision of what a conversation between us and the land could be, to restore and inspire a practice of songful immersion in nature that brings with it healing, something we need now more than ever."Sam's debut novel The Nightingale, notes on a songbird richly captivates these highly endangered birds and their place in culture, folklore, music and literature throughout the millennia. Sam is the founder of The Nest Collective, holding vibrant annual gatherings including a diverse range of music events across the UK, featuring outstanding emerging and established folk, world and roots artists from around the globe.  Perhaps most notable are his Singing With Nightingales gatherings in spring, where you can step silently into the night and listen as the finest musicians in the land duet with the sweet song of the ever more endangered nightingale.  Sam's also a regular radio and TV broadcaster, film soundtrack composer and has provided songs for several major feature films. As a change-maker in the music industry, he is a co-founder of Music Declares Emergency, FAC board member and the pioneering artist to work with leading environmental charity Earthpercent to whom a portion of proceeds of the current album will be donated.If you'd like to learn more about our work at Rooted Healing, you can head to rootedhealing.org and join us at our ceremonial nature-led gatherings or online courses in animistic deep ecology.  We have a very special gathering coming up this summer in Eryri, North Wales, called Ancestral, where you can join us and embody ancestral village life, full of songs, ancient stories, craft and ceremonies, all to bring us closer to our early ancestors and our role for the next generations to come, to the land and to our more-than-human kin.  The music in this episode is from Sam Lee and Bonnie Medicine.Support the show

Founder and executive director of the Women's Earth and Climate Action Network (WECAN), Osprey Orielle Lake  works internationally with grassroots, BIPOC and Indigenous leaders, policymakers, and diverse coalitions to build climate justice, resilient communities, and a just transition to a decentralised, democratised clean-energy future.She sits on the executive committee for the Global Alliance for Rights of Nature and on the steering committee for the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty. She is the author of the award-winning book Uprisings for the Earth: Reconnecting Culture with Nature and her most recently published book The Story is in our Bones: How Worldviews and Climate Justice Can Remake a World in Crisis inspired this episode.  Osprey also holds an MA in Culture and Environmental Studies from Holy Names University.The Story Is in Our Bones reviews how women, Indigenous people, and other activists throughout the world are working to counter climate change and protect the vital ecosystems we inhabit and depend upon.   She argues that a more fundamental heritage is “in our bones”—preserved in Indigenous stories and culture. You can WIN a copy of Osprey's new book by becoming a podcast patron. The music in this episode was from Bonnie Medicine and Chiara Gilmore.Join us at Earth Medicine, our ceremonial psilocybin retreats.Immerse in ancestral village life at Ancestral.Support the show

Imbolc Blessings! It is Isla Macleod's deepest wish to inspire and support a remembrance of what is sacred in our lives, guiding us back home to the natural world.  She is a renowned ceremonialist and the author of the beloved book ‘Rituals for Life'.  Through offering a container for transformation, held with the deepest love and respect, Isla helps others access forgotten treasures and their innate gifts to share with the world. Isla is devoted to unearthing our indigenous roots on Brighid's Isle, and exploring how we as humans can cultivate an intimate, meaningful, reciprocal relationship with the Web of Life. Isla is one of our special guests on our year-long slow study course Deepen Your Roots exploring Land's Lineage; finding and tending to the thresholds within our bioregion; creating ritual, ceremony and beauty; finding elders, stories and songs nestled in these thresholds, and bringing this wisdom forth into the threshold of these times. Deepen Your Roots is a year-long slow study weaving Deep Ecology, the Work that Reconnects, and a folkloric, animistic exploration into the ecological self rewoven with place. Accompanying this episode is a book giveaway of Isla's Rituals for Life' for our patron community. ‘Rituals for Life' is a guide for those searching for the Sacred in the everyday, a life of meaning and a sense of belonging. This book invites you to discover how ritual can provide the bridge back to wholeness; through aligning with the wisdom of nature, the cycles of life, and re-enchanting the world with wonder and beauty. Through an exploration of the fundamentals of ritual and its potential to heal and empower, you are guided towards creating your own rituals to support accepting and celebrating significant life transitions.  Guiding you to live a more creative and intentional life, and cultivate an authentic spiritual path that is rooted in, and inspired by the natural world. Head to Patreon.com/rootedhealing to enter this beautiful giveaway.And we are returning this summer with our gathering ANCESTRAL, where we embody the ancient ways of our indigenous ancestors - the ones who lived in full relationship with the landscapes - and through roundhouse councils, ceremonies and intimate village life, we access their wisdom and guidance for these turbulent times with new and ancient eyes. Explore our other gatherings and psilocybin retreats.Connect with us / gift your music.Music in this episode: Songs from Bonnie Medicine's latest album Wide Open (it's so beautiful).Support the show

Dr Saskia von Diest is the founder of Ecofluency, an organisation that offers consulting, teaching and facilitation in the science, art and practical magic of Nature communication worldwide. She has a PhD in plant pathology and has held two international collaborative postdoctoral fellowships to research intuitive farming.  Ecofluency also promotes other human voices in the broader field of Nature communication, presenting multiple invitations into these deeper ways of knowing, for individual and collective transformation.  Saskia has also trained in Family Constellations and in the Way of the Warrior Healer.  Born during apartheid in a mixed-race family, she is committed to healing the internal, ancestral and socio-cultural damage that sexism, racism and privilege (white or class-based) causes in the world. Saskia is one of our special guests on our year-long slow study course Deepen Your Roots where she'll be joining us during the module ‘More-than-human kinship' where we'll explore:Animistic interspecies communicationBirdsong recognition and the myths and folktales carried in their wings and melodiesDeconstructing the dominant anthropocentric over-culture in the great unravelling of these timesDeep apprenticeship with furred, feathered, barked and budded onesDeepen Your Roots spans 13 moon cycles, weaving deep ecology, ‘the work that reconnects', and a folkloric, animistic exploration into the ecological self rewoven with place. It is an intergenerational calling into bioregional guardianship and the cultivation of profound belonging. Throughout the programme you will have the opportunity to explore and develop offerings to nourish your ecological-niche and bring your medicine forth into the world.  Use the code DEEPEN10 at checkout for 10% off until Imbolc.And we are returning this summer with our gathering ANCESTRAL, where we embody the ancient ways of our indigenous ancestors - the ones who lived in full relationship with the landscapes - and through roundhouse councils, ceremonies and intimate village life, we access their wisdom and guidance for these turbulent times with new and ancient eyes. Explore our other gatherings and psilocybin retreats.Connect with us / gift your music.Music in this episode: Songs from Bonnie Medicine's latest album Wide Open (it's so beautiful).Support the show

Seth Hughes is driven by a determination to remind humans of their intrinsic relationship with the natural world.  He believes passionately that the modern human is both lost and disempowered, suffering from a kind of collective amnesia about their roots - but that they have an opportunity now to reconnect with the knowledge - and the simple joy - of our indigenous ancestors.Seth's professional background is in filmmaking but more recently he decided to adapt these skills for his own brand of digital storytelling. Sharing stories on social media of our ancestors - of foraging, of folklore and of the pleasure to be had exercising in wilder places, his videos have struck an emotional chord, frequently garnering millions of views.Seth also runs a men's group in Cornwall, where they connect with each other through Natural Lifestyle practices, such as barefoot running, tree climbing and movement play - helping men to emotionally ground themselves in nature.Seth is a special guest on our year-long slow study course Deepen Your Roots where he'll be joining us during the module ‘Courting your local flora and fauna' where we'll explore:Deepening intimacy with the edible and medicinal beings within your bioregionRe-enchanting our ancestral threads through Folkloric foragingApprenticing with a chosen plant or fungi ally Finding the songs and stories woven within the stems and rootsDeepen Your Roots spans 13 moon cycles, weaving deep ecology, ‘the work that reconnects', and a folkloric, animistic exploration into the ecological self rewoven with place. It is an intergenerational calling into bioregional guardianship and the cultivation of profound belonging. Throughout the programme you will have the opportunity to explore and develop offerings to nourish your ecological-niche and bring your medicine forth into the world.  Use the code DEEPEN10 at checkout for 10% off until Imbolc.And we are returning this summer with our gathering ANCESTRAL, where we embody the ancient ways of our indigenous ancestors - the ones who lived in full relationship with the landscapes - and through roundhouse councils, ceremonies and intimate village life, we access their wisdom and guidance for these turbulent times with new and ancient eyes. Read Lyla June's article 'Reclaiming our Indigenous European roots'Explore our other gatherings and psilocybin retreats.Connect with us / gift your music.Music in this episode: Songs from Bonnie Medicine's latest album Wide Open.Support the show

This is a different kind of episode, introducing you to Aisha von Nahmmacher, who works with me on rooted healing and we, last minute as ever, decided to record a bonus episode of sorts in honour of the solstice and to mark our full cycle of work together.Aisha is a documentary producer currently delving into hidden ancestral practices in Britain and Ireland.  She's also a yoga teacher who fuses the mycelial realm regularly into her work, and she was the curator of our gathering Forestlings, which was a joyous, playful exploration of autumns' delightful wisdom. So it goes without saying that Aisha is an avid plant + fungi medicine advocate who is also burrowing away to help Rooted Healing grow more roots.  You may be hearing more from her as this new cycle of the podcast unfurls…We went on a meandering escapade through the landscapes of solstices, ancestral stones, ceremony and psilocybin.  We spoke of going into the darkness at this potent time and so at the end of this episode we've woven in a beautiful song called Let the Light In by Bonnie Medicine from her new album Wide Open.  Head to rootedhealing.org to explore our gatherings and upcoming online course ‘Deepen Your Roots'.  The course begins on Imbolc so it could be a potent time to enrol now amidst the solstice, planting those intentions.Thank you Mike Howe and Chris Park for your music ongoing music contributions.Support the show

In this episode I am joined with Nici Harrison, our first ever repeat guest, which marks 2 years of the podcast.  After our first ever episode, ‘the art of grief tending' back in 2021, I have taken part in one of Nici's online 3 month apprenticeship programmes, and more recently we have worked together on her grief retreat this year and have become dear friends… we are now merging our work into an exciting new collaboration next year.  In this episode we dive into more nuanced topics, exploring how collective grief relates to our own sorrows, the psychedelic or liminal nature of deep grief and the relationship between grief and plant or fungi medicine ceremonies. This conversation will give you a sense of why we have formed this new partnership and a glimpse into the potential psilocybin has to support the tending of our grief.  Nici is a beloved grief worker, speaker and founder of The Grief Space. Through her own deep experiences of loss, she came to recognise that our modern culture has forgotten how to grieve. Over the years, Nici has been blessed to learn from great teachers, experience beautiful grief rituals and familiarise herself with traditions and practices of tending to grief. Her work is built on the foundation that grief is sacred and is a radical gateway to a deeper appreciation of life.  Originating from the root word ‘tenderness', grief tending invites us to bring compassion to our grief, as we would to a small child or a wild garden. Grief tending is the understanding that to be human is to know loss. It is the practice of welcoming grief so that we can keep our hearts open to life. It is coming home to the recognition that we all have grief, whether it's for the losses in our lives, the unmet longings or the sorrows of the world.Grief tending is the understanding that our earth needs us to grieve, just as it needs us to pay attention. It is the trust that when we grieve and allow ourselves to be vulnerable, we open ourselves to connection, authenticity and intimacy. As we remember the lost art of grief tending where all is welcomed, we restore our connection to each other, ourselves and the earth. We emerge with the capacity to hold it all; love and loss, grief and gratitude; life and death.The collaboration we are referring to is the mergence of our signature psilocybin retreat ‘Earth Medicine' with the art of grief tending.  So in May next year - 2024, we are holding this first alchemised marriage of work that feels so naturally suited.  If you are curious and would like to learn more, head to rootedhealing.org/earth-medicine-grief-tending.Nici is also a special guest on our upcoming  ‘Deepen Your Roots' course,  which is our year-long slow-study weaving deep ecology, ‘the work that reconnects', and a folkloric, animistic exploration into the ecological self rewoven with place. Head to rootedhealing.org/deepen to learn more.The music in this episode was by Mike Howe and Ruth Blake.  Support the show

This episode focusses on the cultivation of belonging through bioregionalism, a life-way that Ben Stopford has explored on a deep level in North Wales.  Ben is a facilitator, gardener and gatherer, offering the creation of wild-culture gardens and the pollination of foraging for food, medicine and connection to place.  He holds a PGDip in Sustainable Food + Natural Resources and is the founder of Conscious Roots and co-founder of The Kingly Stag.  Ben's group work stems from 'The Work That Reconnects' and contemporary Rites of Passage (vision quest), all guided by a deep-rooted, nature-based philosophy.  This episode is seeded in the merging of our exciting, life-changing course 'Deepen Your Roots', which is a year-long slow-study weaving deep ecology, ‘the work that reconnects', and a folkloric, animistic exploration into the ecological self rewoven with place. It is a course to cultivate profound belonging and purpose.Next enrolment: Imbolc, February 1st, 2024 (we are offering a patron-exclusive discount).Learn more about Deepen Your RootsBecome a podcast patronExplore our 2024 gatheringsContact us or submit your musicFollow us on instagramMusic in this episode was by Mike Howe, Chris Park, Nathalie Nahai and Chiara Gilmore.Support the show

As the world changes, and we rapidly have to alter the way we navigate our existence, Bristol Fungarium, the UK's only organic certified medicinal mushroom producers, believe we can learn much from the fungi world.Their core work is to grow local mushroom strains that have developed over millions of years in an attempt to be mindful about their impact on the local flora and fauna.  With up to 2 billion ash trees going to perish in the next 2 decades, anything we can do to mitigate the unforeseen consequence of introducing different genetics into a highly complex ecosystem - the team at Bristol Fungarium feel obliged to do.In this episode, we have the wonderful Elle Kennedy, who, after 14 years in the world of sales & marketing across Europe & Asia and a lifetime of interest in natural alternative and complementary medicine, found herself on a mushroom farm back in her heartland of Bristol in 2020 and was tasked with putting her skills to better use; launching the Bristol Fungarium brand. When she isn't playing mushroom paparazzi, Elle spends her time studying Western Medical Herbalism with Heartwood, part of the National Institute of Medical Herbalists.LinksLearn more about Earth Medicine, our psilocybin retreat in the Netherlands.Grab the last spot on ForestlingsExplore our online course Deepen Your RootsVisit our website rootedhealing.org and sign up for our newsletterBecome a Patron (and get your 20% discount for Bristol Fungarium!)Follow us on InstagramSupport the show

Linguist, author and filmmaker, Helena Norberg-Hodge is the founder and director of the international non-profit organisation, Local Futures; a pioneer of the worldwide localisation movement, raising awareness about the power of ‘going local' as a key strategy for restoring ecological, social and spiritual wellbeing.  Helena's books include ‘Ancient Futures: Learning from Ladakh', an eye-opening tale of tradition and change in Ladakh, or “Little Tibet”.  Together with a film of the same title, Ancient Futures has been translated into more than 40 languages, and sold half a million copies.   Her latest book is ‘Local is Our Future: Steps to an Economics of Happiness'.  Other publications include ‘Bringing the Food Economy Home' and ‘From the Ground Up: Rethinking Industrial Agriculture'.  Helena is also the producer of the award-winning documentary ‘The Economics of Happiness'. From 1975, Helena worked with the people of Ladakh, to find ways of enabling their culture to meet the modern world without sacrificing social and ecological values. She was the first outsider in modern times to become fluent in the language.She has helped to initiate localization movements on every continent, particularly in South Korea and Japan, and co-founded both the International Forum on Globalization and the Global Ecovillage Network.In this episode, Helena debunks many myths around the perpetuation of economical globalisation, including agricultural misconceptions, whilst also offering connecting insights into the shift in the human psyche from local life to mainstreamed globalisation. Join us at the Planet Local Summit in Bristol.Explore our workJoin us at ForestlingsLearn more about Earth MedicineOffer your musicSupport the show

Lindsay Branham is a revolutionary eco-doula, an Emmy-nominated filmmaker and a social scientist, dedicated to leveraging media and technology to end human rights abuses and ecological disconnect.  She is the Founder of Novo film, which inspires imaginative solutions to seemingly insurmountable challenges, as well as a PhD student at Cambridge University exploring nature connectedness at the somatic, sensory level. She is a Kathryn Davis Fellow for Peace and was named the inaugural Envision Social Good Fellow by the Independent Film Project and the United Nations.  Lindsay served as a media behaviour change specialist for UNICEF and Search for Common Ground, and was a freelance journalist for CNN and the BBC. In this episode, we discuss a sensuous, erotic kind of deep ecology, the power of narrative in reshaping social repair, healing chronic illness through trees and interconnectivity, and Lindsay's new book on its way, 'Heartwood'.  ReferencesThey Came at Night - Novo FilmUndrowned: Black Feminist Lessons from Marine Mammals - Alexis Pauline GumbsLinksLearn more about Earth Medicine, our psilocybin retreat in the Netherlands.Grab the last spot on ForestlingsDribble worthy forestalling feasts on Chippy's instaExplore our online course Deepen Your RootsVisit our website rootedhealing.org and sign up for our newsletterBecome a PatronFollow us on InstagramSupport the show

Jill Purce is a renowned voice teacher, Family Constellations therapist and author, who pioneered the international sound healing movement through her rediscovery of ancient vocal techniques and the spiritual potential of the voice as a magical instrument for healing and meditation.  Her 1974 book ‘The Mystic Spiral: Journey of the Soul' was a seminal influence, helping inspire the birth of the modern labyrinth movement. The BBC made an hour-long documentary film about Jill and her work called More Ways Than One: The Mystic Spiral.  She produced over 30 books as General Editor of the Thames and Hudson Art and Imagination series, which pioneered a thematic approach to the spiritual and psychological meanings of the art of different cultures.  Learn more about Earth Medicine, our psilocybin retreats.Join us at Forestlings.Explore our work.Become a PatreonWith thanks to Mike Howe and Chris Park for the music in this episode, as well as Jill Purce for the overtone chanting snippets.Support the show

As a founding member of YES&: Conscious Living, Lawrence Joye co-curates and runs events and retreats as well as offering 1:1 and Group Developmental Coaching.  He is an initiate of the ManKind Project and offers Men's Coaching programmes and workshops as well as co-hosting Menspedition Retreats, which involve pilgrimage and rites of passage as a crusade into the depths and magnificence of our collective and individual masculinity. Lawrence has been facilitating The Work That Reconnects for a number of years and is excited to be weaving it into the spaces he creates for men. He finds deep fulfilment in his work supporting groups and individuals to deeply meet themselves and others, cultivating more trust, joy and reverence for life. Lawrence currently lives with his family at Cae Mabon in Gwynedd, where he hosts and co-facilitates Men's Retreats as well as managing other in-house projects.This conversation spans men's work, healing the masculine, rebuilding reverence for the hearth and exploring the often overlooked transition into fatherhood.  Join us at Ancestral (10% off for listeners).Learn more about Earth Medicine, our psilocybin retreats.Explore our work.Become a Patreon!With thanks to Mike Howe and Chris Park for the music in this episode.Support the show

Kirra Swenerton M.S. is an edge-walker, healing artist and scientist. Kirra teaches nature reverence, ritual and restoration ecology, bridging the worlds of science and the sacred, merging rigour and ethics with herbal wisdom and ancestral traditions, uplifting vulnerable creatures and revitalising wild places.  Kirra specialises in land and water tending, deposession and curse unravelling, plant medicine and psychedelics, dreamwork and ceremony and regularly speaks, teaches and writes about biocultural conservation of entheogenic plants and fungi, with a focus on Peyote and Sonoran Desert toad habitat protection. Kirra upholds the traditions of her British, Irish, Armenian and Italian ancestors and is an initiate in Vedic and Norse spiritual lineages. Kirra serves as the custodian of two salmon-bearing creeks in the mountains of Mendocino, California and frequently travels to the San Francisco Bay Area. You can connect with Kirra at rootwisdom.com or at the Atihana Nature Preserve. ReferencesIndigenous Medicine Conservation FundGrow MedicineJoin us at Ancestral (10% off for listeners).Learn more about Earth Medicine, our psilocybin retreats.Explore our work.Become a Patreon!With thanks to Mike Howe, Chris Park and Dorrie Joy for the music in this episode.Support the show

Elisa Fusi is an Italian molecular biologist, visionary herbalist and writer, with a research focus on human pathology, mycology, neuroscience and ecology.   With an ongoing investigation on folk medicine, ancestral rituals and indigenous cultures all over the world, Elisa has studied and lived with different indigenous groups in Madagascar and across Central and South America.  She later obtained a diploma in Mayan Medicine issued by the Mayan Medicine Institute of Guatemala.After a near-death experience her quest for a more complete understanding of human consciousness became stronger.  She founded an environmental organization called You Are Home and later in 2012 she created Alquimia, an educational centre  promoting alternative teachings on herbalism, shamanism and alchemy in Costa Rica.Elisa is also a PNEI (PsychoNeuroEndocrineImmunology) practitioner and Psycho-oncologist offering advice, resources, courses, and support to people with cancer and autoimmune disorders at her open clinic in Costa Rica.In this episode, Elisa discusses the patterns of illness and the key insights from her extensive research and practice with chronic disease.  She discusses the ancestral approach to healing disease through altered states of consciousness and the initiations one can take to become an animistic healer. Join us at Ancestral (10% off for listeners).Register for our Summer Solstice ceremonial gathering.Learn more about Earth Medicine, our psilocybin retreats.Explore our work.Become a Patreon!With thanks to Mike Howe, Ojhroy and Chris Park for the music in this episode.Support the show

Violeta Abitia is an artist, energy healer and reiki master who leads reiki courses and children's art and mindfulness programmes in San Cristobal de las Casas, Mexico.  Violeta seeks to deconstruct the patterns that take us away from what she calls the most sacred experience granted to every human being on this planet: "Awakening". Woven into this episode is music from Miguel Angel Sui Sanz, who is an indigenous musician who busks in San Cristobal de las Casas.  This episode is a nostalgic taste of a chapter in Mexico, finally reaching ears after a year and a half in the archive. We hope it brings you a joyful and nourishing taste of Violeta's wisdom and Miguel's heartfelt melodies. Join us at Ancestral, July 10-16, Yr WyddfaExplore our other gatheringsBecome a patronWith thanks to Mike Howe and Miguel Angel Sui Sanz for their music contributions.Support the show

Nathalie Nahai is an expert in psychology, persuasive tech & human behaviour, drawing upon a rich background in psychology, web design and the arts, to offer a unique vantage point from which to examine the complex challenges we face today. Her best-selling book: Webs Of Influence: The Psychology of Online Persuasion has been adopted as the go-to manual by business leaders and universities alike, and her new book, Business Unusual: Values, Uncertainty and the Psychology of Brand Resilience, has been described as “One of the defining business books of our times”.  Whether speaking to audiences of thousands, or leading executive roundtables for private clients, Nathalie's ability to ignite conversation and offer tools and strategies with which to ethically harness human potential, has helped countless organisations transform how they approach business.Nathalie is the host of The Hive Podcast, enquiring into our relationship with technology, one another and the natural world.  You can find Nathalie's interview with me, which was episode 106. CEREMONY, SONG & BELONGING: REKINDLING RELATIONSHIP IN A FRANTIC WORLD.  Nathalie is also a spectacular multidisciplinary artist and the second half of this conversation offers a rare glimpse into Nathalie's creative world, where we've woven in one of her original songs, which goes straight to the core of existence itself.  Explore her creative works. This is such a powerful conversation spanning what it really means to be human and how the technological world poses such nuanced, thought provoking questions for us to explore, especially with the rise of AI in the arts. Learn more about The Digital Age: Understanding & Reclaiming Systems of PowerApply for the final spot at Earth Medicine.Join us at ANCESTRAL and explore our other gatherings, episodes and website.Gift forward by becoming a patron. Bonus content comes out with every episode alongside giveaways and discounts. Thank you to Mike Howe, Ojhro and Chris Park for the music in this episode. Contribute your music and artwork.Support the show

A Spring Equinox episode to inspire new beginnings and plant seeds of change... Rob Hopkins is the co-founder of Transition Network and Transition Town Totnes, and author of The Transition Handbook, The Transition Companion, The Power of Just Doing Stuff, 21 Stories of Transition and most recently ‘From What Is to What If: unleashing the power of imagination to create the future we want'.  He is an Ashoka Fellow, has spoken at TED Global and at several TEDx events, and appeared in the French film phenomenon ‘Demain‘.  He is a keen gardener, a founder of the New Lion Brewery in Totnes (an example of 'REconomy'), and a director of Totnes Community Development Society, the group behind Atmos Totnes, an ambitious, community-led development project.  Rob hosts the podcast ‘From What If to What Next‘, inviting imaginative thinkers to travel in a time machine to 2030 and create a visceral, tangible, innovative sense of a greener, more integrated future, where he champions collective imagination.  Rob shows us that rapid, radical and resilient change can happen. It is possible and here are some ideas, solutions and ways to create a greener future joyfully.Recommended reading:The Entangled Activist by Anthea LawsonJoin us at ANCESTRAL and explore our other gatherings, episodes and website.Gift forward by becoming a patron. Bonus content comes out with every episode alongside giveaways and discounts. Thank you to Mike Howe and Chris Park for the music in this episode. Contribute your music and artwork.Support the show

Sophie Strand is a writer based in the Hudson Valley who focuses on the intersection of spirituality, storytelling, and ecology.  It would probably be more authentic to call her a neo-troubadour animist with a propensity to spin yarns that inevitably turn into love stories.  Her first book of essays The Flowering Wand: Rewilding the Sacred Masculine invites masculine mythic and religious archetypes into more nuanced, complex ways of dealing with trauma, growth, and self-knowledge, rerooting them back into their original ecology.Sharing the culmination of eight years of research into myth, folklore, and the history of religion, Sophie leads us back into the forgotten landscapes and hidden secrets of familiar myths.  Her eco-feminist historical fiction reimagining of the gospels The Madonna Secret will also be out this year.  Her books of poetry include Love Song to a Blue God and Those Other Flowers to Come and The Approach.  We talk about the renaissance of animism, rewilding our cycles and selves into the landscape, and redefining health or healing through the lens of chronic illness and ecology.  We also touch on queer ecology and the context behind her wonderful books. Explore our gatherings.Save your spot at Dream Temple.Join us at Earth Medicine.Sign up for our free day-long Summer Solstice ceremony.Get in touch with music contributions.Join our Patreon community from £1 a month. Explore Rooted Healing and sign up to our newsletter.The Rooted Healing podcast is hosted by Veronica Stanwell, with thanks to  Chris Park and Mike Howe for their ongoing music contributions.Support the showSupport the show

One of the world's leading environmental campaigners, Alastair McIntosh is an Isle of Lewis-raised writer, broadcaster and campaigning academic best known for his work on land reform on Eigg, in helping to stop the Harris superquarry; also for developing human ecology as an applied academic discipline in Scotland. He holds a PhD on liberation theology and contemporary Scottish land reform from the Academy of Irish Cultural Heritages at the University of Ulster and is a Fellow of Scotland's Centre for Human Ecology, as well as a regular presenter for Thought for the Day on BBC Radio Scotland.His book, Soil and Soul, has been described as “world-changing” by George Monbiot. Other books include Riders on the Storm: the Climate Crisis and the Survival of Being, Hell and High Water: Climate Change, Hope and the Human Condition,  Poacher's Pilgrimage: an Island Journey, Spiritual Activism: Leadership as Service, Radical Human Ecology: Intercultural and Indigenous Approaches and Rekindling Community: Connecting People, Environment and Spirituality amongst many other published works.Alastair's work seeks to connect people, place and spirituality into a more full understanding of community. He sees global crises as crises of the human condition requiring evolution that is more cultural than political, economic or technical. Spirituality for him is “that which gives life” and specifically, “life as love made visible.” As a Quaker, he approaches this from both Christian and interfaith perspectives. He is also a founding director of the GalGael Trust working with local people in hard-pressed circumstances.Explore our gatherings.Join us at Earth Medicine.Sign up for our free day-long Summer Solstice ceremony.Get in touch with music contributions.Join our Patreon community from £1 a month.Explore Rooted Healing.The Rooted Healing podcast is hosted by Veronica Stanwell, with thanks to Dorrie Joy, Chris Park and Mike Howe for their ongoing music contributions.Support the show

A special Winter Solstice episode with the glorious medicine singer-songwriter Fia, from Sweden, who has a unique way of weaving music that empowers the listener to drop deeper into themselves and find their own medicine. Since the release of her debut album "Made of Stars" in 2016, Fia has been touring worldwide and continues to touch hearts wherever she goes.  Fia diligently creates music that bridges the worlds of spiritual healing, celebration, activism, ancestral wisdom, prayer and self-growth.  In this episode, Fia talks about using the voice to direct energy, channelling voice-play from her homeland, singing together to rise our pain and anger into change, living sensitively and rooting into place, commitment to musicianship and meeting our blockages with song. Fia reminds us that we are singing beings and that the healing potential and expressive importance of using our voices authentically is profound. Fia's songs woven into this episode are Golden Age from her album Waterfall of Wisdom, Gold from Nordic Spirit, I Am from her debut album Made of Stars and Time For Greatness (also from Waterfall of Wisdom). Fia's instagram.Enrol for Deepen Your Roots, starting on Imbolc 2023. Explore our upcoming in-person gatherings.Visit the Rooted Healing website.Subscribe and support us through Patreon. Don't forget to rate and review the show!Thanks to Mike Howe for his ongoing music contributions.Support the show

Sarah Janes is a writer, researcher and avid lucid dreamer. Her first book Initiation into Dream Mysteries, Drinking from the Pool of Mnemosyne is coming out this year in the US and early next year in Britain. It explores the ancient history and philosophy of dream therapy and sleep medicine, beginning in deepest antiquity through to ancient Mesopotamia, Egypt and Greece. Sharing more than a decade of research on Sleep Temples and Mystery Schools of the Esoteric Tradition, Sarah explores the evolution of imagination, memory, and consciousness throughout the ages and proposes that dreams have been fundamental in the creation and development of culture. Sarah curates events and talk series, such as her recent series exploring feminine power in the ancient world coinciding with the touring exhibition #FEMININEPOWER at the British Museum. She is also currently working with author and biologist Rupert Sheldrake and Guy Hayward at the British Pilgrimage Trust to reinvigorate the practice of dream incubation on pilgrimage in Britain. Sarah co-hosts a weekly chat show - Consciousness Hour with Anthony Peake, discussing life after death, dreams, Near Death Experience and OBEs, psychedelics, altered states, synchronicity, parapsychology and time perception.In this episode, Sarah shines light on Mnemosyne, memory and imagination, ancient sleep temples and healing dream rituals, lucid dreaming and hypnagogia phenomena, dream pilgrimage, psyche architecture and orgasmic portals to consciousness expansion.Join us on Patreon for exclusive content to expand on the topics covered in this show. Along with this episode, we are sharing Sarah's research papers and the poem 'Dream of the Rood'. Join soon to enter the give-away for Chris Park's book The Sacred Wye and gain immediate access to a rich archive of resources. Explore our upcoming in-person gatherings and our slow-study online journey Deepen Your Roots.With thanks to Mike Howe for his ongoing music contributions.

Sam Gandy is an ecologist, writer and researcher with a PhD in ecological science from the University of Aberdeen and an MRes in entomology from Imperial College London. He has been involved with the cutting edge of psychedelic research, working as Scientific Assistant to the Director of the Beckley Foundation, and as a collaborator with the Psychedelic Research Group at Imperial College London. Sam is also an innovation leader with Ecosulis, offering nature-based solutions and accelerating local and global rewilding projects. This conversation spans easing existential anxiety, psilocybin-assisted therapy and the hopeful reintroduction of beavers across Britain. Could social projects of regeneration be married to psychedelic-assisted therapy? What other ways can we innovate more nature connection and regeneration, whilst also healing our inner and outer landscapes?Join our Patreon community for exclusive offerings from our podcast guests.Visit Rooted Healing to learn more about our work and sign up for our newsletter.Thank you to Mike Howe for his ongoing music contributions.

Ebyän Zanini Chimba is a decolonial and ecofeminist activist, teacher, and multi-disciplinary artist. Her most recent collaborative piece, the internationally acclaimed short film “Amoriri” has reached the hearts of hundreds of thousands of people across the globe. Ebyän weaves worlds through her words and workshops that inspire, heal, and revolutionise—drawing us closer to ourselves, each other, and the Earth. She “abides by the wisdom written in rock, wood, water, and in our hearts”, reclaiming the animist roots of her Nubian-Italian ancestral heritage.This is a beautiful, tender and insightful conversation on deeply needed topics. How can we decolonise our practices and life choices? What questions and conversations do we need to keep having, no matter how uncomfortable they may be? We talk about grounded spirituality versus spiritual materialism, embodied activism, decolonising birth and motherhood and some glimpses into the creative process behind ‘Amoriri', with snippets of the music woven into this episode. Watch Amoriri on YouTube.Join our Patreon community for exclusive offerings from our podcast guests, including a transcript of this episode. Learn more about the 6-week Womb Sciences Immersion, starting November 1st.Visit Rooted Healing to learn more or head straight to our GROW space to explore our online offerings.Thank you to Mike Howe for his ongoing music contributions.

Annie Spencer is a renowned ceremonialist and beloved elder. She is a leader of vision quests and rites of passage, with a background in humanistic psychology and earth-based spiritual traditions, having been apprenticed in Native American practices in the 1980's and more recently in Guatemalan Mayan teachings, and Annie weaves these with the traditions of the land in Britain. She is also a well-loved storyteller, bringing alive the old myths of this land and connecting us with the earth and its magic as she creates spaces for wisdom and change to emerge. This beautiful conversation spans Annie's connection to her homeland in Cornwall, the traditions and teachers that influence her work, stories from the Deer Dance, or La Danza del Venado (a native Yaqui Dance from the northern Mexican state of Sonora), the important and nuanced role of the heyoka as a kind of sacred clown in the culture of the Sioux (Lakota and Dakota people), Annie's vision quests, rites of passage and thoughts on Ecopsychology, with a beautiful short story inspired by hope and how interconnected we all are at the end.Donate to Friends of Lakota (or find a way to give back to the people carrying the traditions you've been helped by)Book ReferencesThe Deer Goddess of Ancient Siberia by Esther JacobsonThe Man Who Killed the Deer by Frank WatersAfter the episode, Annie also recommended that everyone should read "The Dawn of Everything' by David Graeber and David WengrowJoin usJoin our Patreon community for exclusive content to nourish your healing journey, including a transcript of this episode and upcoming giveaways, from £1 a month.Learn more about Rooted HealingMany thanks to the ongoing music contributions from Mike Howe, Chris Park and Dorrie Joy.

Sufey is a renowned international women's embodiment teacher, who focuses her teachings and courses on the ancient wisdom of the chakra system as a map to understand our bodies and the energies of life. She is an unschooling mama who fiercely walks an embodied path of nourishment, community, inspiration and spaciousness, giving a profound sense of what the feminine principle can feel like when we slow down, trust in life and befriend ourselves at the deepest level. In this episode, Sufey shares rawly about how she leads her courses and how the inspiration comes, the energetics of truly walking in our power, about the art of receiving, what the true essence of the feminine is to her,  about sex, money, and motherhood, and she shares the wild story of how she met her husband and the labyrinth they journeyed through to grow together with their daughter.  Learn more about Sufi's upcoming course (hu)manFollow Sufey on instagram @sufeycVisit Rootedhealing.org to learn more about our work, gatherings, mission and upcoming online opportunities to gather and grow together. Take a peek at Sufey's mother's artwork, alongside access to loads of exclusive content by supporting this show at Patreon.com/rootedhealing by becoming a patron from £1 a month.Follow us on Instagram @rootedhealingco The Rooted Healing podcast is hosted by Veronica Stanwell, with ongoing music contributions by Mike Howe.

Chris Park is a Druid, ecological artist, musician and storyteller, immersed and versed in the ancient lore and wisdom traditions of the Isles of Britain. He teaches ancient technologies, experimental archaeology, educational projects, eco-building, professional storytelling, folk music and raising the awareness of the heritage of beekeeping, where he is also a host on the Living Beeing Podcast, bringing conversations together for the love of bees. He began working with the Order of Bards, Ovates & Druids in 1997 and he hosts seasonal ceremonies within a sacred grove at home, and further afield as a Druid priest, celebrant and teacher. Chris was in the BBC TV show ‘Surviving the Iron Age', which followed 17 volunteers living as Iron Age Celts, over 7 weeks of a wet Welsh autumn, where they had to maintain their settlement just as the Celts did 2000 years ago. He guides storytelling and folkloric tours around the ancient landscapes of the White Horse of Uffington and Weyland's Smithy, The Ridgeway and The Avebury Complex and Stonehenge, discovering archaeology, heritage, nature and a deeper sense of place.In this episode we cover a Druid's relationship to land and place, Chris's multi-faith water prayer ceremonies, his pilgrimage for peace in a coracle,  the importance of art and music as forms of Bardic magic, stone circles, cultivating a belonging with land and people... and so much more.Join us at Patreon for all of our wonderful giveaways and specially curated content to deepen your healing journey. Learn more about DruidryLearn more about our work at Rooted HealingThe Rooted Healing podcast is hosted by Veronica Stanwell, with thanks to Mike Howe for ongoing music contributions. The flute in this episode is played by Chris Park.

Pia Sewelies and Veronica Stanwell discuss what lead them to create Deep Remembering and how their paths wove together through their shared multidimensional healing journey around womb sovereignty and wild feminine reclamation. Pia is a facilitator for ceremonial & embodied awakening experiences. She is a yoga & somatic movement teacher, and a student of ancient shamanic healing rituals. Pia transmutes ancient practices and traditions into a modern day language, bridging the gab for deeply transformative and nurturing transcultural experiences.She is the founder of Our Future Is Ancient - an organisation that is weaving a cross-cultural network, preserving ancient wisdom, to fuel individual & collective awakening, in pursuit to break with the old linear paradigm and to allow us to expand our minds and explore alternative ways to healing & growth.Learn more about Deep Remembering, 5-11 September, Italy.Book with your special discount here. Please rate and review the show! We are still collecting a magical alter set to give away to our winning review. Explore more at rootedhealing.orgThe Rooted Healing podcast is hosted by Veronica Stanwell, with ongoing music contributions from Mike Howe. 

Tree Carr is an author, dream guide and death doula, who works in the esoteric realms of dreams, death and divination.  Her published books ‘DREAMS: How to Connect With Your Dreams to Enrich Your Life' and ‘Conscious Dreamer' are both deeply insightful, fascinating reads, weaving science with anecdotal dream guidance from someone who has clearly ventured across her own inner landscapes with deep curiosity. Tree works closely with oneirogens (dreaming plants and herbs) as part of her conscious dreaming practice and facilitates workshops and ceremonies to connect people more deeply into their dream-work alongside explorations with plant consciousness. Tree's work as a Death doula or End of Life Guide, involves helping people spiritually, emotionally, existentially and practically at the end of their lives, holding the space for healing, peace, support and compassion during the profound and sacred time of death and dying. Tree is gifting our podcast patron listeners her workshop 'Death and the Psychopomp'. You can become a podcast patron from £1 per month, where you receive a plethora of exclusive content and giveaways. GIVEAWAY! Win Tree's book  ‘DREAMS: How to Connect With Your Dreams to Enrich Your Life' by sharing this episode on social media and tagging @Tree_Carr and @Rootedhealingco or become a podcast patron. Prize-draw is on the Harvest full moon September 10th. Book referencesThe Art of Dying by Peter FenwickThe Immortality Key: Uncovering the Secret History of the Religion with No Name by Brian C. MurareskuPlease rate and review the show! We are still collecting a magical alter set to give away to our winning review. Join us at Deep Remembering or Animate Landscapes next month. Explore more at rootedhealing.orgThe Rooted Healing podcast is hosted by Veronica Stanwell, with ongoing music contributions from Mike Howe. 

Isabel Tew is a yoga teacher, life coach, a meditator and a breath explorer (an Oxygen Advantage Advanced Instructor). She is the creator of Breath Cards, as seen across London yoga studios, which are a pocket-sized tool to teach you a variety of breath practices that help you on your human journey.  She talks about yoga as an art of becoming more subtle and how breath-work can act as bridge between the movement practice and deep meditation, whilst deepening your capacity to be your own teacher along the way.  She also shares her love for Vipassana meditation and how she came to birth Breath Cards in the first place.Become a podcast patron form £1 a month to enter the draw to win a set of Breath Cards and receive other exclusive content.Learn more about Deep Remembering and book yourself onto Deep Remembering in Italy, 5-11 September with a 5% discount here.The Rooted Healing podcast is hosted by Veronica Stanwell.With thanks to Mike Howe, Christiana Eva and Dorrie Joy for their ongoing music contributions.

Christiana Eva Schelfhout is a musician and healing arts practitioner, who has had her own deep apprenticeship with chronic mental and physical illness, which has lead her on an expansive path of exploration and discovery around the world, drinking from wellsprings of traditional knowledge. Much of her extensive time in training and facilitation has been spent as a Trauma Informed Yoga Instructor and as a maker of healing songs and sounds. She regularly sits in ceremony and spends much of her time immersed in studentship with plant allies. She is the founder of Animate Healing and works with the prestigious wellbeing centre Shou Sugi Ban House in Watermill, New York.  Her musicianship transmutes into her work in the healing arts and snippets from her EP ‘UNDER (cov)Her' are woven into this episode. Resources and referencesNutrition and physical degeneration (Book) by Weston A. PriceRachelle Garcia Seliga @innatetraditionsCarly Rae (Integrative Bodywork)Katya Nova @nurturingnovasThe Great Cosmic Mother (Book) by Barbara Moore and Monica SjööGain you 50% off to work with Christiana 1 on 1 by joining us at Patreon. You can become a podcast patron from £1 a month in exchange for a variety of carefully curated content to enrich your healing and explorative journey. Visit Patreon.com/rootedhealing to help us cover the costs of the show. Find out more about our Summer Solstice Rebirth gathering and book with your exclusive 20% discount.The Rooted Healing podcast is hosted by Veronica StanwellWith thanks to Mike Howe for the ongoing music contributions.

Sofia Abramian is an enchanting Mother, Doula and women's facilitator, who calls for a shift in consciousness around womens' self worth and natural birth, reminding us all that ‘our bodies are a measure of the universe' and that we have the wisdom, strength and innate ability to celebrate womanhood, birth and motherhood as a deeply central, spiritual aspect of the human experience, reviving the icon of the fertility goddess, mother and life giver. We need more doulas like Sofia to remind us that birth matters and that the more we know about our bodies, the more we realise how perfect we are - like Earth herself.Watch the filmed version of this episode.ReferencesBirth Story: Ina May Gaskin and The Farm MidwivesTo listen to Sofia's meditation (available to everyone) visit our Patreon page. You can become a podcast patron from £1 a month in exchange for a variety of carefully curated content to enrich your healing and explorative journey. Visit Patreon.com/rootedhealing to help us cover the costs of the show. Find out more about our Summer Solstice Rebirth gathering.The Rooted Healing podcast is hosted by Veronica StanwellWith thanks to Mike Howe for the ongoing music contributions.

Lilja Þorsteinsdóttir is a Psychologist from Iceland who specialises in group psychedelic integration, healing trauma (and the emotional and physical symptoms in women), harm reduction, and treating addiction and chronic pain and illness. She has created a safe platform full of courses to help people get in touch with their playfulness and creativity, increasing people's self-understanding and connection with thems elves and the world around them. She offers needed perspective on both the healing potential of psychedelics in psychotherapy and the risks involved. She calls for all involved in facilitation and participation to practice reciprocity with the cultures, medicines and lands that these healing practices derive from. Book ReferencesHow To Change Your Mind - Michael PollanThe Body Keeps the Score - Bessel A. van der KolkIn the Realm of Hungry Ghosts - Dr. Gabor MatéBraiding Sweetgrass - Robin Wall KimmererYou can become a podcast patron from £1 a month in exchange for a variety of carefully curated content to enrich your healing and explorative journey. Visit Patreon.com/rootedhealing to help us cover the costs of the show. Find out more about our Summer Solstice Rebirth gathering.The Rooted Healing podcast is hosted by Veronica StanwellWith thanks to Mike Howe for the ongoing music contributions.

Joya Berrow & Lucy Jane are award winning documentary directors, most notable for their craft of directing authentic human stories with impactful narratives focusing on climate justice, land and ocean regeneration and amplifying marginalised voices in the climate movement. They capture stories that go beyond the typical mainstream media around the climate crisis that often leaves us feeling paralysis and despair. These are stories that can demonstrate and model grass root change and impact in a really beautiful, emotive and real way. Find their films at therighttoroam.com and follow along on instagram @therighttoroamfilms and @JoyaberrowWatch EVE via The GuardianLearn about their impact projects and find ways to supportReferences:FilmsFood ChainsGatherSeed: The Untold StoryFanastic FungiHoney LandBooks Pleasure Activism - Adrienne Maree Brown Why We Sleep - Dr. Matt WalkerThe Body Keeps the Score - Bessel Van Der KolkIf Women Rose Rooted - Sharon BlackiePodcastBeyond The Virus Of Fear And Guilt w/ Dr. Zach Bush MD - Aubrey MarcusYou can become a podcast patron from £1 a month in exchange for a variety of carefully curated content to enrich your healing and explorative journey. Visit Patreon.com/rootedhealing to help us cover the costs of the show. Find out more about our upcoming gatherings at rootedhealing.org/gatherThe Rooted Healing podcast is hosted by Veronica StanwellWith thanks to Mike Howe for the ongoing music contributions

Karolina Karen is a Tantra Facilitator who shares her healing journey into Tantra and how we may all harness the Tantric art of living and loving holistically. Listen in for practices and insight to help us unblock suppressed emotions, access full pleasure, deepen our relationships, use the medicine of authentic communication and embrace Tantric philosophy in order to help us deconstruct social, cultural and self-made limitations in order to open up the mind, body and soul for a more connected and sensual life - without bypassing the full range of our emotions and lived experience. This is a special episode recorded in person so if you'd like to tune into the cosy space and watch us in conversation, captured really beautifully by Fernando Sarquis, you can find the filmed version on our YouTube channel - and don't forget to subscribe whilst you're there. Follow Karolina's journey @elfbless on Instagram. You can become a podcast patron from £1 a month in exchange for a variety of carefully curated content to enrich your healing and explorative journey. Visit Patreon.com/rootedhealing to help us cover the costs of the show. Find out more about our Summer Solstice Rebirth gathering at rootedhealing.org/summersolsticeThe Rooted Healing podcast is hosted by Veronica Stanwell.With thanks to Mike Howe for the ongoing music contributions.

Andrew Askaripour, also known as Fifth God, is a multidisciplinary creative and ceremonialist from Long Island, New York. With a strong passion for health, spirituality and ceremony, and with a focus on projects and writings that carry themes of self-exploration, vulnerability, ancient wisdom, and self-development, Andrew seeks to depict and work with those who are radically striving for a greater sense of Peace not only within their own lives, but within their communities and relationships as well. Andrew is the host of the Masters of Ceremony Podcast, where he merges the worlds of hip-hop, photography and film, ancient wisdom, plant medicine, and more, in order to educate, inspire, and strengthen his human family.  Andrew guides us through his path of ceremonial healing and apprenticeship, which he often refers to as the Path of Remembrance. His insight and stories are food for the soul and this conversation is a must listen if you engage or are interested in engaging with ceremony, whether with plant medicines or without. Find Andrew's work at FifthGod.com and tune into the Masters of Ceremony podcast.You can become a podcast patron from £1 a month in exchange for a variety of carefully curated content to enrich your healing and explorative journey. Visit Patreon.com/rootedhealing to help us cover the costs of the show. Find out more about our Summer Solstice Rebirth gathering at rootedhealing.org/summersolsticeThe Rooted Healing podcast is hosted by Veronica Stanwell.With thanks to Mike Howe for the ongoing music contributions.

Bruce Parry is an award winning documentary and film maker, indigenous rights advocate, author and is an explorer of the inner, local and distant realms. His documentary series for the BBC including Tribe, Amazon, and Arctic have shown Bruce exploring extreme environments, living with remote indigenous peoples and highlighting many of the important issues being faced on the environmental frontline. He is the maker of the film Tawai - A voice from the Forest, which takes a philosophical and sociological look at life, through an immersive odyssey to explore the different ways that humans relate to nature and how this influences the way we create our societies. Bruce is currently immersed in a project in the UK where he is a part of a small community whose aim is to craft a manifesto for egalitarian living, exploring new ideas around hierarchy, ownership, healing, conflict resolution and decision making, to find ways of living respectfully, regeneratively and wildly with each other and the surrounding local environment.Recommended Reading:Feral - George MonbiotThe Dawn of Everything - David Graeber and David WengrowA Hunter‑Gatherer's Guide to the 21st Century - Bret Weinstein and Heather HeyingCivilized to Death: The Price of Progress - Christopher RyanThis episode contains the song of the Mbendjele women during Massana - find the scene here.Find the transcript of this episode in our patron community. You can become a podcast patron from £1 a month in exchange for a variety of carefully curated content to enrich your healing and explorative journey. Visit Patreon.com/rootedhealing to help us cover the costs of the show. Find out more about our Summer Solstice Rebirth gathering at rootedhealing.org/summersolsticeThe Rooted Healing podcast is hosted by Veronica Stanwell.With thanks to Mike Howe for the ongoing music contributions.

Jessie White is a self-taught Artist, an apprentice to the Earth and a part time gardener currently living on Salt Spring island, the unceded territory of the coast Salish people in so-called Canada.  She creates unique visionary art as a form of prayer, planting seeds of spells to bring healing to our beautiful and sacred Earth. Her work, which is displayed at @seedsofspells on Instagram, is both diverse and inclusive, portraying a broad spectrum of the feminine vessel, as well as to bring us in deeper relationship to the larger Earth body from which we all belong.  Inspired by the Eros she feels for the web of life and the ancient art of our Neolithic ancestors, as well as the understanding that art belongs to everyone,  she aspires to awaken and empower others to express what the muse beckons from them regardless of skill or training.  Jessie is the artist for the Sacred Cycles oracle deck which is curated to connect you with the ancient pulse of the Earth's wisdom through your Sacred Cycles—Moon phases, menstruation, seasons, flora, and fauna, and the passage of time—to seek guidance, deepen your intuition, and honour your body's wisdom.  You can also join Jessie on her Patreon.ReferencesArchaeologist and Anthropologist Marija GimbutasThe Great Cosmic Mother by Barbara Moore and Monica SjööThe Wild Edge of Sorrow by Francis WellerThe Cosmic Serpent by Jeremy Narby Activist and Author Joanna MacyRowen White on Seed Rematriation and Fertile Resistance - For The Wild PodcastJessie will soon be co-hosting on the Story Paths podcast.Jessie also shares beautiful poetry alongside her art and this episode contains some spoken pieces she has created. She has contributed some addition spoken word pieces for our patrons. You can become a podcast patron from £1 a month in exchange for a variety of carefully curated content to enrich your healing and explorative journey. Visit Patreon.com/rootedhealing to help us cover the costs of the show. Find out more about our Summer Solstice Rebirth gathering at rootedhealing.org/summersolsticeThe Rooted Healing podcast is hosted by Veronica Stanwell.With thanks to Mike Howe for the ongoing music contributions.

Echo Giesel Widmer works with Trauma Integration as a Healing Coach and an experienced 500 hour + Registered Yoga Teacher.  She is the creator of Full Circle: The Art of Being Whole, where she leads 200 & 300 hour yoga teacher training programmes and she also guides a 4 week integration programme called The Path from Trauma to Tantra.  Echo is also a poet and ecstatic dance DJ who creates community through writing groups and dances wherever she goes.  Her approach is one that utilises the body as a tool of integration and a vessel of evolution through arts, poetry, dance, and voice to journey with others towards integrative healing of the self.  In this conversation, Echo shares some of her personal journey into this work and guides us through her most recent stories of healing involving cervical health, attachment wounds, toxic relating, disassociation, empowered choice and intergenerational trauma research. Recommend reading: It Didn't Start With You by Mark WolynnWhen the Body Says No by Gabor MatéUnwell Women by Elinor GleghornThe Rooted Healing podcast is hosted by Veronica Stanwell.  Find out more about our work and offerings at rootedhealing.org.  Become a patron from £1 per month to support this show via Patreon.com/rootedhealing. Find out more about our next gathering, Soul Medicine. And our Summer Solstice Rebirth Gathering.Deep thanks for the ongoing music contributions to our episodes: Navajo Winds and Thinking Like a Mountain by Mike Howe and Herbs by Dorrie Joy and James Watts.

Pablo Flores is a renowned Chilean Astrologist who specialises in Astrological Therapy for children and adults. He is the author of the book 'Sanando Las Relaciones De Pareja' (Healing Couple Relationships), which reflects his multidisciplinary approach to healing with Evolutionary Astrology where he combines his education in Psychotherapy, Gestalt Therapy and his experience as a Freedom Healing Practitioner. He brings fresh insight that helps us exist in right relationship with others and most importantly with ourselves. You can find his many videos across YouTube and Instagram @pablofloresastrologoThe Rooted Healing podcast is hosted by Veronica Stanwell. Find out more about our work and offerings at rootedhealing.org. Become a patron from £1 per month to support this show via Patreon.com/rootedhealingThere are a few spaces left at our next gathering in Mexico - learn more about Soul Medicine.Deep thanks for the ongoing music contributions to our episodes by Mike Howe