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Why is now such a potent time for women to gather in circle? Divine feminine awakening and the year of the snake was POTENT More are divorcing, or breaking up, more women are standing in their power than ever before And they don't wanna do it alone! It's time for us to rise together and head into the Year of the Horse united with love and compassion and safe spaces Ali and I will talk about this and ask you to join us ladies heading into the 12-12 portal for DEEP TRANSFORMATION and HEALING as we go into the potent winter solstice (which has been foretold to be a HUGE ending for us to have a new beginning on the planet and moving thru the patriarchal wounding of Mother Earth and our ancestral lineages) Did you know the next week astrologically is setting us/you/me up for the next 9 years?? 2025 was a 9 year, an endings year 2026 is a 1 year, a new beginnings AND the beginning of the next 9 year cycle What we say/do/think/focus on this next week (or NOT focus on) will create a LOT of the momentum or lack thereof of what we want different/better/more of in our life It leads us into the 12-12 portal on Friday also!!!! This is a time to SLOOOOOW down and get clear on what you want in your life (health, wealth, career, relationships, etc) Please watch this 8 minute video to get clarity on why it is a potent time to join in circle as women Yes it is online and will be recorded replays to share even if you can't attend live! It is only $22 investment and will set you up for more success/love/joy/bliss/peace/patience/health/ecstasy for the next year and 9 year cycle! Will you invest and make time for YOU??? Many women struggle with this and many of the same addictive behaviors/shadows/limiting beliefs Its not a time to do this alone ladies! Sign up at www.Magdalenagrace.com Monday-Friday 6:30-7 a.m. PST meditations Tues/Thursday nights at 6:30 p.m. PST classes to go DEEPER into your shadows safely and be in circle with women - laugh, cry, dance it out together! SPECIAL 12-12 PORTAL ACTIVATION ON FRIDAY TOO!! PS IF you don't think you have time for this....it is a sign that you DO deserve to sign up! When will you make the time for you???
https://vimeo.com/1135918794?share=copy&fl=sv&fe=ci As agents of transformation, so many of us are here to disrupt the status quo, to disrupt the old patterns, and we wanna do it with love, we want to do it with care, with a calming presence creating spaces where people feel seen and supported and safe and yet sometimes when we do that we actually re-create all the old paradigms all over again, or put ourselves back in the corset of expectation. So, how do we move through that to get to a place that's true and aligned, as a space holder. Heather Stewart is here to share her story with us and these beautiful insights from her crown of amethyst. Join us, for this beautiful, multidimensional and all out amazing conversation. Heather Stewart was an accountant in corporate finance during a previous time of her life. She ran her own yoga studio for 10 years and a private massage therapy practice for 14 years. She spent 13 years guiding kayaking trips on the Gregorian Bay. She is a personal trainer and Certified Meditation Facilitator. She loves everything wellness and has a passion for teaching. Heather's mission is to help others find how to be their best selves. Heather's podcast, Illuminate Your Worth has gone global as a live TV show broadcasting to over 300 channels. Heather also offers support with Coach in Your Pocket, a monthly subscription service of real time access to Heather's support, energetic recalibration and soul aligned clarity when you need it most. Watch or listen to the show to discover ways to find how to be your best self and live your best life. You're Invited! FREE GIFT: Alignment Activation Audit One hour with Heather to dig deep into the patterns that are holding you back from being fully aligned and in your life. https://5nx2p6.share-na3.hsforms.com/2Bm3rvgA0TwunKev3fASu0Q LISTEN: Illuminate Your Worth podcast https://www.inspiredchoicesnetwork.com/podcast/illuminate-your-worth-heather-stewart/ QUOTES If you can believe you are the person you desire to be, you can take the steps for it. If you can't trust yourself, how can you trust the rest of the world? Everyone is an experiment of one. The only one that is going to know it's a fit for you is you. HEATHER STEWART BIO Heather Stewart is a transformation guide and coach for women ready to rewrite their definition of success into one that's rooted in alignment, not burnout. After a 15-year career as a Chartered Accountant, she made a bold leap into the world of wellness, building thriving businesses in yoga, massage, and coaching. Known for her grounded wisdom and calming presence, she creates spaces where women feel seen, supported, and safe enough to transform. Her work is about helping women trust their own timing, follow the call within, and create a life that feels as good on the inside as it looks on the outside. She's living proof that you can change course and not just survive it, but thrive in it. LINKS Website: https://heatherstewart.coach Podcast: https://www.inspiredchoicesnetwork.com/podcast/illuminate-your-worth-heather-stewart/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/heatherstewartcoaches Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/heatherstewartcoaching/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/heatherstewartcoaching/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCb84Op3vnnrPbxKi0BxtlKQ YOUR GUIDE TO SOUL NECTAR: KERRI HUMMINGBIRD Kerri Hummingbird, Medicine Woman, Mother and Mentor, is the Founder of Inner Medicine Training, a Mystery School that shares potent ancient traditions from the Andes and Himalayas for owning your wisdom and living your purpose. She is the #1 international best-selling author of “Inner Medicine: Becoming One with Mother Earth for the Survival of Humanity”, “Love Is Fierce: Healing the Mother Wound”, “The Second Wave: Transcending the Human Drama” (on the int'l bestseller charts for over 6 years) and the award-winning best-selling book “Awakening To Me: One Woman's Journey To Se...
Sita, the heroine of the Hindu epic Ramayana and a divine feminine avatar of Lakshmi, is often misunderstood. She is praised for her patience, remembered for her suffering, but rarely honored for her sovereign choices, her hidden fire, her radical return to Self. In this extraordinary episode, Acharya Shunya brings together the creators of Sitayana—a groundbreaking audio retelling of the Ramayana through Sita's eyes. Together with producer Michael Sternfeld, devotional artist Nina Rao, mystic Mirabai Starr, and author Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, she explores exile, dharma, silence, devotion, and the moment when Sita says no… and returns to the Earth. Includes a stirring passage from "Sita Returns to Mother Earth" and a devotional song offered by Nina Rao to invoke her presence through sacred sound.
Kareem Abdul-Jabber spent one season as an assistant coach at Alchesay High School, a Native American school. This is the story of that season where he learned as much as he taught the boys on the basketball team.CREDITSRick Loayza: Head researcher, writer, and voiceJacob Loayza: Editor, producer, and publisher MUSIC"The Heartbeat of Mother Earth" by Carlos Carty"Horizons" by Roa SPORTS HISTORY NETWORKsportshistorynetwork.comsportshistorynetwork.com/podcasts/basketball-history-101/ FACEBOOKm.facebook.com/Basketball-History-101-103801581493027/ BUSINESS CONTACTbballhistory101@gmail.com
In this episode, Co-host Carry Kim speaks with Terri Napeahi, a Native Hawaiian advocate and founder of the Keaukaha Action Network, about the significant health, cultural, and environmental impacts of geothermal energy development in Hawai'i. Terri shares her personal journey and the ongoing struggles of the Native Hawaiian community against industrial practices that threaten their lands and traditions. Join us for a powerful discussion on the intersection of Indigenous rights, environmental justice, and the fight for a sustainable future. Support the Podcast via PayPal https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=LBGXTRM292TFC&source=url There is a global push and narrative around “clean, renewable energy.” Anyone who has advocated on the frontlines knows that renewable energy is far from being 100% clean or without consequence, particularly to Indigenous people or people of color who tend to be on the receiving end of the aftermath and health risks of renewable energy sources such as geothermal may pose. Every energy source bears environmental risk whether to our air, soil, water, the sacred lands of original Indigenous peoples or the totality of beings of nature, especially those nearly invisible to us. Who benefits and who suffers in this assault upon air, water, soil and living beings? The expense is high for all of us. Terri Napeahi, Native Hawaiian grassroots organizer and advocate for her people, highlights concerns around the expansion of geothermal energy in Hawai'i as well as issues of corporate influence and fasttracking projects without proper regard for the health and safety of current and future generations of life. For an extended interview and other benefits, become an EcoJustice Radio patron at https://www.patreon.com/ecojusticeradio RESOURCES Terri Napeahi is a Native Hawaiian raised in Keaukaha Hawaiian Home Lands in Hilo, Hawaiʻi. She is the founder of Keaukaha Action Network, now helping to revitalize the Pele Defense Fund. Terri's advocacy began in her own community, after hearing that Hawaiians hold the highest percentages of health, income, and welfare disparities in their own home. She has a BBA in Business Administration from the University of Hawaii at Hilo College of Business and Economics, and currently works as a Planner in the Regulatory Division for the County of Hawai'i Planning Department. Carry Kim, Co-Host of EcoJustice Radio. An advocate for ecosystem restoration, Indigenous lifeways, and a new humanity born of connection and compassion, she is a long-time volunteer for SoCal350, member of Ecosystem Restoration Camps, and a co-founder of the Soil Sponge Collective, a grassroots community organization dedicated to big and small scale regeneration of Mother Earth. Podcast Website: http://ecojusticeradio.org/ Podcast Blog: https://www.wilderutopia.com/category/ecojustice-radio/ Support the Podcast: Patreon https://www.patreon.com/ecojusticeradio PayPal https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=LBGXTRM292TFC&source=url Executive Producer and Intro: Jack Eidt Hosted by Carry Kim Engineer and Original Music: Blake Quake Beats Episode 273
Michael B. Jordan talks about working with his longtime collaborator Ryan Coogler, challenging himself with “Sinners,” and what his next ventures will be, including “Miami Vice” and “The Thomas Crown Affair.” Later, “Sentimental Value” star Renate Reinsve talks about the movies that influenced her, her ambitions as an actor and possible director, and her connection to Mother Earth. And the Roundtable shares what it's most thankful for this weekend. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Have you been doing all the manifestation work—visualizing, journaling, vision boards—but still not seeing results? You're not doing anything wrong. You're just missing one crucial step: grounding your desires.In this powerful 45-minute guided meditation, I'll teach you the Tree of Life method that completely transformed my manifestation practice. Within 3-4 days of practicing this way, I started seeing signs, feeling different, and experiencing real shifts.What makes this different:Most manifestation practices keep you floating in your mind. But to manifest in physical reality, you need strong roots. Just like a tree doesn't ask permission to grow and bear fruit, you can manifest effortlessly when you understand your connection to Mother Earth and Source.In this meditation, you'll:Activate and strengthen your root chakra (the KEY to physical manifestation)Connect your roots deep into Mother Earth's coreFill your entire being with golden abundance energyVisualize your desired life in immersive detailGround your vision into the Earth to make it physicalLearn to walk through life with your roots always connectedThe 3 Keys:You are a Tree of Life—connected to infinite abundanceYour root chakra is your foundation (where manifestation becomes real)Remember your future by immersing yourself deeply in your desired realityHow to practice:Do this meditation daily if possible. Twice a day (morning and night) for fastest results. Each time, visualize different moments from your new life. Ignore your 3D reality and stay committed to your vision—the physical world will catch up.This meditation includes both explanation (30 minutes) and the full guided practice. Settle in, get comfortable, and prepare to remember who you truly are.
The energy within us moves along with the seasonal changes of Mother Earth and when we support those seasons by adjusting our lifestyle, diet and habits, we stay healthier and have more energy. Discover how you can support your physical, mental and emotional health in winter in this episode. Enjoy the snow, days bundled up in the front of the fire place and the slower time of the year. LINKS Winter Energetics: My course with lifestyle advice, diet, meridian yoga and other information to boost your health in winter Humanity the Reclamation: my course on human history 40% until 30 NOV, code: BLACKFRIDAY#chinesemedicine #natureliving #seasonalliving #winter
Did you know there's MAGIC in your Meditation Practice? Say Goodbye to Anxiety and Hello to More Peace & More Prosperity! Here Are the 5 Secrets on How to Unleash Your Meditation Magic https://womensmeditationnetwork.com/5secrets Join Premium! Ready for an ad-free meditation experience? Join Premium now and get every episode from ALL of our podcasts completely ad-free now! Just a few clicks makes it easy for you to listen on your favorite podcast player. Become a PREMIUM member today by going to --> https://WomensMeditationNetwork.com/premium Feel the drums of Mother Earth, As she gently soothes your soul. She draws you in with rhythmic beats, And leaves you feeling whole. LONG PAUSE The drums beat on, and soon you feel, The waves of peace roll in. Your body sways and softens too, As calmness flows within. LONG PAUSE Gentle and serene, The space in between. Soften and you'll feel, Your soul begin to heal. Join our Premium Sleep for Women Channel on Apple Podcasts and get ALL 5 of our Sleep podcasts completely ad-free! Join Premium now on Apple here --> https://bit.ly/sleepforwomen Join our Premium Meditation for Kids Channel on Apple Podcasts and get ALL 5 of our Kids podcasts completely ad-free! Join Premium now on Apple here → https://bit.ly/meditationforkidsapple Hey, I'm so glad you're taking the time to be with us today. My team and I are dedicated to making sure you have all the meditations you need throughout all the seasons of your life. If there's a meditation you desire, but can't find, email us at Katie Krimitsos to make a request. We'd love to create what you want! Namaste, Beautiful,
EPISODE 637 - Jann Alexander - Unspoken - Historic Texas during the Dirty Thirties and beyondAbout Jann AlexanderI'm an author, photographer, and artist.My characters face down their fears, in novels that are as close-to-true as fiction can get.I specialize in time travel. Read Unspoken, my best-selling novel and the first in my Dust series that stars historic Texas during the Dirty Thirties and beyond. Explore my photography featuring Vanishing Austin, Mother Earth, and Texana. Journey into the American southwest and Mexico, along the Mission Trail, as I capture the colors in my paintings and photos. "Jann Alexander's blazingly alive novel Unspoken asks how do we keep a family intact? Especially during a time of upheaval and betrayal in the 1930s Dust Bowl? Here, in a story told by both a mother and her daughter, two people struggle to both understand their world and each other." — CAROLINE LEAVITT, New York Times bestselling author ofPictures of You and Days of WonderUpheaval, betrayal, estrangement, families lost and found, poverty, and homelessness, are the themes we wake up to in today's headlines. In the 1930s, the Texas Dust Bowl was no different — with one exception. Nobody knew how to fix air you couldn't breathe.https://www.jannalexander.com/Support the show___https://livingthenextchapter.com/podcast produced by: https://truemediasolutions.ca/Coffee Refills are always appreciated, refill Dave's cup here, and thanks!https://buymeacoffee.com/truemediaca
Take care of the earth. We have grandsons and great-great-grandsons, and we have to, we, our generation, has to teach the young people what we lived, the beauty of the world that we lived, not the disaster we have today.Hello conscient podcast listeners,Many of us do international travel, probably a bit too much. When I travel, I consider it a privilege that comes with responsibilities. For example, whenever we can we try to give back by donating to local charities in the region where I'm visiting or maybe making sure that we tip appropriately and that the people we am with get a fare wage. We also try to by buy credible carbon offsets. That kind of thing. You might recall e235 lallan – art from the soil, which I recorded while in the Tirthan Valley in Northern India :My advice to artists would be drop every garb that you have, drop every piece of knowledge that you think you have. Head to the jungles, head to the rural places. We are living in a time of crisis.You might also recall e236 keiko torigoe – the power of listening, which was recorded in Tokyo, Japan: The environmental issues currently at hand, including global warming, are related, but I believe that at their root lies the decline of our listening ability and the power of listening as humanity.Both episodes were recorded quite spontaneously on my iphone. I hadn't planned to record these interviews, but as I listened to some of the stories around me and I thought it could be a gesture of reciprocity to make these voices available on this podcast to help raise awareness about activities in that country but also to point out commonalities between us all in the world. So, what you're about to hear is my third conversation in this series, this time with Francisco Rodriguez, a Chilean born banker, who with his wife Sylvia, manage the Anaconda Lodge on the shores of the Napo River near Tena, in Ecuador, where my wife Sabrina and daughter Clara were doing some eco-tourism. So we had the pleasure of staying there and meeting Francisco and others from the region. I sat down with Francisco – you'll hear some birds and insects in the background - about his relationship with the Amazon forest as a living entity as well as their collaborations with the Kichwa indigenous people who are the traditional custodians of these lands and waters. You'll hear some beautiful sounds and good stories about the Amazon, which I found uplifting but you'll also hear about some of the very serious challenges that they currently face, which call upon increased solidarity from the rest of the world, given that the Amazon is the lung of the earth. You'll notice this episode is a bit more than 15 minutes. I added some soundscapes that makes it a bit longer than usual, which I hope you'll enjoy.Warm thanks Francisco, Sylvia, all the guides and staff at Anaconda Lodge for their kindness and hospitality. Episodes notes generated by Whisper Transcribe AIKey Takeaways:Support Indigenous communities by living alongside them and understanding their challenges, rather than offering temporary aid.Learn about the Amazon's diverse cultures and ecological fragility through reading and authentic resources.Reduce your carbon footprint by making small, conscious changes in daily habits to support global environmental efforts.Recognize the Amazon as a single, interconnected entity, not divided by national borders, but by Indigenous territories.Understand the impact of Western influences, such as processed food and consumer goods, on uncontacted tribes and their traditional way of life.Story PreviewDiscover the journey of Francisco Rodriguez, who left the banking world to dedicate his life to protecting the Amazon and working its Indigenous peoples. Hear how he and his wife Sylvia created Anaconda Lodge as a bridge between cultures, fostering understanding and solidarity for the ‘lung of Mother Earth.' Chapter Summary00:00 Introduction to Amazon and Indigenous Voices02:44 From Banker to Amazon Advocate05:50 Living with Indigenous Communities09:58 Ecotourism and Amazonian Consciousness14:25 Understanding the Amazon from Afar20:00 Sustainable Living and Jungle CommunicationFeatured QuotesWe always hope that when they go back home, they use less fossil fuel.You have to think one thing, these people have been beating up by our, by we Western people for over 500 years.Our main goal is to make our guests to understand where they are.Behind the StoryClaude shares his third recording from international travel, this time from the Anaconda Lodge near Tena, in Ecuador. He, his wife Sabrina, and daughter Clara experienced ecotourism firsthand which led to this conversation with Francisco Rodriguez. The episode highlights the value of reciprocity when traveling and making voices from different regions accessible to a global audience. *END NOTES FOR ALL EPISODESHey conscient listeners, I've been producing the conscient podcast as a learning and unlearning journey since May 2020 on un-ceded Anishinaabe Algonquin territory (Ottawa). It's my way to give back.In parallel with the production of the conscient podcast and its francophone counterpart, balado conscient, I I publish a free ‘a calm presence' monthly Substack see https://acalmpresence.substack.com.Your feedback is always welcome at claude@conscient.ca and/or on social media: Facebook, Instagram, Linkedin, Threads, BlueSky, Mastodon, Tik Tok, YouTube and Substack.Share what you like, etcI am grateful and accountable to the earth and the human labour that provided me with the privilege of producing this podcast, including the toxic materials and extractive processes behind the computers, recorders, transportation systems and infrastructure that made this production possible. Claude SchryerLatest update on November 13, 2025
Have you taken a few precious minutes out of your day lately to consider why you are living right here, right now at this time when so much chaos and upheaval is going on our world? If you are here, you have all the potential to become a lightworker and influence the course of the world for the good, just like Sean O'Laoire, this week's very special guest on Spirit Gym.Learn more about Sean and his work at his Spirits in Spacesuits website. Follow him on social media via Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.Timestamps10:36 The Hebrew word, radha, explains so many unsolved and unresolved problems on our planet.20:52 “We're mistaking the mask that God is wearing for who God is.”28:15 Will the divine in us ever recognize the same thing in others?36:38 Spirituality has been reduced to religion which has often been reduced to morality.39:34 Do you know the secret, sacred, divine name God gave you?45:40 Moving through an alchemical process.1:02:02 A mirror not only shows us who we are but what we can become.1:11:34 The mythish way of experiencing the world.1:25:54 “The love of money is the root of all evil.”1:33:39 Big differences between signs, symbols and sacraments.1:41:14 How many American woman are part of the Hatetriarchy?1:52:14 The imbalances between technology and morality.2:02:56 Three versions of the future.2:10:25 Sean's five stages of problem-solving.2:14:06 The Lightworker's Manifesto.2:24:20 The mission of lightworkers.2:31:30 Five levels of compassion.ResourcesSean discusses King Arthur and Jesus on the Aubrey Marcus podcast on YouTubeThe Coming of the Cosmic Christ: The Healing of Mother Earth and the Birth of a Global Renaissance by Matthew FoxSetting God Free: Moving Beyond the Caricature We've Created in Our Own Image by Sean O'Laoire Find more resources for this episode on our website.Music Credit: Meet Your Heroes (444Hz), Composed, mixed, mastered and produced by Michael RB Schwartz of Brave Bear MusicThanks to our awesome sponsors:PaleovalleyBIOptimizers US and BIOptimizers UK PAUL15Organifi CHEK20Wild PasturesKorrect SPIRITGYMPique LifeCHEK Institute We may earn commissions from qualifying purchases using affiliate links.
Hey beautiful soul, it's Jody. Tonight, we'll rest in the embrace of Mother Earth herself. She'll hold your worries, soothe your heart, and remind you that you are always supported. So get cozy, take a deep breath, and let's journey into her care. Sweet dreams my friend, Jody Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Kendrick Fans EXPOSED By Elon, Gambino Calls Drake A Groomer, Major Celeste d4vd Update, Uzi Is Back | Club Ambition Podcast Episode 217 #kendricklamar #childishgambino #liluzivert Sponsored by:Rhode Island Education Collective | https://rieducationcollective.org/ Dave's Hot Chicken | located in Middletown R.I. Mother Earth Wellness long term announcement | Promo code “ambition10' for 10% off your purchase https://motherearthri.com/ - Thanksgiving CAP Week 0:00- Kendrick Stan accounts on X exposed 16:00- Drake iceman not coming this year? 28:50 - Gambino disses Drake 36:56- Gambino stroke 45:50- Celeste murder updates 51:25- Klay vs Ja Morant 1:00:00- Carti x Fortnite collab 1:05:30- Lil Uzi Vert reaction 1:09:09- Reaper challenge 1:23:00- Mother Earth 1:49:00- Fabio fake MJ scandal 2:00:45- Bobbi Althoff goes off 2:09:07- Akash wife scandal viral 2:20:00- Mamdani and Trump love fest 2:32:30- Haiti island takeover 2:41:20- Local Rhode Island stories 2:46:15- Ray J Zeus show mess Love Cabin 2:56:10https://linktr.ee/clubambitionUNCUT PATREON https://www.patreon.com/ClubAmbitionDISCORD COMMUNITY: https://discord.com/invite/M8Kmha8UqvMERCH: https://clubambition.shopListen To Podcasts: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/clubambitionWatch Spanish Podcast El Po K: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BqOENhDvdQ0&list=PLNukP3hLjNb_ITL34h3Gjue3z9KWiF-px Watch CAP: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4YVeSYZi28&list=PLNukP3hLjNb_zwvsdwqTOGvgBb-_Ym2mL&pp=gAQBiAQBFOLLOW US!Podcast IG: https://www.instagram.com/clubambitionpodcast/Owner/Host/Editor | SOUND: https://www.instagram.com/itsavibe/CAP Co-Host / Producer | Marloon: https://www.instagram.com/imfromthe401/CAP Co-Host | Noel: https://www.instagram.com/noelfrias_/El Po K Host | Maestro Vitiko: https://www.instagram.com/vitiko_baez_el_po_k?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet&igsh=ZDNlZDc0MzIxNw==El Po K Co-Host | Locotron: https://www.instagram.com/iambenjaminrd?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet&igsh=ZDNlZDc0MzIxNw==Graphic Designer | Edwin: https://www.instagram.com/edrebels/TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@clubambition/Twitter: https://twitter.com/ClubAmbition__/-----------------------------------------------------------Want a promote your music or hire us for marketing?Email us if interested in business! - ClubAmbition401@gmail.com-------------------------------------------------------------RIP: Nipsey, Mac, XXXtentacion, Juice, Pop, Von, DMX, Virgil, Dolph, Takeoff, RHQ, CLARK KENT---------------------------------------------------------------------COPYRIGHT DISCLAIMER ALL RIGHTS BELONG TO THEIR RESPECTIVE OWNERS
Send us a textIn my last episode exactly one week ago, I stated that 3i Atlas is a space fleet accompanied by countless numbers of spaceships and explored the prescient reality of interstellar travels through the lens of the ancient Vedic seers.The seers cognized that we are living in a multi universe where timelines are continually collapsing, folding and recalibrating and that ancients beings exist in myriad forms living in parallel universes. That magnificent Earth is but one such world and its humanity asset of “free will” has been both its bitter challenge and saving grace. ( more on this topic later). In the meantime, NASA is operating from the usual undercover storyline. When Atlas passed Mars, the HiRise camera aboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter was scheduled to capture the clearest images ever taken of an interstellar object. Scientists were poised to see the surface texture, and structure. And then, right on cue, by practiced synchronicity, NASA's data feed went dark. Excuse? The government shut down. Let that sink in. 3i Atlas, the newest interstellar object to enter Earth hemisphere is called an anomaly because her existence is light years beyond humanity's scientific intelligence. as you will learn, she is indeed an ancient most MotherShip. We pray that she is here not to colonize Mother Earth but to oust the old, rote patriarchal systems by calibrating and heightening humanity's vibrational awareness. 3i Atlas Mother Ship, is a 73 trillion pound mass, 5 kilometers long lingam- shaped vessel racing at over 124,000 miles per hour, faster and heavier than 6 million starships combined. She seemed cloaked in a radioactive buffering material bellowing in majestic forms as she pierces the cosmos . She is fierce, humungous, silent, and precise- perhaps a fitting emissary of the Shakti. The question is: is the greatest, most humongous, most ancient ship recalibrating planet Earth as she makes her way to Jupiter where she can safely park while observing Earth? Surely, world governing bodies would have been tracking these phenomenal recommends and know precisely the interstellar mission intended for earth. Jupiter's immense gravity has historically been thought to protect Earth by deflecting comets and asteroids. Her"Grand Track Path to and from the Sun in the early solar system, is believed to have influenced the formation of Mars and the structure of the asteroid belt. Her cosmic gravitational field which protects her planet and all around her appears to be the Mothership's destination and the safest sphere for her to park. ……..Listen In—Support the showMay Peace Be Your Journey~www.mayatiwari.comwww.facebook.com/mayatiwariahimsa.Buzzsprout.com Get Maya's New Book: I Am Shakti: https://www.collectiveinkbooks.com/o-books/our-books/I-am-shakti Amazon.com Bookshop.org
Join us for a profound conversation with Paula Peters from 2024, a citizen of the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe, as we unravel the myths surrounding Thanksgiving and explore the rich history and culture of the Wampanoag people. Discover the untold stories of colonization, the impact of diseases, and the ongoing struggle for land and cultural preservation. Paula shares insights into the Wampanoag's spiritual beliefs, their connection to the land, and the efforts to correct historical narratives. This episode is a journey into the resilience and enduring spirit of Indigenous peoples. Paula Peters, citizen of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe, shares the historical and cultural legacy and story of the Wampanoag: the People of the First Light. She unravels common misperceptions and false narratives around the first “Thanksgiving” and the harvest of 1621 involving Native people and the first colonizers, the Pilgrims. By acknowledging what has gone before, she invites us to envision and collectively create a balanced way forward for humanity. The Wampanoag have lived in southeastern Massachusetts for more than 12,000 years. They are the tribe first encountered by Mayflower Pilgrims when they landed in Provincetown harbor and explored the eastern coast of Cape Cod and when they continued on to Patuxet (Plymouth) to establish Plymouth Colony. For an extended interview and other benefits, become an EcoJustice Radio patron at https://www.patreon.com/ecojusticeradio LINKS The Thanksgiving Story from the Wampanoag Perspective: https://wilderutopia.com/traditions/wampanoag-thanksgiving-stolen-land-massacred-hope/ Paula Peters is a politically, socially and culturally active citizen of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe. For more than a decade she worked as a journalist for the Cape Cod Times and is now co-owner of SmokeSygnals [http://smokesygnals.com], a Native owned and operated creative production agency. As an independent scholar and writer of Native, and particularly Wampanoag history, she produced the traveling exhibit “Our”Story: 400 Years of Wampanoag History and The Wampum Belt Project documenting the art and tradition of wampum in the contemporary Wampanoag community [https://www.plymouth400inc.org/category/news/]. In 2020 she wrote the introduction to the 400th Anniversary Edition of William Bradford's, Of Plimoth Plantation. Paula is also the executive producer of the 2016 documentary film Mashpee Nine and author of the companion book, a story of law enforcement abuse of power and cultural justice in the Wampanoag community in 1976. Paula lives with her husband and children in Mashpee, Massachusetts, the Wampanoag ancestral homeland. Carry Kim, Co-Host of EcoJustice Radio. An advocate for ecosystem restoration, Indigenous lifeways, and a new humanity born of connection and compassion, she is a long-time volunteer for SoCal350, member of Ecosystem Restoration Camps, and a co-founder of the Soil Sponge Collective, a grassroots community organization dedicated to big and small scale regeneration of Mother Earth. Podcast Website: http://ecojusticeradio.org/ Podcast Blog: https://www.wilderutopia.com/category/ecojustice-radio/ Support the Podcast: Patreon https://www.patreon.com/ecojusticeradio PayPal https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=LBGXTRM292TFC&source=url Executive Producer and Intro: Jack Eidt Hosted by Carry Kim Engineer and Original Music: Blake Quake Beats Episode 242
The following is AI-generated approximation of the transcript from the Equipping Hour session. If you have questions you would like to be addressed in followup sessions, please direct those to Jacob. Opening & Introduction Smedly Yates: All right, this morning’s equipping hour will be about artificial intelligence—hopefully an attempt to introduce this topic, help us think through it carefully, well, biblically. Let me just open our time in prayer. [Prayer] Heavenly Father, thank you so much for your kindness to us. Thank you for giving us all that we need for life and godliness, for not leaving your people adrift. Thank you for putting us into this world exactly in the era that you have. We pray to be effective, fruitful, in all those things which matter for eternity in this world, in this time, in this age. God, we pray for wisdom, that you would guide our discussion here. We pray that this would be of benefit and a help to Grace Bible Church. We ask it in Jesus’ name. Amen. Here’s the layout for this morning and for a future equipping hour. We’ll be talking for about 35 minutes, back and forth—Jake and I—and then at 9:35, the plan is to go to Q&A. So, this is an opportunity for you to ask questions. At that point, I’ll surrender my microphone and you guys can rove and find people. For the next 33 minutes or so, you can be thinking about the questions you’d like to ask. Jake’s going to do most of the talking in our time here. I’m going to set him up with some questions, but just by way of intro, I want to get some things out of the way as we’re talking about artificial intelligence. You might be terrified, you might be hopeful. I want to get the scary stuff out of the way first and tell you what we’re not going to talk about this morning. Is that fair? Artificial intelligence is here. Some of you are required to use it in the workplace. Some of you are prohibited from using it in your workspaces. There’s nothing you and I can do to keep it from being here. Some of the dangers, some of the things you might be wondering about, some of the things that make the news headlines—over the last two weeks, scanning the headlines, there was a new AI headline every day. One of the terrible things that we won’t talk about today is the fact that nobody knows what’s true anymore, right? How can we discern? But the reality is the god of this world has been Satan for the entirety of human history and he’s a deceiver from the beginning. There’s nothing new about lies. They might be easier and more convincing with certain technological advances. The lies might be more ubiquitous, but the same humanity and the same satanology are at play. We may be concerned about societal fracture and distrust. Some people, if they distrust new tech, will withdraw from society. Others will fully embrace it. And so you get a fracture in society—those with, and those without tech. Some people will just say, “If the digital world works, we’re going to use it.” That’s not the Christian perspective. We’re not simply pragmatists. We do care about what’s true and what’s right. Some are worried about AI chatbot companions that will mark the extinction of relationships, marriage, society. I probably fall into the category of those who assume that AI will mean the end of music or the death of music and other art forms. That’s just me, a confession. People run to end-of-the-world scenarios—the robots decide they don’t need us anymore or the collective conscience of AI decides that humanity is a pollutant on Mother Earth, and the only way to keep the earth going is to rid itself of humanity. The survival of the planet is dependent on our own extinction. So AI will bring about a mass human genocide and the end of homo sapiens on earth. We know that’s not true, right? We know how the world ends, and it doesn’t end by an AI apocalypse. So don’t worry about that. Some people worry that AI will be a significant civilization destabilizer. That might be true. But we know that God is sovereign, and we know where society and civilization end up: at the feet of Jesus worshipping him when he rules on the earth for a thousand years leading into the eternal state. So don’t worry about that either. Some believe that AI is the antichrist. Now we know that’s not true. What is the number of the beast? 666. And this year it got rounded up to 67. So we know AI is not the antichrist. 67 is the antichrist. And if you want to know why the numbers six and seven got together in the year 2025 and formed the new word of the year, ask your middle schooler. Is that all the scary stuff? Not even close. I have a family member who has worked in military intelligence working on artificial intelligence stuff for a long time. He said it’s way scarier than you could possibly imagine. Do you want to say any more other scary scenarios we shouldn’t be thinking about? Jacob Hantla: No, we’ll probably cover some of those. Smedly Yates: Okay, great. What we want to focus on today is artificial intelligence as a tool. Just as an axe can be a tool for good or evil, AI is a tool that either has opportunities for betterment or opportunities for danger. So we want to think about that well. What you have on stage here are two of the shepherds at Grace Bible Church. You’ve got Jake Hantla, who is the guy I want exploring artificial intelligence and telling us how to use it well—he has and he does. And then you have me; I intend not to use artificial intelligence for now. We’re on opposite ends of a spectrum, but we share the same theology, same principles, same concerns, and I think the same inquisitive curiosity about technological advances. I drive a car; I’m not Amish in a horse and buggy. I like tech. But on this one, I’m just going to wait and see. I’m going to let Jake explore. From these two different poles, I hope we can be helpful this morning to help us all together think through artificial intelligence. What is AI? Smedly Yates: Let’s start with this, Jake. What is AI basically? Jacob Hantla: At the heart of it, most forms of AI are a tool to predict the next token. That might not mean much to you, but it’s basically a really fancy statistical prediction machine that accomplishes a lot of really powerful outcomes. It doesn’t have a mind, emotions, or consciousness, but it can really effectively mimic those things because it’s been trained on basically all that humanity has produced that’s available to it on the web and in other sources. I’ll try not to be super technical, but I want to pop up a picture. Can you go to slide one? When we think of AI, large language models are probably the one that most of you will think of: ChatGPT, Gemini, Grock, Claude, things like that. Effectively, what it does when we’re thinking of language—it can do other things, like images and driving cars and other things, but let’s think of words—it takes basically all that humanity has written and learns to predict the next token, or we could just think of the next word. So, all of you know, if I said, “Paris is a city in…” most of you would say France. Paris is a city in France. How do you know that? Everyone here has learned that fact. Large language models have gone through a process of training where they learn facts, concepts, and grammar, so that they can effectively speak like a human in words, sentences, and paragraphs that make sense. So how did it get to that? On the right, there’s just a probability that “France” is the most probable next word. How did it get there? Next slide. I’ll go fast. Basically, it’s a whole bunch of tunable weights—think of little knobs or statistical probabilities that interlink parameters. These things get randomized—there are trillions of them in the modern large language models. They’re just completely random, and then it starts feeding in text. Let’s say it was “It was the best of times, it was the…” and it might say “gopher” as the next word when you just randomly start, and that’s obviously wrong. The right word would be “worst.” So, over and over and over again, for something that would take one computer about a hundred million years to do what they do in the pre-training, they have lots of computers doing this over and over until it can adequately say, “Nope, it wasn’t gopher. It should be worst. Let’s take another crack at it.” It just manipulates these knobs until it can act like a human. If you fed it a mystery novel and at the end it would say, “The killer was…” it has to be able to understand everything before to adequately guess who the killer was, or “What is the capital of France?” It compresses tons and tons of knowledge from all of the written text. Then you start putting images in and it compresses knowledge from images and experience from life into a whole bunch of knobs—basically, numbers assigned so it can have an output that is reasonable. Next slide. You take people—pre-training is the process where you’re basically feeding text into it and it’s somehow learning. We don’t even know—humans are not choosing which knobs mean what. It’s a black box. We can sort of start to figure out which knobs might mean things like masculinity or number or verbs, but at the end, you just have a big bunch of numbers. Then humans come in and train it—reinforcement learning with human feedback. They say, “This is the kind of answers we want this tool to give.” At the outcome, people are saying, “We ask it a question, it outputs an answer, we say that’s a good one, that’s a bad one.” But in this, you can see there’s lots of opportunity for falsehood or biases—unstated or purposeful—to sneak in. If you feed in bad data into the training set, and if it’s trained on all of the internet—all that humans have made—you’re going to have a whole lot of truth in there, but also a whole lot of falsehood. It’s not learning to discern between those things; it’s learning all those things. In reinforcement learning with human feedback, we’re basically fine-tuning it, saying, “This is the kind of answer we want you to give,” and that’s going to depend on who teaches it. Then the final step is people judging the answers: “This is the kind of answer we want, this is the kind we don’t want.” Lots of opportunity for biases to sneak in. That was a long answer to “What is AI?” It’s a prediction machine with a whole lot of math going on. What Sets AI Apart from Other Technology? Smedly Yates: Jake, what sets AI apart from previous technological advances, especially as it relates to intention? Jacob Hantla: Tech could be as simple as writing, the wheel, the airplane, telephones, the internet—all those things. All of those, in some sense, enhanced human productivity, strength, our ability to communicate. We could pick up a phone and communicate over distance, use radio waves to communicate to more people, but it was fundamentally something that humans did—magnified. A tractor takes the human art, the human attempt to cultivate a field, and increases efficiency. AI can actually do that. A human in control of an AI can really augment the productivity and effectiveness of a human. You could read a book yourself to gain knowledge or have AI read a book, summarize it, and you get the knowledge. But AI can, for the first time, generate things that look human. It’s similar in some ways, but it’s very different in that it’s generative. AI and Truth Smedly Yates: Tell me about the relationship between AI and truth. You touched on it a little bit before. Jacob Hantla: AI contains a lot of truth. It’s been trained on even ultimate truth. AI has read the Bible more times than any of us ever could. To a large degree, it understands—as AI can understand—a lot of true things and can hold those truths simultaneously in ways that we can’t. But mixed in is a lot of untruth, and there’s no… AI can’t have the Holy Spirit. AI isn’t motivated the same way we are to know what’s true, to know what’s not. So, AI contains a lot of truth and can help you get to truth. You can give it a bunch of true documents and say, “Can you help me? Can you summarize the truth that’s in here? Or actually just summarize what’s in here?” If what’s in there was true, the output will be true; if what’s in there was false, it will output falsehood. It doesn’t have the ability or the desire to determine what is true and what’s not. AI, Emotion, Values, and Worldview Smedly Yates: So, ability and desire are interesting words. Let’s talk about emotion in AI, values in AI, worldview, and regulation of data. For us, true/false claims matter—or they don’t—depending on our worldview and values. Is there a mystery inside this black box of values, of emotion? How do we think about that? Jacob Hantla: First, AI doesn’t inherently have emotion or values, but it can mimic it based on the data it’s been trained on. You can ask the same AI a question and, unless you guide it, it will give you likely a hundred different answers if you ask the same question a hundred times. Unless it’s been steered in one direction, some answers will be good, some will be bad—everything in between. It’s generating a statistical probability. It doesn’t inherently have any of those things but can mimic them. It can be trained to have the values of the trainers. You can have system prompts where the system is prompted to respond in a way that mimics values, mimics emotions. The danger is if you just accept what it says as truth, which a lot of people will do. You say, “I want to know a piece of data,” and you ask the AI and the answer comes out, and you accept it. But you have to understand the AI is just generating a response based on probabilities. If you haven’t guided it to have a set of values, you don’t know what’s going to come out—and somebody may hide some values in it. Gemini actually did this. I think it was Gemini 2, but if you asked for a picture of the Founding Fathers, it would—because it was taught in the system prompt to prioritize diversity—give you images of a diverse group of females or different races, other than the races of the actual Founding Fathers, because it was taught to prioritize that. It had a hidden value in it. You can guide it to have the values you want with a prompt. It’s not guaranteed, but this is the kind of thing I would encourage you to do if you’re using these tools: put your own system prompt on it, tell it what worldview you want it to come from, what your aim is, and you’ll get a more helpful answer than not. Is AI Avoidable? Smedly Yates: Is AI something we can avoid, ignore, be blissfully ignorant about, put our heads in the sand? Jacob Hantla: You could, but I think it’s wise that we all think about it. I’m not encouraging people to adopt it in the same way that I have or Smed has. But the reality is, the world around us has changed. It’s irreversibly different because of the introduction of this technology. That’s what happens with any technology—you can’t go back. Technological advances are inevitable, stacked from scientific discovery and advances. If OpenAI wasn’t doing what it’s doing, somebody else would. You can’t go back. You can’t ignore it because the world is going to be different. You’re going to be influenced by both the presence of it and the output of it. When you get called on the phone now with a very believable voice, it might not be the person it sounds like—AI can mimic what it’s been trained on. There’s thousands of hours of Smed’s voice; it won’t be long before Smed could call you and it’s not Smed. Or Scott Demerest could send you an email asking for a credit card and it’s not Scott. News reports are generated by AI; some of them are true, effective, good summaries, and some could be intentionally spreading disinformation or straight-up falsehood. If you’re not aware of the presence of these things, you could be taken advantage of. Some work environments now require you to do more than you could have otherwise, and not being willing to look at the tools in some jobs will make you unable to compete. Commercially Available AI Products: Benefits and Dangers Smedly Yates: Let’s talk about the commercially available AI products that people can access as a tool. What are the opportunities, the benefits, and what are some of the dangers? Jacob Hantla: There are so many we couldn’t begin to go through all of them, but the ones most of you will interact with are large language models—people just say “ChatGPT” like Kleenex for tissues. It was the first one that came out and is probably the most ubiquitous, one of the easiest to use, and most powerful free ones. There’s ChatGPT by OpenAI, Gemini by Google, Claude by Anthropic, Grock by X.AI (Elon Musk’s), DeepSeek from China (good to know that’s made/controlled by China), Meta’s Llama, etc. Do the company names matter? Yes. It’s good to know who made it and what their goals are, because worldviews are to some degree baked into the model. If you’re ignorant of that, you’ll be more likely to be deceived or not use the tool to the maximum. But with all of these, these are large language models. I drive around now with AI driving my car—ultimately, it’s a similar basis, but that’s not our focus here. Large language models open up the availability of knowledge to us. They’re superpowered Google searches. You can upload a bunch of journal articles, ask it to train you to mastery on a topic. For example, I was trying to understand diastolic heart failure and aortic stenosis—uploaded articles, had a built-in tutor. The tutor asked me questions, evaluated my understanding, used the Socratic method to train me to mastery. This could do in 45 minutes what would have taken me much longer on my own. Every tool can do that. The bad side: you could have it summarize articles for you, and now feel like you have mastery you didn’t actually gain. You could generate an essay or pass a test using it, bypassing the entire process of learning and thinking. Students: if you have a tool that mimics human knowledge and creativity, and you have an assignment to write an essay, and you turn in what the tool generated as your own, you’re being dishonest and you bypass the learning process. The essay wasn’t the point—the process was. Passing a test is about assessing if you know things. If the AI does it for you, you bypass learning. I liken it to going to the gym. The point isn’t moving the weights, it’s building muscle. With education, the learning process is like exercise. It’s easy to have AI do the heavy lifting and think you did it, but you didn’t get stronger. So, be aware of what you’re losing and what you’re gaining. The tool itself isn’t morally good or bad; it’s how the human uses it. The more powerful the technology, the greater good or evil can be accomplished. The printing press could distribute Bibles, but also propaganda. Using AI with Worldview and Preferences Jacob Hantla: When I interact with AI on the Bible, I put a prompt: “When I ask about the Bible or theology, you will answer from a conservative, evangelical, Bible-believing perspective that uses a literal, grammatical-historical hermeneutic and a premillennial eschatology. Assume the 66-book Protestant canon is inspired, inerrant, infallible, completely trustworthy, without error in the original manuscripts, sufficient, and fully authoritative in all it affirms. No sources outside of the 66 books of this canon should be regarded as having these properties. Truth is objective, not relative; therefore, any claim that contradicts the Bible so understood is wrong.” I’m teaching it to adopt this worldview. If you don’t set your preferences, you might get any answer. The tool can learn your preference over time, but it’s better to set it explicitly. Audience Q&A Presuppositions and Biases in AI Audience (Nick O’Neal): What about the values and agenda behind those who input the data? What discernment do the programmers have to put that information in? Jacob Hantla: That goes to baked-in presuppositions or assumptions in the model. Pre-training is basically non-discerning: it’s huge chunks of everything ever written—good, bad, ugly, in between. It’s trained not on a set of values. Nobody programs values in directly; the people making it don’t even know what's being baked in. The fine-tuning comes when trainers judge outputs and reinforce certain responses. System prompts—unseen by users—further guide outputs, reflecting company worldviews. Companies like OpenAI are trying to have an open model so each person can let it adopt their own worldview, but there are still baked-in biases. For example, recent headlines showed some models valuing certain people groups differently, which reflects issues in training data or the trainers' worldview. You’re right to always ask about the underlying assumptions, which is why it would be foolish to just accept whatever comes out as truth. In areas like engineering, worldview matters less, but in many subjects, the biases matter. Is There an AI Bubble? Audience (Matthew Puit): When AI came out, the costs rose artificially by companies. Is the AI bubble going to pop? Jacob Hantla: I don’t know. I think AI will be one of the most transformational technologies. It’ll change things in ways we anticipate and in ways we don’t. Some people will make a lot of money, some will flop. If I knew for sure, I could make a lot of money in the stock market. AI-Generated Worship Music Audience (Rebecca): I see AI-generated worship music based on Psalms, but it’s generated by AI. Is anything lost in AI-generated worship music? Jacob Hantla: AI doesn’t have a soul or the Holy Spirit. It can generate worship music with good doctrine, but that doctrine didn’t come from a place of worship. AI can pray a prayer, but the words aren’t the result of a worshipful heart. You can worship God with those words, but you’re not following a human author who was worshipping God. For example, my kids used Suno (an AI music tool) to set a Bible verse to music for memorization—very helpful. Some might be uncomfortable with music unless it was created by a human; that’s a preference. Creativity is changing, and it will get hard to tell if music or video was made by a human or by AI. That distinction is getting harder to make every day. Setting Preferences in AI Tools Audience (Lee): You mentioned putting your preferences in. How do I do that, especially with free tools? Jacob Hantla: Paid AIs get more processing power, context window, and can use your preferences more consistently. Free versions have some ability—you can usually add preferences in the menu. But even if not, you can paste your preferences at the beginning of your question each time: define who you are, what you want, what worldview to answer from. For example: “I’m a Bible-believing Christian,” or “I’m a nurse anesthesiologist.” That helps the AI give a better answer. Parental Guidance and Children Using AI Smedly Yates: What should parents be aware of in helping their kids navigate AI? Jacob Hantla: Be aware of dangers and opportunities. Kids will likely use these tools, so set limits and help them navigate well. These tools can act like humans—kids without friends might use them as companions, and companies are adding companion avatars, some with sinful tendencies. That can be a danger. For school, a good use is as a tutor: after a quiz, have your child upload the results and ask, “Help me understand where I’m weak on this topic.” But also, be aware of the temptation to use AI to cheat or shortcut the process of learning, discovery, and thinking. Which AI Model? Will AI Become Self-Aware? Audience (Steve): Is there a model you recommend? And does the Bible preclude the possibility of AI becoming self-aware? Jacob Hantla: There’s benefits and drawbacks to all. For getting started, ChatGPT or Perplexity are easiest. Perplexity lets you limit sources to research or peer-reviewed articles and can web search for verification—good guardrails. I build in prompts like “verify all answers with at least two web sources, cite them, and state level of confidence.” On self-awareness: AI will never have the value of humans—they're not created in God’s image, they’re made in our image, copying human behavior. Will they gain some kind of self-awareness? Maybe, in the sense of mimicking humanness, but not true humanity. They won't have souls. They may start to fool more people as they get better, but Christians should use AI as a tool, not ascribe humanity or worship to it. AI Hallucinations Smedly Yates: Do you have an example of a hallucination? Jacob Hantla: Yes, Ben James was preparing for an equipping hour session and found a book that fit perfectly—the author and title sounded right. He asked where to buy it, and the AI admitted it made it up. That happens all the time: the model just predicts the next most probable thing, even if it’s false. Hallucinations happen because it’s a probability machine, not a truth machine. This probably won’t be a problem forever, but for now it’s very real. Ask it questions about topics you know something about so you can discern when it’s off, or bake into the prompt, “verify with web search, cite at least two sources.” For Bible/theology, your best bet is to read your Bible daily so you have discernment; then use tools to help, not replace, your direct interaction with God’s Word. There’s a wide gap between knowing the biblical answer and having your heart changed by slow, prayerful reading of the text and the Spirit’s work. If we run to commentaries, YouTube sermons, pastors, or even study notes before we’ve observed and meditated, we’re shortcutting the Word of God. The dangers predate the internet. We’re out of time. We’ll have a follow-up teaching on AI. Submit questions to any elders or the church office if you want your question addressed in the next session. The post Equipping Hour: Biblically Thinking About AI (Part 1) appeared first on Grace Bible Church.
Mother Earth is putting on a fiery show! The planet's newest volcano has decided to steal the spotlight, erupting in grand fashion and spewing rivers of molten lava. Picture this natural spectacle: a volcanic performance complete with glowing lava rivers flowing down the slopes. Situated in a remote part of the South Sandwich Islands, this newly minted volcano is a testament to the dynamic and ever-changing nature of our planet. Scientists are geeking out over the chance to study this fresh eruption, providing us with a front-row seat to Earth's spectacular geologic theater.
In this episode Nick Tilsen is joined by Dr. Lilias Jarding, Executive Director of Black Hills Clean Water Alliance, and Taylor Gunhammer, Lead Organizer for the Protect the He Sapa campaign at NDN Collective, to talk about past and current efforts to protect the land and water in the Black Hills of South Dakota, updates on the Protect the He Sapa campaign, and how important intergenerational organizing is to building bridges among people. PRODUCTION DISCLAIMER: This episode contains a 7 minute audio disruption at the 44 minute and 27 second mark. Basically, the audio recorder stopped recording. But we have the scratch audio! What was shared in this 7 minutes is important, so we made sure to keep it in. GUESTS: Dr. Lilias Jarding Taylor Gunhammer LEARN MORE: Visit https://bhcleanwateralliance.org/ and donate to their work. Donate to the Protect the He Sapa campaign by visiting https://ndncollective.org/ Support the For the People Campaign today! Your donation to NDN Collective directly supports Indigenous organizers, Nations, Tribes, and communities leading the fight for justice and liberation. Donate now to fund the frontlines, fuel the movement, and rematriate wealth. ndnco.cc/ftpcdonate NDN COLLECTIVE'S IMPACT: To learn about our big wins and hear stories from our grantees and loan relative across Turtle Island, read our 2024 Impact Report on our website at: https://ndncollective.org/impact-reports EPISODE CREDITS: Host: Nick Tilsen Executive Producer: Willi White Music: Mato Wayuhi Editor: Willi White Digital Engagement: Angie Solloa Production Support: Layne L. LeBeaux PRESS & MEDIA: press@ndncollective.org FOLLOW PODCAST: https://www.instagram.com/landbackforthepeople https://www.tiktok.com/@landbackforthepeople FOLLOW NDN COLLECTIVE: https://ndncollective.org https://www.instagram.com/ndncollective https://www.linkedin.com/company/ndncollective/ https://www.facebook.com/ndncol https://www.threads.net/@ndncollective https://bsky.app/profile/ndncollective.bsky.social https://www.tiktok.com/@ndncollective https://x.com/ndncollective
Ray Ray's Podcast — Episode 170 “Adagio Management, Mother Earth, & Kush & Orange Juice”The team behind Adagio Management, along with Mother Earth and Kush & Orange Juice, join Ray Ray's Podcast to discuss the upcoming “Sticky Icky” private cannabis event — a celebration of culture, education, and entrepreneurship in the cannabis community.They dive deep into the importance of cannabis education, breaking down legal misconceptions, and exploring what it really takes to legally sell and operate within the cannabis industry. From advocacy and event curation to responsible business practices, this conversation sheds light on the evolving landscape of cannabis culture in Dallas and beyond. Recorded at Hello Studios Dallas, this episode is for entrepreneurs, advocates, and anyone curious about the future of legal cannabis. Subscribe for weekly episodes featuring actors, musicians, athletes, entrepreneurs, and community leaders sharing their stories and lessons learned. Topics & Keywords: Sticky Icky event, cannabis education, cannabis legalization, Adagio Management interview, Kush & Orange Juice, Mother Earth, Dallas cannabis events, cannabis business, legal cannabis in Texas, entrepreneurship, advocacy, community engagement, Hello Studios Dallas. Connect with Us:Instagram: @rayrays_podcastWebsite: www.rayrayspodcast.comEmail: ray@rayrayspodcast.com#RayRaysPodcast #StickyIcky #CannabisEducation #AdagioManagement #KushAndOrangeJuice #MotherEarth #DallasPodcast #CannabisEvent #Entrepreneurship #CannabisBusiness #CannabisCommunity #HelloStudiosDallas
Hey y'all, this podcast contains potentially disturbing content. Our show includes graphic references to topics such as sexual abuse, self-harm, violence, eating disorders, explicit language, and sexual acts. Listener discretion is advised. This show is for mature audiences only. Hosts break down the U.S. Supreme Court's refusal to hear Kim Davis' appeal, California's ruling protecting LGBTQ elders, Pennsylvania's first out trans mayor, a homophobic school-board rant over brownies, SNAP shortages during the government shutdown, Dodgers controversy, and local climate activism and pollution in Long Beach — offering queer perspectives, community resources, and practical ways to help.
https://vimeo.com/1135913257 What is unconditional love? And how does life call you forward to express that unconditional love? Today's guest, Erica Baccus faced that very question as she kept her promise to help her partner of 41 years to end his life, with dignity when he found out he had Alzheimer's dementia. Join us for this beautiful conversation. The story of love. And have your heart open to the power of love. Erica Baccus was an English teacher. She is the founder of a high-tech marketing, advertising, and research company. Erica is a mom, a caregiver, a widow, and a lived-experience expert on end-of-life autonomy for dementia. Erica Baccus is making her publishing debut with her very personal and deeply touching memoir A Promise Kept: Honoring His Wishes, Embracing Our Love. Erica's newly released book celebrates her marriage and life with her husband, John. Their marriage was built on their commitment to each other, to their families and their friends. Together, Erica and John lived a life of adventure. Together they celebrated 41 years of marriage filled with romance, love, joy and pure unadulterated fun. They always said, “yes” to each other until the very end, including saying yes to John's desire to not live with advanced stages of dementia. Erica Baccus hopes to bring awareness to the growing movement to support the Death with Dignity Act, allowing a person with terminal illness to decide when, where and how their death occurs. A Promise Kept: Honoring His Wishes, Embracing Our Love has already achieved remarkable success, hitting #1 on both Amazon's Bestseller and New Release lists in the categories of Right-to-Die Law, Medical Law & Legislation, and Health Law. Watch or listen to the show to be inspired to open your heart, to believe in commitment and love and to learn practical, humane steps families can take to plan ethically. You're Invited! READ: A Promise Kept - Honoring His Wishes, Embracing Our Love https://www.amazon.com/Promise-Kept-Honoring-Wishes-Embracing-ebook/dp/B0FQ6Y7PT8 ERICA BACCUS BIO ERICA BACCUS is a caregiver, widow, and lived-experience expert on end-of-life autonomy for dementia. Erica's new memoir, "A PROMISE KEPT: Honoring His Wishes, Embracing Our Love" is a clear-eyed account of honoring her husband John's self-determined end while navigating the legal maze that forced their hand. Erica made a painful journey through the right-to-die bureaucracy in the United States, the “dementia Catch-22,” and the offers practical, humane steps families can take to plan ethically when the law offers no real path. LINKS Web: http://ericabaccus.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ericabaccus/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/erica.baccus/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/erica-baccus-82a60/ YOUR GUIDE TO SOUL NECTAR: KERRI HUMMINGBIRD Kerri Hummingbird, Medicine Woman, Mother and Mentor, is the Founder of Inner Medicine Training, a Mystery School that shares potent ancient traditions from the Andes and Himalayas for owning your wisdom and living your purpose. She is the #1 international best-selling author of “Inner Medicine: Becoming One with Mother Earth for the Survival of Humanity”, “Love Is Fierce: Healing the Mother Wound”, “The Second Wave: Transcending the Human Drama” (on the int'l bestseller charts for over 6 years) and the award-winning best-selling book “Awakening To Me: One Woman's Journey To Self Love” which describes the early years of her spiritual awakening. As the host of Soul Nectar Show, Ms. Hummingbird inspires people to lead their lives wide awake with an authenticity, passion and purpose that positively impacts others. As a healer and mentor, she catalyzes mind-shifts that transform life challenges into gifts of wisdom. If you are wondering what the heck is going on, the answer is simple. We are in the process of a massive shift in consciousness that can most aptly be described as the metamorphosis from caterpi...
I start by sharing some concepts of the basics of Compassion; edifying moments and our resilience zone, which became lived experiences as I welcomed my sister for a visit last week. Amazonia called me back to this mission of telling her stories in the form of a priceless gift; Amazonia, an extraordinary book by Sebastiáo Salgado. His powerful words and sublime images serve as the perfect preface to the news reports emerging from COP30, contradictory opinions, insufficient action, perhaps too many promises and empty words. The fact is, the indigenous peoples have been left out of the main event and Amazonia continues burning and being decimated. Will we care enough to save the heart of the Earth? Can we, collectively, hold the Majestic Amazon with concern? Can you join me today and hold the Amazon Rainforest within your own heart; with care, wonder and devotion?
In this energy activation you'll bring healing and expansive Light energy to all of your Self, and your intuition will be gently attuned. At the end, you'll use this new attunement to connect with and support Mother Earth in a unique way.In this guided energy activation, you'll experience expansive Light healing energy through all layers of your self, all aspects of your soul. During this time, your intuition will be gently attuned, helping you further expand your inner guidance and clarity.By the end of this session, you'll channel your new energetic alignment to connect with and support Mother Earth in a slightly new way. This episode blends intuitive energy work, Light activation, and Earth healing to help you feel balanced, calm, and gently renewed.For more ways to work together: https://emilymarie.com/offerings/
Phoebe Klaus, L.Ac, MTOM is a practitioner of Traditional Chinese Medicine specializing in pediatric and teen wellness. A joyful devotee of Mother Earth, she explores the deep relationships between people, plants, and the spirit that connects all living things. From her off-grid home in the Appalachian forest, Phoebe spends her days growing and processing herbs, tending her homestead, and learning from the wisdom of both nature and human culture. She shares this life of wonder and joy with her husband, three teens, baby daughter, and two dogs. In this episode, Phoebe and I talk about the importance for kids and teens to have access to natural wholistic healing modalities as well as being given the time and attention to address their needs. Phoebe discusses how she works with teens to allow for trust, communication and informed consent to flow in order to empower teens at this vital time in their lives. Connect with Phoebe: Email: phoebe.acu@gmail.com Website: www.abundantnaturalhealing.com Let's Talk About It! Thanks for tuning into this week's episode of Relationships! Let's Talk About It - the show to help you forge deeper, more meaningful connections and relationships with those around you. If you enjoyed this week's episode, please head over to Apple Podcasts, subscribe to the show, and leave us a rating and review. You can check out the original songs I have sung in my podcast at Pripo's Podcast Songs. Don't forget to visit our website and follow us on Twitter and Instagram. Share your favorite episodes on social media to help others build better, more meaningful relationships. And if our content has helped you forge deeper connections and more meaningful relationships, be sure to help support the show by visiting our Support the Podcast page! Theme music "These Streets" provided by Adi the Monk Sound Production by Matt Carlson
Brian is well known for his time as vocalist for multi-platinum Canadian rock band I Mother Earth, but these days he's performing with his wife Tara as the duo TWO. Brian stopped by to chat about how he and Tara balance it all at home, from the importance of physical activity, to homeschooling, to navigating their kids' friendships, and of course upcoming music and shows for Two.
Welcome everyone to round three of our "Best of" series. We started this show seven and a half years ago to take a deep dive into all things spiritual, metaphysical, and enlightening, and so it is that we proudly present this “Best of World Awakenings – Part 3”. This is a compilation of some of our most recent & most popular episodes featuring some of our amazing & fascinating guests, as we continue to pursue the answer to the question, “Why now, more than ever, are the people of the world awakening to all things spiritual, metaphysical, and enlightening?" Here is a list of our featured guest on this show...CINDY LORA-RENARD: Let's start it off with one of the world's foremost teachers & practitioners of the non-dualistic spiritual teachings of “A Course in Miracles”, Cindy Lora-Renard. Cindy has been on this show at least 4 different times over the years and we always receive overwhelming response to every one of her appearances. Here's a segment of Cindy talking about her recent physical issues she's been dealing with and how to handle them in a practical manner even when coming from a higher spiritual understanding. And by the way, Cindy just happens to be an excellent singer & performer and we will also hear her sing her new song, “Above the Battleground”.TOM KENYON: Next up on this Best of World Awakenings – Part 3 we give you a taste of yet another one of our most popular guests, Tom Kenyon from our 214th episode. Not only is Tom a channel for the Hathors, galatic beings associated with ancient Egypt, but he is also regarded as a pioneer in the field of psycho-acoustic research and is an acclaimed practitioner of psycho-acoustic healing. Here he gives us an example of who he is and his psycho-acoustic healing work. CHRISTY WHITMAN: Now here's a snippet from our 218th episode as we talked with someone who also has been a guest numerous times on this show, Christy Whitman. Not only is Christy my personal mentor, but she is a world-class Master Coach & Energy Healer, and a channel for the Council of Light. Christy also is the author of her new book, “The Flow Factor”. Here's what she had to say about flow…DYLAN MEEK: In episode #213 World Awakenings featured a guest the like of which we had never had on the show before, Grammy-nominated professional musician, Dylan Meek, who spoke to us about seeking his higher purpose & a better world through his music that he writes & performs.WENDY ADAMS: One of the more extraordinary guests we have had on recently is intuitive medical healer, Wendy Adams. Here she talks about what her life was like after being struck by lightning. Plus, Wendy even did a healing on me, live during the show!DR. CHRISTOPHER MACKLIN: Dr. Christopher Macklin has embraced his spiritual path to help the people of the world to awaken and become enlightened, and on episode #203 he discussed just how very important & powerful your thoughts are in creating your reality.LEANNE ROSE: Yet another one of my most popular episodes is episode #192 featuring Trance channel, Leanne Rose. Leanne channels a group of ascended masters known as the Galayla Collective. Here they are explaining in an extraordinary manner, how earth and its people are now entering into a new reality.EVA MÜLLER: As the show host, personally, I have a deep investment in healing, not only myself, but for all humanity and Mother Earth. I have found that healing comes in many forms. One of my guests, Eva Müller, uses high vibrational Divine energies to perform healings, and here she is giving us an example of how she does this.SEAN CALLAHAN: Yet another one of my most popular shows featured Sean Callahan, founder & CEO of USA Med Bed & Healing Life Technology. While he offers the world his Tesla-based healing technology, Sean well understands the built-in power that each human has to heal themselves.SANANDA KRYST: In Episode #196 we spoke with Sananda Kryst who is a channel and Emissary for Earth's Pleadian Council of Light. Here is Sananda speaking to us in Light Language about staying and living in Christ Consciousness.LISA NATOLI: If you are a regular viewer or listener to World Awakenings you know that the modern spiritual guide, “A Course in Miracles” is the primary focus of this show. With this in mind, we have been blessed over the years to have some of the world's greatest teachers of the Course as our guests. Here's one of them, Lisa Natoli. Lisa went through years of poor health and used the non-dualistic spiritual teachings of “A Course in Miracles” to heal here mind & body.If you would like to get your own Lovetuner, you can go to there website and purchase one. Just click this link, LovetunerYou can get your copy of Karl Gruber's best-selling book, "True Spirituality & the Law of Attraction: A Beautiful Symbiotic Relationship" now! Just click this link!
Gonggong—the Chinese water deity and dwarf planet—brings waves that dissolve limits, reveal compassion, and test spiritual boundaries. In this conversation, Elizabeth Ashley (UK Director, National Association for Holistic Aromatherapy; Founder, Aromatic Mystery School) and Adam Barralet explore Gonggong planet mythology, its astrological themes (breakdown → breakthrough), and how targeted aromatherapy blends of spiritual essential oils can support clarity, protection, and stamina through spiritual awakening fatigue.We cover: Gonggong's symbolism (water, serpents/dragons, headstrong rupture → reset), echoes of Pluto/Neptune, and “choose your hard” resilience.Collective and personal themes: compassion, compassion fatigue, media overwhelm, and the rising conversation on psychological & spiritual boundaries.Practical support with aromatherapy blends for clarity and energetic containment (juniper, celery seed, myrtle) and for mental breakthrough (eucalyptus radiata, mentha arvensis/Japanese corn mint, wintergreen)—plus warm creative ignition (basil, cinnamon bark, clary sage).Aromatherapy Blends mentioned (from the talk):Boundaries & Containment (aroma pendant): 3 drops juniper, 2 drops celery seed, 1 drop myrtle.Breakthrough/Clarity (diffuser or well-diluted topical): 1 drop eucalyptus radiata (narrow-leaf peppermint gum), 1 drop mentha arvensis (Japanese peppermint/corn mint), 1 drop wintergreen.Creative “bash-through” (well-diluted topical or diffuser): 1 drop basil, 1 drop cinnamon bark, 1 drop clary sage in a tablespoon of carrier.Safety notes reflected in the talk: avoid wintergreen and cinnamon bark in pregnancy; wintergreen interacts with blood-thinning/platelet issues—use with care or choose diffusion.Why this matters now: With Gonggong moving slowly (currently in Pisces) and long retrograde windows, many report heightened emotion, porous boundaries, and spiritual awakening fatigue. Thoughtful spiritual essential oils can help you stay compassionate without drowning—and maintain clear spiritual boundaries while doing your work.Chapters 00:00 Exploring Gong Gong: The Dwarf Planet and Its Energy 02:57 Gong Gong Mythology: Understanding the Water God 05:46 Emotional Challenges and Breakthroughs 08:52 Boundaries and Compassion in the Age of Aquarius 11:47 Navigating Emotional Upheavals with Essential Oils 14:53 Creating Essential Oil Blends for Clarity and Compassion 17:42 The Role of Gong Gong in Personal and Societal Change 20:58 Astrological Insights: Understanding Gong Gong's Influence 23:55 The Power of Essential Oils in Spiritual Practices 27:06 Final Thoughts: Embracing Challenges for GrowthAbout your hosts Elizabeth Ashley — UK Director for the National Association for Holistic Aromatherapy; Founder, Aromatic Mystery School (spiritual, emotional, and energetic dimensions of plants). Adam Barralet — Educator and author exploring practical spirituality, astrology, and plant wisdom.Join the conversation: If you have sources or lineage notes on Gonggong mythology or experience working with this dwarf planet, add them in the comments to help expand the knowledge base.TO FIND MY SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS, BOOKS, MEDITATIONS, CLASSES, COURSES AND READINGS, SIMPLY CLICK HERE: https://linktr.ee/adambarralet To contact me regarding purchasing essential oils at a VIP rate, extending your essential oil education or you'd like to work with me in sharing these gifts from Mother Earth and her plants to those you care about, please visit: https://goo.gl/forms/Cv96rHPcKya4dhMB2 To purchase essential oils, please visit: https://www.adambarralet.com/holistic-health-with-adam To purchase my latest book exploring the essential oils and chakras, please visit: http://linktr.ee/chakrabalancing CONNECT WITH LIZ HERE: https://linktr.ee/thesecrethealer Stay in the loop for new classes & events: https://aromaticmysteryschool.com/email-capture
What if the voices guiding you toward your highest good have been there all along...you just needed to learn how to listen? In this transformative conversation, channeling expert Stephanie Banks reveals how she communicates with spirit guides, Mother Earth, beloved pets, and even the souls of the living to access profound wisdom that transcends the everyday noise of modern life.Stephanie's journey into channeling began when dementia prevented traditional communication with her mother, leading her to connect soul to soul instead. What started as personal necessity evolved into a profound practice of translating messages from trees, animals, the entire planet, and human souls, both living and passed.This episode offers a masterclass in spiritual awakening through the art of receptivity and demonstrates that everyone possesses channeling abilities waiting to be developed.Discover how consciousness expands when we quiet the mental chatter and create space for divine communication. Stephanie explains that channeling isn't reserved for those born with special gifts, it's a learnable skill that requires curiosity, openness, and the willingness to "get out of your own way."Through stories of communicating with neglected plants that suddenly thrived when acknowledged, cardinals carrying messages from departed loved ones, and the urgent whispers from Gaia herself, this conversation illuminates how deeply interconnected we are with all living beings.The discussion explores practical pathways to intuition development, including meditation practices, dream channeling techniques, and the art of "earthing"; standing barefoot on the ground to release heavy energy and draw in universal love. Stephanie addresses the modern challenges of maintaining spiritual connection amid constant digital distraction, offering actionable strategies for reclaiming presence and accessing the guidance that surrounds us.In a powerful live demonstration, Stephanie channels Karen's spirit guides of health and Will's daughter's soul, delivering messages filled with specific insights, humor, and profound wisdom. These channeled communications reveal how souls speak only from places of unconditional love, offering guidance that helps us become better partners, parents, and versions of ourselves.The episode concludes with accessible steps for anyone ready to begin their own channeling journey, reminding us that the most profound spiritual growth often happens in our most challenging relationships.Key Topics Covered:How Stephanie discovered her channeling abilities through soul-to-soul communication with her mother who had dementiaThe difference between making something up and accessing genuine channeled information through imaginationPractical techniques for connecting with Gaia, trees, animals, and other nature beingsWhy souls communicate only from places of unconditional love and fifth-dimensional consciousnessThe phenomenon of receiving messages through cardinals and other animals as conduits to departed loved onesHow to begin channeling during sleep through ancestor communication and dream guidanceStrategies for overcoming digital addiction and creating space for spiritual receptivityThe importance of "earthing" for releasing dense energy and connecting with planetary frequencyLive channeling demonstrations with specific guidance from spirit guides and living soulsUnderstanding that everyone is already channeling, we just need to recognize and develop itWhat You'll Learn:Why channeling requires getting into your imagination rather than avoiding itThe three-part checklist spirit guides offer for maintaining optimal physical health and presenceHow announcing intentions to loved ones creates powerful accountability for spiritual practiceThe specific ways to communicate with plants as empathic beings with needs and messagesWhy meditation doesn't need to be perfect to support clear channeling abilitiesHow to set vibrational boundaries that only allow high-frequency entities throughThe role of curiosity and openness versus innate talent in developing channeling skillsPractical methods for identifying when messages come from authentic spiritual sourcesHow children's souls communicate differently than their everyday personalitiesWays to incorporate wonder and awe into daily life as forms of spiritual connectionConnect with Stephanie Banks:Website: SoulInsight.comFacebook: @stephanieintuitivechannelInstagram: @stephanieIntuitivechannelYouTube: @SoulInsight-StephanieBanksIf this episode resonated with you, share it with someone who might benefit from learning they already possess the ability to access divine guidance. Remember: the voices of wisdom have been with you all along...you're simply learning to recognize them.Subscribe, Rate & Review! If you found this episode enlightening, mind-expanding, or even just thought-provoking (see what we did there?), please take a moment to rate and review us. Your feedback helps us bring more transformative guests and topics your way! Subscribe to The Skeptic Metaphysicians on your favorite podcast platform and YouTube for more deep dives into spiritual awakening, consciousness, spirituality, metaphysical science, and mind-body evolution.Connect with Us:
These November 2025 messages spotlight stories, inspirations, and soul songs offered by Marie Mohler to empower & inspire people during times of potent shifts. Marie's November messages are found in 2 videos. Part 1 contains the big picture review, Gathering At The River with Dr. Terry Cole Whittaker (Dare To Be Great inspiration), Garden Insights #7 (an intuitive energy update for the month), Knowers In November, Gnostic Empowerment, Conscious Breathing, Honoring Divine Feminine Wisdom, Sacred Remembrance, & more. Part 2 contains 13 new soul songs to musically fortify listeners with empowering November themes. Themes include: Days Like These, Eve's Spark, Sophia's Song For Humanity, Ascension Colors, Echoes of the Master, Being The Light, and more. Thank you for joining me, and please share with others who would benefit from these insights and positive messages.Please like, subscribe, and share!For more of my inspirational messages, podcasts, soul songs, & subscription offerings on Substack, please click either link:https://www.frequencywriter.com/https://frequencywriter.substack.com/If you are interested in life coaching with me, please send an email:info@frequencywriter.comI look forward to connecting with you. To listen to more amazing podcasts and insightful broadcasts, or to make a donation, visit: http://www.wholesoulschoolandfoundation.orgTo donate: https://give.cornerstone.cc/wholesoulschoolandfoundationTo shop our apparel: https://www.bonfire.com/store/whole-soul-school-and-foundation/Thank you!You can also tune in here:Substack: https://www.frequencywriter.com/https://frequencywriter.substack.com/X: https://x.com/marie_mohlerFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/wholesoulmasteryYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@colorthemagicRumble.com: https://rumble.com/c/c-353585Telegram: https://t.me/wholesoulmasteryTruth Social: https://truthsocial.com/@frequencywriterTune into Frequency Writer Messages, Empowering Podcasts, and Whole Soul School and Foundation's Inspirational Podcasts via: Spotify, Apple iTunes, Buzzsprout, Stitcher, iHeartRadio, Google Play Music + other favorite podcast platforms If would like to support me and my work directly, please send donations to: https://buy.stripe.com/3csbIU4v8a52eR2aEEYou can also mail donations to:Marie Mohler/Whole Soul Mastery400 S. Elliott Rd., Suite D259Chapel Hill, NC 27514Thank you for your generous gifts.
Welcome to this weeks episode....Where I chat about two of my favourite topics...the Moon and Mother Earth.
Christina Bagaglio Slentz is Associate Director for Creation Care for the Catholic Diocese of San Diego. Learn about how her diocese prioritizes climate action here.In this episode, we often refer to Pope Francis' encyclical Laudato si' and the ways that faith communities are living out its stated goals. We also discuss the theme “seeds of peace and hope,” the official theme for the 2025 ecumenical Season of Creation.Many thanks to Christina for sharing her wisdom in this conversation!Christina SlentzTRANSCRIPTChristina Slentz I think this really can help us understand the way that the cry of the Earth, these environmental climate extremes, or the variability that we're experiencing, leads to greater exposure—but how one community can face that exposure and adapt or bounce back fairly quickly and another may not really have that capacity.Debra Rienstra Welcome to the Refugia Podcast. I'm your host, Professor Debra Rienstra. Refugia are habitats in nature where life endures in times of crisis. We're exploring the concept of refugia as a metaphor, discovering how people of faith can become people of refugia: nurturing life-giving spaces in the earth, in our human cultural systems, and in our spiritual communities, even in this time of severe disturbance. This season, we're paying special attention to churches and Christian communities who have figured out how to address the climate crisis together as an essential aspect of their discipleship.Today, I'm talking with Dr. Christina Bagaglio Slentz, Associate Director for Creation Care at the Catholic Diocese of San Diego. Christina has a background in sociology, with a PhD in international studies and global affairs. She's also a Navy veteran. Today, she serves a diocese of 97 parishes, helping to guide and empower people in their creation care work. The Diocese of San Diego is a microcosm of diverse biomes and diverse people, and it's a fascinating example of refugia, because as a diocese, they are doing all the things. Christina and I talk about Laudato si', solar energy, economics, eco spirituality, environmental justice advocacy, the centrality of the Eucharist, and the mutuality between caring for neighbor and caring for the Earth. Let's get to it.Debra Rienstra Christina, thank you so much for being with me today. I really appreciate talking to you.Christina Slentz Thank you, Debra, for having me. I'm really excited to be here.Debra Rienstra So I am eager to hear more about the Diocese of San Diego, because it seems that you have been very intentional and thoughtful and ambitious about your creation care agenda, and we're going to get into the details of that in just a minute, but I want to start with you. So tell us your hero origin story. How did you get into faith-based environmental work and into your current position?Christina Slentz Well, to be honest, I never saw it coming in many ways. I was working in the global affairs area, looking at sources of conflict and cooperation and how political economy intersects with those dynamics, and that was my academic area of focus. And at the same time, I've always been a catechist in the Catholic church since the 90s, and my church life was pretty comfortable, I would say, and active. But I didn't really see those two things coming together until Laudato si', the encyclical written by Pope Francis on the care of our common home, was released in 2015, and this really started to bring more overlap between these two areas in my life. And I would say, increasingly, then there was a lot of interplay between those focus areas for me. And eventually this position became available in the Diocese of San Diego, and a friend mentioned it to me, and I thought that is actually the perfect vocation for me. And I really feel like I understood it to be a vocation, not just a job.Debra Rienstra Yeah, I think I can relate to everything you just said. I think we came to this work from different areas of specialty, but yeah, like you, I feel like we've had these mid-career shifts where suddenly our area of specialty—in my case, literature and creative writing—has become energized by—in your case, Laudato si', in my case, other documents as well as Laudato si',—and we've sort of taken this fascinating and yeah, I would agree, vocational, turn. So let's talk a little bit more about Laudato si'. I imagine our listeners know at least a little bit about it. It's been so enormously influential. It's such an amazing landmark document. Could you talk a little bit about how you've seen Laudato si' diffuse through the Catholic Church, especially the American Catholic Church?Christina Slentz Yes, I think, to be honest, it has had a complicated journey with the Catholic community here in the United States. Very much like the issue of climate change in the global community, the United States has struggled with these dynamics—I think the way that they involve our economics and some of our very strong ideology about economic freedom and what that means to people. And so I think it's fair to say that while Laudato si' was very warmly received around the world, it has struggled in the United States as a whole, and that includes the American Catholic community. That said, there have been—like your description of refugia suggests——there have been these pockets, though, where I think that particular dynamics existed, and there was fertile ground for seeds to be planted. And the Diocese of San Diego is one of them. The Diocese of—the Archdiocese of Atlanta was another. There are a couple around the country, and I do think some footholds were created. In addition, one of the things that is particularly interesting about the encyclical Laudato si'—and an encyclical is just a document that a pope writes and then circulates, right, this is where the word encyclical comes from—circulates around until everyone's had a chance to read it. We can imagine in medieval times, you know, how this must have been a challenge. And I think that, you know, this challenge exists, but Father Emmett Farrell is the founder of this ministry in my diocese, and Father Emmett just celebrated his 60th anniversary of his ordination, and Father Emmett will say he has never seen an encyclical translate to action the way that Laudato si' has. And in particular, there is a Vatican online platform called the Laudato si' Action Platform, where Catholics—either parishes, schools, orders of sisters or religious—can get on this platform and learn about the dynamics that we face. They can see how our values are distilled into seven goals, and then they can reflect on their behavior, using this tool to sort of measure where they are, and then write a plan of action and upload it and share it with each other. And Father Emmett really celebrates how amazing it is that, you know, that we're going to lean into technology and use it for the good.Debra Rienstra Oh, awesome. There's so many things I want to follow up on in that answer. And I want to begin by just thanking you for being honest about pushback to Laudato si' in the US. And I want to go back to that in just a second, if it's okay. And then I want to thank you for the way you've thought about, you know, some of these dioceses like the mighty San Diego and the mighty Atlanta as sort of refugia spaces. And we'll come back to that again too, I really hope, and I want to hear some more details about your particular diocese. Why do you think there has been pushback in the American Catholic Church? You mentioned economic reasons, and you know, Pope Francis and Pope Leo now have both been very pointed in their critique of climate denial, of greed, of exploitation, injustice, war, economic systems that many Americans have sort of held as almost sacrosanct. So what are you noticing in Catholic conversations about that critique? Why are people resisting the critique and why are people saying, “No, that's right”—what are the motivations behind each of those responses?Christina Slentz So, you know, we could probably talk about this all day.Debra Rienstra Probably, yeah.Christina Slentz Because economic peace, I think, is really difficult to think about. You know, if we take the United Kingdom, for example, it's a country very much like the United States. So many of our you know, American culture and tradition and customs come out of that early launching that we experienced from, you know, Great Britain. And yet, as the topic of climate change came forward, Margaret Thatcher, who was, you know, a real compatriot of President Ronald Reagan at the time, she really took the scientific approach in thinking about climate change, and this set them on a path that's really different from the path that we experienced. And certainly, oil is a big factor in our economy. And I think it can be a real challenge for people to weigh the goods, you know, because we have to be honest, there are goods in both sides of these dynamics. When we understand the gravity, though, of climate change, if we're allowed to really get into those dynamics without the noise that has been kind of confronting that potential, then I think we can see that the good outweighs, you know, those alternative goods associated with continuing in the fossil fuel realm. But this is why we talk about a just transition, right? I think that many people who are hearing this noise, right, they don't understand that Pope Francis and others, you know, is really arguing for a just transition, and that would seek to care for the people that are going to be affected by whatever change in economic policy might make.Debra Rienstra Yeah, and more and more, those economic changes are actually positive in favor of transition in ways that they weren't even 5-10 years ago.Christina Slentz Yeah, I think it's amazing. We actually had some good momentum going until recently.Debra Rienstra Yeah, you know, I would love to get us all talking about a just and joyful transition, because it's more and more possible. And maybe we'll come back to that a little bit later too, when we talk about ecological spirituality. But let's go back to these places within the American Catholic Church, even, that are saying, “Oh yes, Laudato si', yes, let's go.” And San Diego diocese is one of those places. You had an action plan already in 2019. I think it's impressive that a diocese could get a plan together in four years. So good job. Knowing how long everything takes in church settings. So just give us a list of your accomplishments. What have you been up to since 2019? What are the kinds of things you've dipped your toes into?Christina Slentz Sure, and to be fair, I want to give some good credit to some others. You know, the Archdiocese of Atlanta had created their creation care action plan. This gave us some really good kind of framework to think about when we created ours. And there was a team that preceded me. They were all volunteers, very multidisciplinary in their backgrounds, everything from theologians to medical doctors who had worked with indigenous communities, you know, theologians, missionaries, energy engineers, and they really pulled this together early on. And this plan I now recognize as what climate action planners might refer to as an aspirational plan. It's all the things you could do in our area, and it serves as a really good resource for our parishes and schools as they think about what they might do in their Laudato si' action platform plans, and those are yearly plans that are really targeted on what we're going to do. So, you know, one of the things that they did early on was really push to solarize. And you know, we do have the great fortune of, one: climate here in San Diego, right? You know, we're sort of famous for that. And then you know, two: the other thing is that, you know, it was very normative to be shifting to solar, and continues to be an economic choice that is not really as politicized here as much as it might be elsewhere. And then the third thing was this is, you know, the magic number three is to have a bishop that is supportive. And so Cardinal McElroy—now Cardinal McElroy, then Bishop McElroy—really promoted this solarization. And at this point we have about 54% of our parishes solarized. And when I think now, you know, the Paris Climate Agreement says we want to have about half of our carbon emissions reduced by 2030 then you know, we're sitting at about half. Our building where I'm located is called our pastoral center. Some Catholic communities call it their chancery. And our solar array here provides over 80% of our electricity to the building. Our local utility is about half renewable energy, a little bit more. So with that in mind, you know, our electricity here to our building is a little over 90% coming from renewable energy, and this lets us have seven electric vehicle charging stations in the parking lot so I can go to work and charge my car at the same time.Debra Rienstra Lovely.Christina Slentz So that was one big thing. I would say our other really big kind of landmark action that also was largely driven by Cardinal McElroy, was to divest of fossil fuels. And, you know, this is a real challenging thing to accomplish. We set a goal of no more than 5% of, you know, the earnings of both direct and indirect investment to be coming from fossil fuel. And after a year, we evaluated how we were doing, and we were actually hitting—not we, you know, the financial folks doing this—were hitting less than 3%. So, you know, we said, “Okay, I think we can say that this was successful, and we're still here.” So that was really exciting, and we didn't do it to be virtue signaling. Just, you know, for some of your listeners may not know, but the USCCB, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, has a document that directs socially responsible investment for all areas. And so this is just one more area of socially responsible investment that the Diocese of San Diego has embraced.Debra Rienstra Yeah, yeah. So we've got money, we've got energy. How many parishes would you say are on board with this, doing yearly goals, selecting from the menu of fun ideas—what percentage of your parishes would you say are involved?Christina Slentz So I gotta, Debra, that's a little bit of a good question. I think, you know, we did just describe two very top-down approaches. And one of the things that our group, you know, when I came on board in 2022, we decided is, you know, we really wanted to push that grassroots. And so we see parishes demonstrating a range of behaviors, and I was initially surprised, but they actually behave a lot like countries around the world. And so, you know, you think, oh, that's going to be different. But, you know, you can also have three children, and they all behave differently, and you know, sometimes that's surprising as well, when they have the same parents. And so one of the things that I have really tried to do was offer more events that are here at the diocesan level. We have 97 parishes, and then we have—so sometimes we'll see individuals that are really on board, and they come from a parish where, at the parish level, not a lot is happening. Sometimes we have individuals that are participating, and they are doing a ton at their parish and succeeding. And then we have parishes where the pastor is leading the charge. And then on top of that, I would say there are parishes where they have solar and they have drought-resistant landscaping, and they have LEED silver certified buildings that, you know, are very environmentally friendly. And yet, you know, at the parishioner level, you know, not as much activity happening. So it is an array of activities. I would say probably half have had some kind of interaction with us, or have had parishioners or students participate in our programs. But you know, we reflect the American Catholic community, which reflects the broader American society as well. So there are places where we struggle, and then there are places where we see a lot of action and shining.Debra Rienstra Yeah, sure. And I really appreciate that. And I think listeners can relate to that range of involvement too. Maybe they are in any one of those categories or some other category themselves. And you know, as you say, it's the modeling of— even if it's a minority, it's the modeling and the enthusiasm and the even implicit sort of educating of others that can make this work spread too. So I want to list the seven goals of the Laudato si' action platform, because I think they're really, really great and helpful to people who are not in the Catholic Church, but in other aspects of the church, you might find these goals useful too. So here are the goals: response to the cry of the Earth, response to the cry of the poor, ecological economics, adoption of sustainable lifestyles, ecological education, ecological spirituality, community resilience and empowerment. So I want to start with the first three. We've talked a little bit about economics and how dicey that can be, but I wonder if you could describe how you see the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor as basically the same cry, as Pope Francis said in Laudato si'. How do you see that, especially in your region?Christina Slentz Yeah, so thank you. I think these two are kind of the crown jewels, right? And they sum up what we see happening very well. I think that the other goals are valuable because they sort of pull out the dynamics that we really understand as informing those two big—response to the cry of the Earth and cry of the poor. So as someone who was looking at this through the lens of being a social scientist, I found these two goals to really sum it up well, because it is not just the exposure to the environment that causes our concern for these dynamics. It's the exposure as well as the sensitivity of that population. And then this helps us understand also, maybe some vulnerability that that population might have. So for example, we had significant flooding about a year and a half ago in January, the month of January, and the same rain fell on a parish in the southern part of the Diocese, close to our Mexican border, in an area that is, you know, less wealthy, probably demonstrates some socio economic features that we would associate with marginalized communities. And then it also fell on a parish in Coronado, California. And some people might recognize the Hotel Del Coronado as an iconic location. It's a beautiful community. There's a lot of wealth. There's a lot of human capital as well. You know, very highly educated group, and so the buildings at two of two parishes in each of these locations were completely flooded. But, you know, the parish in Coronado was up on its feet within a week. And of course, they had repairs that had to be done, but they were able to get a hold of those folks, get them in, pay the bills, get it all done. And the parish on the south side had catastrophic flooding to its school, and the school was a total loss.Debra Rienstra Oh, wow.Christina Slentz So I think this really can help us understand the way that the cry of the Earth, these environmental climate extremes, or the variability that we're experiencing, leads to greater exposure, but how one community can face that exposure and adapt or bounce back fairly quickly, and another may not really have that capacity. And so you can't really pull them apart, because just measuring precipitation doesn't always give you the whole story.Debra Rienstra That's a very, very helpful answer to that. And I sometimes hear in religious circles, you know, “Well, we have to worry about other people, why should we worry about owls or whatever?” And the answer is: well, because what happens in nature affects people. So this is about loving your neighbor. Even if you're not convinced by the idea that we love the Earth for its own sake because it's beloved of God, we still have to love our neighbor. And this is a neighbor issue as well. So thank you. That was very helpful as an explanation.Christina Slentz One of my favorite kind of messages is, you know, having been a student of globalization, you know, I think that we live in a globalized world. You can't put that toothpaste back in the tube, right? Maybe there are some things we can do and that can be helpful, but the bottom line is, our actions have ripple effects, and so no matter what we do, we are going to have these impacts on people far beyond those we know and love on a day to day basis. And when we care for the Earth, we mitigate those effects on people all around the world, and so our caring for creation really is just love of neighbor at global scale.Debra Rienstra Ah, lovely. Yeah, so it works both ways. If you love neighbor, you love the Earth. If you love the Earth, you love your neighbor.Christina Slentz That's right.Debra RienstraHi, it's me, Debra. If you are enjoying this podcast episode, go ahead and subscribe on your preferred podcast platform. If you have a minute, leave a review. Good reviews help more listeners discover this podcast. To keep up with all the Refugia news, I invite you to subscribe to the Refugia newsletter on Substack. This is my fortnightly newsletter for people of faith who care about the climate crisis and want to go deeper. Every two weeks, I feature climate news, deeper dives, refugia sightings and much more. Join our community at refugianewsletter.substack.com. For even more goodies, including transcripts and show notes for this podcast, check out my website at debrarienstra.com. D-E-B-R-A-R-I-E-N-S-T-R-A dot com. Thanks so much for listening. We're glad you're part of this community. And now back to the interview.Debra Rienstra Let's think about some of those more personal goals. I don't know, maybe they're not just personal, because everything is systemic too. But I want to talk about that sustainable lifestyle goal, adoption of sustainable lifestyle. So what does that mean, and how are people doing that in San Diego?Christina Slentz So I have a really amazing parish, St. Thomas More, and they have created a community garden that not only functions as a place for their parish to gather and work together, it also is open to the public, so it has an evangelical capacity as well. And they also collect recyclable cans and bottles and then take those to a facility where they can be paid for that recycling work, and then they take the money, and then they put it into this garden that allows them to gather and have a mission and have evangelical outreach. So I think of this as such a wonderful circular kind of example that is, you know, feeding them in many ways. You know, they have this sense of community. They have this sense of common, shared mission. They have a good relationship with the neighborhood around them, people that may be of different faiths or of no faith at all. And then they're also in good relationship with Mother Earth, and doing what they can to, you know, practice this sort of sustainability, or also a little bit like circular economics, I guess I would say as well. And I think one of the things that the Catholic Church is emphasizing is synodality, and our synodality really calls us to be community, to have a shared mission and really inviting participatory action. So in my building here, where we sort of have the headquarters, you know, we also have gone to compostables for all of our events, and we try to minimize any kind of single use plastics. But, you know, there's that dreaded moment at the end where everybody has to go to the three, you know, receptacles. Everyone panics, especially if I'm near them, and I feel terribly, you know, like, should I step away? Should I give them a moment to give them help? Is that overreach? And so, you know, but we all fumble through together, and that's where I've kind of said, like, “Look, it's not easy for me either. Like, God forbid I put the wrong thing in the wrong can, right?” So I think that there's this way where we all are coming together to sort of take on this work. And, you know, we're not going to be perfect, but, you know, I think that it does foster community when we take this on, and then also recognizing how, you know, now we are living with greater simplicity, and we are impacting the Earth, you know, to a lesser extent.Debra Rienstra Yeah, nothing bonds people like pulling weeds together, or standing over the recycle bins going, “Hmm.” It's okay. We don't have to indulge in recycling guilt, you know, just do your best. So I want to move on to ecological spirituality. I love that phrase. It's not one you hear everywhere. And I wanted to remind listeners that San Diego Diocese is the most biodiverse diocese in the US. Maybe we wouldn't have expected that, but you've kind of got everything there. So I want to talk about ecological spirituality in the context of that actual place. I love the sentiment you quoted from Laudato si' in an article you wrote recently. It was an idea from Pope Francis that in the beauties and wonders of the Earth, we experience God's friendship with us. And so I wanted to ask you how you're helping people in your parishes reconnect to the Earth where you are, and thus, and this is how you put it, “revive something of our true selves.”Christina Slentz Yeah, one of my favorite pieces in Laudato si': Pope Francis alludes to having a place in childhood where we felt a sense of awe and wonder. And I think that that awe and wonder allows us to get back to childhood in some ways, before there was a lot of noise before there was all the different distractions. And I think that that true self is also a little freer to connect to God. I think sometimes about little children and baby Jesus, you know, and that sort of immediate connection that's not really complicated, you know, it's just comfortable. Or feeling the love of God like being a child sitting on the lap of your mom or your dad. And so encouraging people, or providing opportunities for this return to that place of awe and wonder, I think is really important. I think that at the heart of our inability to care for creation is this estrangement from our Creator. So we won't care for something if we don't love it. And in this way, ecological spirituality may be step one in all of this, right? So I think we are really lucky, being here. As I mentioned, our climate is beautiful. It is a beautiful place. We have everything from the ocean to mountains to desert, and many people who live here do really connect with the geography and the beauty of where we are, and so inviting them to take a moment to just pause and think about those places. Think about their senses as they move through the memory of that space, I think is really important before we start any of the other conversations. And so I try to do that, and then we share about it. And I have yet to find somebody that says, “Oh, I just didn't have a place.” Everybody has a place. And many people will say, “I really struggled, because I love this place, and I love that place,” you know. And so it is really great to hear. And I think people really come out of an exercise like that with this new sense of common ground as well. And I think that is so important, right? Because if you ask people like, “Raise your hand, who hates trees?” No one's gonna do it, right? Don't even think anyone does. Or “Raise your hand if you like to litter.” No one's going to say, like, “Oh yeah, I really love throwing things out my window.” And so there is a lot more common ground. And I think that eco spirituality invites us to find out how much we have in common, and actually how much we all yearn for that place of connectedness.Debra Rienstra Oh, yeah. I've noticed, you know, people have so many different feelings that motivate what they might do in a faith and climate space, and there's anger, there's fear, a lot of anxiety. But the trick, I think, is to get to the center, which is love. And the quickest way to do that, maybe, is to find that early love, or a love that's developed over many, even generations, in a particular place, if you're lucky, and you're rooted in some way. I feel like we also, as people of faith, haven't made enough of a case that being closer to the creation is, in fact, a pathway to God. And I see that in a lot of the writings that you have too. It's a way of understanding God better. It's a way of allowing God to speak to us that we sometimes underestimate, I think. There's other ways, of course, but it's one that we tend to underestimate. It is a way to deeper spirituality. So getting people to be in touch with that, it sounds like you've you've worked on that a little bit.Christina Slentz We're very lucky. The Franciscan tradition is pretty rich and present here. The Franciscan School of Theology is located here at the University of San Diego.Debra Rienstra There we go.Christina Slentz I have several secular Franciscans on my team, and a few Franciscan friars. And you know, that's very much at the heart of St. Francis and St. Claire's tradition. St. Bonaventure, who is a Franciscan, actually calls nature, or the environment, the created world, like another book. It's another gospel that tells us something about God's plan.Debra Rienstra Yeah, yeah. So I wanted to quote from Pope Leo's message for the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation, which was September one. And I found his message so encouraging, and especially this particular paragraph, it's along the line of seeds here. He writes, “In Christ, we too are seeds, and indeed seeds of peace and hope. The prophet Isaiah tells us that the Spirit of God can make an arid and parched desert into a garden, a place of rest and serenity. In his words, a spirit from on high will be poured out on us, and the wilderness will become a fruitful field, and the fruitful field a forest. Then justice will dwell in the wilderness and righteousness abide in the fruitful field. The work of righteousness will be peace, and the work of righteousness quietness and trust forever. My people will abide in a peaceful habitation, in secure dwellings and in quiet resting places.” So we have this beautiful vision and the sense of vocation of who we are and who our communities are as seeds of peace and hope. So it seems like you experience that in the San Diego Diocese. Are there some particular examples that have been really meaningful and important to you, where you see that “seeds of hope” metaphor being played out?Christina Slentz Yeah, I would point to two areas that I would offer up as good examples. One is a parish that is located in what's called Barrio Logan. It is an ecologically marginalized community. The highways literally forced the school to be moved when they put the highway in right down the middle of the community. And that's the I-5. So it runs all the way from Canada to Mexico. Big highway. In addition, the Coronado Bridge connects to the highway right there. The Navy base is there, and the Port of San Diego all intersects there. So their air quality is really degraded, and it's a socio-economically poor area. It is also a predominantly Hispanic community there. But the Jesuit pastor there, Father Scott Santa Rosa, is a very good community organizer. He led the parish when they were confronted by another warehouse that was going to be added at the port. And the proposal by the company violated the Port Authority's standards, but they were seeking a waiver, and Father Scott brought in the Environmental Health Coalition. He brought in a theologian from University of San Diego. He invited the youth to present on Laudato si' to the adults and really empowered the community, which is that seventh goal of Laudato si', it's very connected to environmental justice. And then they learned, they grew, they came to an understanding that this was not acceptable, and that they wanted to be a voice for their community. They—we traveled. I was very fortunate to kind of engage with them in this process.And we traveled to the Port Authority building the night before the Port Authority was going to make their decision on this, whether or not to grant this waiver. And we said a rosary, which consists of five sets of 10 Hail Marys, roughly. And between each set, somebody spoke and gave their witness. And one of the women stood up and said, “I never thought I would speak publicly in my whole life. I can't believe I'm here. I can't believe I'm speaking, but I found my voice because of this issue.” And I thought, even if we lose, that's such an amazing win that people felt connected to their environment. They understood that they have a voice. They understood their own dignity and the dignity of their community, and felt that it was worth standing up for. And the next day we went, there was demonstration and public witnessing and praying, and then they went in and spoke at the actual hearing. And the first thing that the chairman of the board said, in response to everyone's comments was, “Well, I'm a Catholic, and we have three priests that were here today.” And you know, how many times does a public official make a statement of faith? You know, I thought, “Okay, win number two!” And you know, I'll just go ahead and cut to the chase. And they turned down the company that wanted to put the warehouse in and said, “You know, we just don't think that you've convinced the local community that the benefits of this would be worth it.” And it was amazing.And so that place, they continue to also tend to the care of migrants. They have begun the work of accompanying migrants that are going for their court appointed hearings for their asylum process. And you know, those are not outcomes that are generally favorable, but they are just going and being present with them and, you know, we are on the border. We understand how some of these environmental impacts do entangle with human mobility. And so, you know, there's a lot that this community, that is really one of our poorest communities in San Diego, has brought to the wider San Diego Diocese as more parishes and local Catholics are now mimicking what they have done and joining in this mission, and so they've been an incredible source—this tiny little parish in a poor part of the Diocese with terrible environmental impacts, has actually been a place where things have blossomed and grown, and they actually do have an amazing garden as well.Debra Rienstra Wow, that's an incredible story, and exactly a story of empowerment and resilience, as you suggested, and a story of how low-resource people are not necessarily low-resource people. They have other kinds of resources that may not be visible to the outside, but that can be very powerful, and especially when one of those is faith. It was such a great example of people motivated not only by their, you know, sort of survival, but their faith to do this work. Yeah, wonderful.Christina Slentz I think they understand the impact, right? So if you can shut your windows and turn on your air conditioning, maybe you don't get it.Debra Rienstra Yeah, right. So what would you say are your biggest obstacles and your biggest joys in your work right now?Christina Slentz I think the biggest obstacle is coming up against Catholics and/or Christians, or really any person of faith. But I think this may be especially true to Catholics and Christians who think that our social actions have to be an “either/or” choice, and they resist a “yes/and” mentality, and so they put different issues in competition with each other, right? And, you know, sometimes they think about Cain and Abel, right? This sort of jealousy or comparison can be a real problem. Instead of saying, “Okay, maybe we don't fit in a neat box, but as Catholics, you know, we have to do all the things.” And that kind of privileging one issue or another issue makes us vulnerable to those who would seek division and competition. And I think that when we look at God, you know, God loves all of it, right? God is love, and so there isn't that discrimination in the example of our Creator, and I would, of course, we aren't perfect, you know, but we should aspire to that same kind of comprehensive love.Debra Rienstra Yeah, and we do it together. We don't all have to do every last one of the things. We do it together. What about joys? What are your greatest joys right now in your work?Christina Slentz I think that coming together is really a joy. When I first started this work, I felt like a unicorn. I could either be the only person of faith in an environmental group, or I could be the only environmentalist in a faith group. And so it just was a feeling of being awkward all the time. And I do think that just in the three years that I've been in this position, I am seeing momentum build. I think ecumenicalism is super helpful in this regard. And I think that increasingly people are finding each other, and they are starting to get a little bit of a wake up call. I think it is unfortunate that people in the United States have had to experience some significant catastrophes and human loss and impact before they start to awaken to the issue of climate change or environmental degradation. I think plastics are really a pretty significant issue as well, but I think that more and more, people seem to be coming around to it, and whenever we celebrate together, that gives me joy.Debra Rienstra Yeah, I agree. I'm seeing it happening too, and it keeps me going. It keeps me going to connect with people like you, and every door I open, there's more people of faith doing amazing work, and we are building that mycelial network. And it's pretty great. So what is your favorite gift of the Catholic Church, a gift of wisdom on creation care that you wish everyone would receive?Christina Slentz I am not sure I would say that this is my favorite. But maybe I think that it is very important, is that, you know, in the Catholic community, communion, Eucharist, is really, you know, the summit for Catholics, that each week, at a minimum, we are going to celebrate this liturgy. We break open the Word, and then we celebrate the Eucharist. And one of the things I, you know, find very compelling is the fact that Jesus celebrates at the Last Supper with bread and wine. Jesus didn't get grapes and, you know, a piece of meat, to celebrate that these were both chosen items that were not just created by God, but they involved, as we say, in our celebration, the work of human hands. And so this really represents this call to co-creation, I think. And if that is something that you know, is really at the heart of Catholicism, this, you know, summit of our faith to celebrate the Eucharist—in that, we are called to co-create. And so this tells us something about how we are meant to exist in relationship with the Creator. You know, God reveals God's self to us in the beauty of this creation or in the gift of the Eucharist, and then, in turn, we are called to respond to that love. Otherwise the revelation isn't complete, so our response is to care for creation or to receive the Eucharist, and then go and serve as God has called us to serve. So maybe, maybe this is something that we can offer up.Debra Rienstra So beautifully said, and the intimacy of eating, you know, taking the material, the fruit of the earth and the work of human hands, into ourselves, responding by the Spirit, that intimacy, that physicality, there's a reason that that is the central ritual.Christina Slentz And you know, if I could give you one last image connected to that—because then we become the tabernacle, right? And we think about Noah and the ark, right? And how, you know, creation is destroyed, but the ark holds this refugia right and until it's time for this moment of reconciliation and forgiveness and then renewed flourishing. And you may or may not have heard this story, but when the LA fires raged in Pacific Palisades in January of 2025 the fires swept across the parish and school called Corpus Christi Parish, and it is the home parish of brother James Lockman, one of my dear, dear volunteers. And there was a firefighter who went back to look at the ruins that evening, and he was Catholic, and he came across the tabernacle from the church, and it was the only thing that survived. And when they opened it up, it was pristine on the inside and undamaged. And that Sunday, they took it to St. Monica's Parish, which is one of the very animated creation care parishes in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, and they celebrated Mass there because Corpus Christi did not have a parish right to celebrate in that weekend. And I think about that tabernacle as being, you know—it's to reflect that Ark of the Covenant, right, Ark of Noah, the Ark of the Covenant. And then we have the tabernacle now, and that space of refuge that was preserved, you know. And then, of course, when we take the Eucharist into ourselves, we become that tabernacle. We're walking tabernacles, right? So we are also, then, places of refuge and where we know that God is with us and we can go and serve.Debra Rienstra Christina, it has been such a joy to talk to you. Thank you for your wisdom, for your inspiration, for the way that you deploy your expertise in such compassionate and far reaching ways. It's just been a pleasure. Thank you.Christina Slentz Oh, thank you so much for having me. I really enjoyed talking today with you, Debra.Debra Rienstra Thanks for joining us. For show notes and full transcripts, please visit debrarienstra.com and click on the Refugia Podcast tab. This season of the Refugia Podcast is produced with generous funding from the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship. Colin Hoogerwerf is our awesome audio producer. Thanks to Ron Rienstra for content consultation as well as technical and travel support. Till next time, be well. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit refugianewsletter.substack.com
In this special episode, I'll take you on a journey through Guatemala to explore how we celebrate the Day of the Dead in my country.
In relationship with Se'Si'Le, Braided River is celebrating the launch of their newest project, In the Spirit of Right and Respectful Relations: Conversations about Indigenous Ways of Knowing and Being in Nature. As told to Kurt Russo, with a foreword by Jay Julius Xw'tot lhem, and illustrations by Fiorella De La O (Quechua), this book invites readers into a conversation rooted in Indigenous ways of knowing and being in nature. The vision of the project is to draw on ancestral knowledge to further empower and inspire Indigenous-led environmental campaigns with non-Indigenous allies and partners to the benefit of Mother Earth and all her relations down to the seventh generation. Come be a part of the celebration of this inaugural project, with a night full of powerful Pacific Northwest speakers. Facilitated by Jeff Renner, engaging public speaker and meteorologist, the talk will include Jay Julius Xw'tot lhem (President and founder of Se'Si'Le, previous Lummi Nation Chairman), Lynda Mapes (Pacific Northwest Journalist, reported with the Seattle Times for 27 years), and John Vechey (Cofounder of groundbreaking technology companies, and board member of Se'Si'Le). Jeff Renner holds degrees in Atmospheric Sciences and in Journalism and Political Science. He is a polished and engaging public speaker with a passion for the Pacific Northwest and a deep love of the natural world. In addition to his public speaking, Jeff is a meteorologist for the King 5 television station in Seattle. Jay Julius Xw'tot lhem (Lummi) is the President of Se'Si'Le. A fisherman, Former Chairman and Councilman at Lummi Nation, Jay was a leader in the fight to protect Xwe'chi'eXen (Cherry Point). He has organized and executed Tribal, local, regional, and national campaigns. A bridge-builder, he uses empathy and storytelling to bring people together. Principal at Julius Consulting LLC. Lynda Mapes is a journalist, nature writer, and author based in Seattle. A full-time daily newspaper reporter since 1985, Maps worked at the Seattle Times for 27 years before her recent retirement to focus on writing books and long-form journalism. John Vechey is a board member of Se'Si'Le and is based on the San Juan Islands. In Right and Respectful Relations, Vechey is highlighted under the chapter about technology. As the co-founder of groundbreaking technology companies, including Pluto VR and PopCap Games,Vechey has helped conceive of and produce popular video games like Bejeweled and Plants vs. Zombies. Se'Si'Le is an Indigenous led, Bellingham-based non-profit that works to protect Indigenous areas, resources, and sacred sites. Buy the Book In the Spirit of Right and Respectful Relations: Conversations about Indigenous Ways of Knowing and Being in Nature Mountaineers Books Presented by Town Hall Seattle and Braided River.
Halfway throught the week and Andrew from Mother Earth double down on the hops (kind of). Not only did he bring their latest flagship modern IPA called Ascent, but he's also poured out something clear and very hydrating with their tasting room only offering Hop Water...but this water has it's secrets!
As the veil between worlds thins at Samhain, we're invited to reflect on death — not only as an ending, but as a sacred transition and part of the eternal cycle of life. In this video, we explore essential oils that bring comfort, courage, and connection during times of death, dying, and transformation.Discover which botanicals help you honour departed loved ones, release grief, and embrace the wisdom that comes from endings. Learn how to use these oils in ritual, meditation, or quiet moments of remembrance to support the soul's journey through change.
Connect with Francis: https://francismyles.com/"I Speak to the Earth" book: https://a.co/d/ct1YAzUGo Deeper on Topics Discussed on the show: http://www.novosnetwork.com/kairos
It always a treat around this time of year to try all the different Wet Hop beers in the market. Mother Earth does Fresh As It Gets Wet Hop IPA every year to honor that special time. Always a single hopped beer to showcase it's flavor, this year focused on the Simcoe wet hops.
Have You Ever Gotten A Premonition From Gaia, Mother Earth?... Char Takes Calls! - CharVision Podcast - 323-524-2599LIVE episode of CharVision! Watch right here on Facebook starting at 9PM EST/ 6PM PST. The show is also available on the Char Margolis Instagram page or YouTube Channel: https://youtube.com/@charcom?si=W4mK70t1_8LJox_a #podcast #live #show #psychic #psychicmedium #pastlives #char #charvisionCall Now at 323-524-2599Support the show on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/CharMargoliswww.char.net Char Margolis Twitter- @psychicmedmchar instagram.com/CharMargolis For more information on Char visit www.Char.net www.fb.com/IntuitiveMediumCharMargolis @psychicMedmCharBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/charvision--3561393/support.
It's been too long since we've seen Andrew from Mother Earth Brewing Co. in the studio! All this week we catch up on what MEBC has cooking in both their core line up and tap room exclusives, we start with not a beer....Mother Earth's tap room only Hard Seltzer.
Take 20% off a paid annual ‘Storm' subscription through Monday, Oct. 27, 2025.WhoJared Smith, Chief Executive Officer of Alterra Mountain CompanyRecorded onOctober 22, 2025About Alterra Mountain CompanyAlterra is skiing's Voltron, a collection of super-bots united to form one super-duper bot. Only instead of gigantic robot lions the bots are gigantic ski areas and instead of fighting the evil King Zarkon they combined to battle Vail Resorts and its cackling mad Epic Pass. Here is Alterra's current ski-bot stable:Alterra of course also owns the Ikon Pass, which for the 2025-26 winter gives skiers all of this:Ikon launched in 2018 as a more-or-less-even competitor to Epic Pass, both in number and stature of ski areas and price, but long ago blew past its mass-market competitor in both:Those 89 total ski areas include nine that Alterra added last week in Japan, South Korea, and China. Some of these 89 partners, however, are so-called “bonus mountains,” which are Alterra's Cinderellas. And not Cinderella at the end of the story when she rules the kingdom and dines on stag and hunts peasants for sport but first-scene Cinderella when she lives in a windowless tower and wears a burlap dress and her only friends are talking mice. Meaning skiers can use their Ikon Pass to ski at these places but they are not I repeat NOT on the Ikon Pass so don't you dare say they are (they are).While the Ikon Pass is Alterra's Excalibur, many of its owned mountains offer their own season passes (see Alterra chart above). And many now offer their own SUPER-DUPER season passes that let skiers do things like cut in front of the poors and dine on stag in private lounges:These SUPER-DUPER passes don't bother me though a lot of you want me to say they're THE END OF SKIING. I won't put a lot of effort into talking you off that point so long as you're all skiing for $17 per day on your Ikon Passes. But I will continue to puzzle over why the Ikon Session Pass is such a very very bad and terrible product compared to every other day pass including those sold by Alterra's own mountains. I am also not a big advocate for peak-day lift ticket prices that resemble those of black-market hand sanitizer in March 2020:Fortunately Vail and Alterra seem to have launched a lift ticket price war, the first battle of which is The Battle of Give Half Off Coupons to Your Dumb Friends Who Don't Buy A Ski Pass 10 Months Before They Plan to Ski:Alterra also runs some heli-ski outfits up in B.C. but I'm not going to bother decoding all that because one reason I started The Storm was because I was over stories of Bros skiing 45 feet of powder at the top of the Chugach while the rest of us fretted over parking reservations and the $5 replacement cost of an RFID card. I know some of you are like Bro how many stories do you think the world needs about chairlifts but hey at least pretty much anyone reading this can go ride them.Oh and also I probably lost like 95 percent of you with Voltron because unless you were between the ages of 7 and 8 in the mid-1980s you probably missed this:One neat thing about skiing is that if someone ran headfirst into a snowgun in 1985 and spent four decades in a coma and woke up tomorrow they'd still know pretty much all the ski areas even if they were confused about what's a Palisades Tahoe and why all of us future wussies wear helmets. “Damn it, Son in my day we didn't bother and I'm just fine. Now grab $20 and a pack of smokes and let's go skiing.”Why I interviewed himFor pretty much the same reason I interviewed this fellow:I mean like it or not these two companies dominate modern lift-served skiing in this country, at least from a narrative point of view. And while I do everything I can to demonstrate that between the Indy Pass and ski areas not in Colorado or Utah or Tahoe plenty of skier choice remains, it's impossible to ignore the fact that Alterra's 17 U.S. ski areas and Vail's 36 together make up around 30 percent of the skiable terrain across America's 509 active ski areas:And man when you add in all U.S. Epic and Ikon mountains it's like dang:We know publicly traded Vail's Epic Pass sales numbers and we know those numbers have softened over the past couple of years, but we don't have similar access to Alterra's numbers. A source with direct knowledge of Ikon Pass sales recently told me that unit sales had increased every year. Perhaps some day someone will anonymously message me a screenshot code-named Alterra's Big Dumb Chart documenting unit and dollar sales since Ikon's 2018 launch. In the meantime, I'm just going to have to keep talking to the guy running the company and asking extremely sly questions like, “if you had to give us a ballpark estimate of exactly how many Ikon Passes you sold and how much you paid each partner mountain and which ski area you're going to buy next, what would you say?”What we talked aboutA first-to-open competition between A-Basin and Winter Park (A-Basin won); the allure of skiing Japan; Ikon as first-to-market in South Korea and China; continued Ikon expansion in Europe; who's buying Ikon?; bonus mountains; half-off friends tickets; reserve passes; “one of the things we've struggled with as an industry are the dynamics between purchasing a pass and the daily lift ticket price”; “we've got to find ways to make it more accessible, more affordable, more often for more people”; Europe as a cheaper ski alternative to the West; “we are focused every day on … what is the right price for the right consumer on the right day?”; “there's never been more innovation” in the ski ticket space; Palisades Tahoe's 14-year-village-expansion approval saga; America's “increasingly complex” landscape of community stakeholders; and Deer Valley's massive expansion.What I got wrong* We didn't get this wrong, but when we recorded this pod on Wednesday, Smith and I discussed which of Alterra's ski areas would open first. Arapahoe Basin won that fight, opening at 3 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 25, which was yesterday unless you're reading this in the future.* I said that 40 percent of all Epic, Ikon, and Indy pass partners were outside of North America. This is inaccurate: 40 percent (152) of those three passes' combined 383 partners is outside the United States. Subtracting their 49 Canadian ski areas gives us 103 mountains outside of North America, or 27 percent of the total.* I claimed that a ski vacation to Europe is “a quarter of the price” of a similar trip to the U.S. This was hyperbole, and obviously the available price range of ski vacations is enormous, but in general, prices for everything from lift tickets to hotels to food tend to be lower in the Alps than in the Rocky Mountain core.* It probably seems strange that I said that Deer Valley's East Village was great because you could drive there from the airport without hitting a spotlight and also said that the resort would be less car-dependent. What I meant by that was that once you arrive at East Village, it is – or will be, when complete – a better slopeside pedestrian village experience than the car-oriented Snow Park that has long served as the resort's principal entry point. Snow Park itself is scheduled to evolve from parking-lot-and-nothing-else to secondary pedestrian village. The final version of Deer Valley should reduce the number of cars within Park City proper and create a more vibrant atmosphere at the ski area.Questions I wish I'd askedThe first question you're probably asking is “Bro why is this so short aren't your podcasts usually longer than a Superfund cleanup?” Well I take what I can get and if there's a question you can think of related to Ikon or Alterra or any of the company's mountains, it was on my list. But Smith had either 30 minutes or zero minutes so I took the win.Podcast NotesOn Deer ValleyI was talking to the Deer Valley folks the other day and we agreed that they're doing so much so fast that it's almost impossible to tell the story. I mean this was Deer Valley two winters ago:And this will be Deer Valley this winter:Somehow it's easier to write 3,000 words on Indy Pass adding a couple of Northeast backwaters than it is to frame up the ambitions of a Utah ski area expanding by as much skiable acreage as all 30 New Hampshire ski areas combined in just two years. Anyway Deer Valley is about to be the sixth-largest ski area in America and when this whole project is done in a few years it will be number four at 5,700 acres, behind only Vail Resorts' neighboring Park City (7,300 acres), Alterra's own Palisades Tahoe (6,000 acres), and Boyne Resorts' Big Sky (5,850 acres).On recent Steamboat upgradesYes the Wild Blue Gondola is cool and I'm sure everyone from Baton-Tucky just loves it. But everything I'm hearing out of Steamboat over the past couple of winters indicates that A) the 650-acre Mahogany Ridge expansion adds a fistfighting dimension to what had largely been an intermediate ski resort, and that, B) so far, no one goes over there, partially because they don't know about it and partially because the resort only cut one trail in the whole amazing zone (far looker's left):I guess just go ski this one while everyone else still thinks Steamboat is nothing but gondolas and Sunshine Peak.On Winter Park being “on deck”After stringing the two sides of Palisades Tahoe together with a $75 trillion gondola and expanding Steamboat and nearly tripling the size of Deer Valley, all signs point to Alterra next pushing its resources into actualizing Winter Park's ambitious masterplan, starting with the gondola connection to town (right side of map):On new Ikon Pass partners for 2025-26You can read about the bonus partners above, but here are the write-ups on Ikon's full seven/five-day partners:On previous Alterra podcastsThis was Smith's second appearance on the pod. Here's number one, from 2023:His predecessor, Rusty Gregory, appeared on the show three times:I've also hosted the leaders of a bunch of Alterra leaders on the pod, most recently A-Basin and Mammoth:And the heads of many Ikon Pass partners – most recently Killington and Sun Valley:On U.S. passes in JapanEpic, Ikon, Indy, and Mountain Collective are now aligned with 48 ski areas in Japan – nearly as many as the four passes have signed in Canada:On EuropeAnd here are the European ski areas aligned with Epic, Ikon, Indy, and Mountain Collective – the list is shorter than the Japanese list, but since each European ski area is made up of between one and 345 ski areas, the actual skiable acreage here is likely equal to the landmass of Greenland:On skier and ski area growth in ChinaChina's ski industry appears to be developing rapidly - I'm not sure what to make of the difference between “ski resorts” and “ski resorts with aerial ropeways.” Normally I'd assume that means with or without lifts, but that doesn't make a lot of sense and sometimes nations frame things in very different ways.On the village at Palisades TahoeThe approval process for a village expansion on the Olympic side of Palisades Tahoe was a very convoluted one. KCRA sums the outcome up well (I'll note that “Alterra” did not call for anything in 2011, as the company didn't exist until 2017):Under the initial 2011 application, Alterra had called for the construction of 2,184 bedrooms. That was reduced to 1,493 bedrooms in a 2014 revised proposal where 850 housing units — a mix of condominiums, hotel rooms and timeshares — were planned. The new agreement calls for a total of 896 bedrooms.The groups that pushed this downsizing were primarily Keep Tahoe Blue and Sierra Watch. Smith is very diplomatic in discussing this project on the podcast, pointing to the “collaboration, communication, and a little bit of compromise” that led to the final agreement.I'm not going to be so diplomatic. Fighting dense, pedestrian-oriented development that could help reconfigure traffic patterns and housing availability in a region that is choking on ski traffic and drowning in housing costs is dumb. The systems for planning, approving, and building anything that is different from what already exists in this nation are profoundly broken. The primary issue is this: these anti-development crusaders position themselves as environmental defenders without acknowledging (or, more likely, realizing), that the existing traffic, blight, and high costs driving their resistance is a legacy of haphazard development in past decades, and that more thoughtful, human-centric projects could mitigate, rather than worsen, these concerns. The only thing an oppose-everything stance achieves is to push development farther out into the hinterlands, exacerbating sprawl and traffic.British Columbia is way ahead of us here. I've written about this extensively in the past, and won't belabor the point here except to cite what I wrote last year about the 3,711-home city sprouting from raw wilderness below Cypress Mountain, a Boyne-owned Ikon Pass partner just north of Vancouver:Mountain town housing is most often framed as an intractable problem, ingrown and malignant and impossible to reset or rethink or repair. Too hard to do. But it is not hard to do. It is the easiest thing in the world. To provide more housing, municipalities must allow developers to build more housing, and make them do it in a way that is dense and walkable, that is mixed with commerce, that gives people as many ways to move around without a car as possible.This is not some new or brilliant idea. This is simply how humans built villages for about 10,000 years, until the advent of the automobile. Then we started building our spaces for machines instead of for people. This was a mistake, and is the root problem of every mountain town housing crisis in North America. That and the fact that U.S. Americans make no distinction between the hyper-thoughtful new urbanist impulses described here and the sprawling shitpile of random buildings that are largely the backdrop of our national life. The very thing that would inject humanity into the mountains is recast as a corrupting force that would destroy a community's already-compromised-by-bad-design character.Not that it will matter to our impossible American brains, but Canada is about to show us how to do this. Over the next 25 years, a pocket of raw forest hard against Cypress' access road will sprout a city of 3,711 homes that will house thousands of people. It will be a human-scaled, pedestrian-first community, a city neighborhood dropped onto a mountainside. A gondola could connect the complex to Cypress' lifts thousands of feet up the mountain – more cars off the road. It would look like this (the potential aerial lift is not depicted here):Here's how the whole thing would set up against the mountain:And here's what it would be like at ground level:Like wow that actually resembles something that is not toxic to the human soul. But to a certain sort of Mother Earth evangelist, the mere suggestion of any sort of mountainside development is blasphemous. I understand this impulse, but I believe that it is misdirected, a too-late reflex against the subdivision-off-an-exit-ramp Build-A-Bungalow mentality that transformed this country into a car-first sprawlscape. I believe a reset is in order: to preserve large tracts of wilderness, we should intensely develop small pieces of land, and leave the rest alone. This is about to happen near Cypress. We should pay attention.Given the environmental community's reflexive and vociferous opposition to a recent proposal to repurpose tracts of not-necessarily-majestic wilderness for housing, I'm not optimistic that we possess the cultural brainpower to improve our own lives through policy. Which is why I've been writing more about passes and less about our collective ambitions to make everything from the base of the lifts outward as inconvenient and expensive as possible.The Storm explores the world of lift-served skiing year-round. Join us for 20% off the annual rate through Monday, Oct. 27, 2025. Get full access to The Storm Skiing Journal and Podcast at www.stormskiing.com/subscribe
As a lay leader of Traverse City Presbyterian Church, Linda Racine and a team of enthusiastic congregants prompted her church to start on a journey toward effective climate action. You can read about their commitment to creation care and learn about their 3 bright ideas for reducing carbon emissions in this congregation-led video. Traverse City Presbyterian took advantage of tools like the Interfaith Power and Light Carbon Assessment to understand their own energy use.Learn more about how Linda's denomination, the PCUSA, has committed to climate solutions in their Earth Pledge.Linda is also part of the Michigan Citizens Climate Lobby, which has local chapters all over the country.Many thanks to Linda and all the other terrific people who graciously hosted us when we visited Traverse City!Linda RacineTRANSCRIPTLinda Racine In 2022, there were multiple policies or overtures passed focused on creation care, and it really put out an alarm, saying “It's serious, folks, the Earth is really in trouble. So we need to take strong action.” And they were encouraging all churches to reduce their carbon emissions by at least 25% in the next four years and get it down to net zero or net positive by 2030.Debra RienstraWow. That's ambitious.Linda RacineVery ambitious. But a group of interested folks at church looked at that and said, “Let's do it. Let's go for it.”Debra Rienstra Welcome to the Refugia Podcast. I'm your host, Professor Debra Rienstra. Refugia are habitats in nature where life endures in times of crisis. We're exploring the concept of refugia as a metaphor, discovering how people of faith can become people of refugia: nurturing life-giving spaces in the earth, in our human cultural systems, and in our spiritual communities, even in this time of severe disturbance. This season, we're paying special attention to churches and Christian communities who have figured out how to address the climate crisis together as an essential aspect of their discipleship. Today, I'm talking with Linda Racine from the Presbyterian Church in Traverse City, Michigan. Linda happens to be Michigan co-coordinator for Citizen Climate Lobby, a role she adopted after a long career in academia. But I'm talking with Linda today in her role as a lay leader at the church. Traverse City Presbyterian, in many ways, is an ordinary congregation, but they are doing extraordinary work, integrating climate action into every aspect of church life. They have heat pumps, solar panels, native plantings, a pocket forest, educational programs and more. Their story demonstrates the importance of active pastoral and lay leadership, broad community buy-in, and denominational commitments. Linda will tell us their story. Let's get started.Debra RienstraLinda, thank you for talking with me today.Linda RacineOh, glad to be here.Debra RienstraIt's great to be here in your beautiful home, here in Traverse City. Thank you for your hospitality today, and I'm really excited to talk about the work of Traverse City Presbyterian Church. So I know you've been involved in the church for a long time. Maybe tell us a little bit about your personal background and how long you've been involved in the church.Linda Racine Oh, I think I joined about 25 years ago. We used we had been members at the Immaculate Conception Catholic Church just down the street here, and it was actually our oldest son who was in high school at the time, going through confirmation class, and a lot of his friends were going to the Presbyterian Church, and he really wanted to go, and for a variety of reasons, we said, “Let's check it out.” And we've been members since. That was 25 years ago.Debra Rienstra Yeah, so you have been around for all of the adventures that your church has had in their creation care work. Yes, so let's start with that spark point. We're really interested in finding how these things begin with a church. So can you think back to the moment when something happened at the church that people began to work in earnest to respond to climate change as a community. What was that spark point for Traverse City Presbyterian?Linda Racine The thing that really kicked it off was Laura Jacobson, who manages/schedules things for our Wednesday night adult education, came to me because she knew I was really involved in Citizens Climate Lobby, which is a non-partisan volunteer organization. And, “Would you do a session on climate?” I wanted to, but I was also a little hesitant, just because, sadly, climate has become so politicized, and our church has had a long history—we're a purple church, check your politics at the door, and I was concerned about how people might receive it. So, I put together a presentation very thoughtfully about “How do I make this as non-political as possible?” But the heading for it was “Caring for God's Creation: a faith based approach to climate change.” I wasn't sure how it would go over. And at that time, we were getting maybe 20 people coming on Wednesday nights. 65 people came. The room was packed. So clearly there was a lot of interest.Debra Rienstra What year was this?Linda Racine It was like January of 2020, right before Covid hit.Debra Rienstra Goodness.Linda Racine So anyway, the evening went really well. Kind of started with a very broad based, here's what Scripture says. Here's what—oh, we did the Katharine Hayhoe video, which—she takes such a broad view of every faith tradition has something important to say about our responsibility to care for creation and for one another. So Katharine Hayhoe, then the Pope, and you know, went through some different traditions and how they're responding. And then did some information about what PCUSA was doing, which was new to me. I didn't really know what all our denomination—because it had never been talked about in our church. So went through that and offered the idea that our denomination has a certification process for creation care teams. And by the end, people were saying, “Let's do this!” There was an impromptu—somebody grabbed a piece of paper and pen, and “Who wants to be a part of the team?” And we got, I don't know, eight or 10 names on that list. Quickly got together and said, “Well, what do we want to do? Let's pitch it to our session.” So February's meeting, we had a proposal, and they all said, “Absolutely, let's go for it.” So that's what started it.Debra Rienstra What do you think prepared people to be that enthusiastic after one session? What was going on in the church? What are the congregation members like that makes you look back on that and say, “Yeah, we were somehow primed or prompted or ready for that moment.”Linda Racine I think that's hard to say. Our church has always—I guess what drew me to the church initially is it was really clear this was a community that really walked the talk. It wasn't coming on Sunday to check a box, but really genuinely living their faith. And people of faith were called to care for creation. And so I think that was a strong ethic that people had anyway. And clearly, by 2020, we're seeing, “Oh my gosh, this earth is in trouble.” That was pretty clear. And so, just to have a topic on—let's gather on Wednesday night and talk about it. I think people were ready.Debra Rienstra Fascinating, yeah. And I wonder if, because up north here in Michigan, this beautiful area of Michigan, people are very aware of the outdoors. So many people care a lot about the natural world around here and enjoy it. Summer up here is so beautiful. So I wonder if it was just a little bit of a more natural leap there.Linda Racine I think you've got a point there. People are drawn to this area because of its natural amazingness. And so there is a strong environmental ethic here. I mean, look at the land conservancy: all the explosion since that launched back in the 90s, I believe. The number of just natural areas that have been preserved, the whole Sleeping Bear sand dunes could have been development, but that has been preserved. There is a strong environmental ethic here. No question.Debra Rienstra Yeah, yeah. So what happened next? How did you go about inviting the whole congregation into a process that—you didn't know what was going to happen next. You have this spark moment. But then what happened?Linda Racine I think the structure of the certification process really drove that. It's so solid. When a church decides to do that, you're committing to really look at how you manage your facilities, how your worship embraces this, how your education programs, and advocacy—that's always been the toughest one. But those four areas. First you assess, where are we now? And then, what are your church's goals? And so that involved, in order to do that and to get all the committees in the church involved: what are you doing currently, and what would you like to do? What would you like to see happen in the next year? So every committee was involved in setting goals. The pastor support was critical. Oh my gosh, without that, this wouldn't have gone anywhere. Pastors have been, right from the beginning, very supportive. One Sunday, the whole church read the pledge.Debra Rienstra The Earth Care Pledge from the Presbyterian Church, okay.Linda Racine Yeah, yeah. So people were aware that that was going on. And then people have different interests. “I'm really excited about this piece of it or that piece of it.” So always open to anyone who wants to jump in and get involved to do that. But I think it's the discipline, the structure and the discipline, of that certification process that keeps us on track.Debra Rienstra Okay, yeah, and it sounds like you were able to get that certification pretty quickly, because you've had it since 2020, so pretty quickly you got the certification.Linda Racine Yeah, I think that first year, we filled out all the forms and sent goals, and then you submit that and get the certification, they review it at the denominational level,Debra Rienstra Yeah. So it seems, from all the conversations I've had with church folks this weekend that the physical plant aspects became a big part of it, first, as well as the landscaping and grounds aspects. So talk a little bit about the processes of those things happening.Linda Racine Well, one of the first projects that first year was converting pieces of ground. We had a bed out front that was dying. Some of the bushes were dying. And a couple of our church members, Gary Richardson and Cheryl Gross, were aware of a National Wildlife Federation grant opportunity. And so Gary was a member of Building and Grounds and took the idea to that committee, and they were all supportive of it. So we submitted the grant. We got $1,500 to get us started. And so work crews showed up. We ripped out the old plants. Then that also connected to the education piece. That's one of one of those other four areas. Our children's education person was absolutely passionate. So the Vacation Bible School that summer focused on pollinators. So we did a whole education piece on the role of pollinators and their importance, and then the kids helped plant the new pollinator garden.Debra Rienstra Yeah, awesome.Linda Racine Yeah. It was fabulous.Debra Rienstra So it sounds like what we need is enthusiasm across the leadership. Yeah. And the leadership working together.Linda Racine Absolutely.Debra Rienstra And I think you folks at this church have so many—not only enthusiastic, but really skilled leaders. You have organization experience. You have Cheryl, who does native plants as a passion. I had a wonderful tour today with Randy, who was excited about boilers and transferring those to heat pumps, which was so delightful to hear about. And at some point, the church made this wonderful video, which we'll link in the show notes, explaining the goals—the three bright ideas, goals. So talk about how that happened.Linda Racine That was triggered by our denomination's policy, where, as a denomination, delegates meet every two years to look at policy for the church. And in 2022, there were multiple policies or overtures passed focused on creation care, and it really put out an alarm, saying, “It's serious, folks. The earth is really in trouble, so we need to take strong action.” And they were encouraging all churches to reduce their carbon emissions by at least 25% in the next four years and get it down to net zero or net positive by 2030.Debra Rienstra Wow, that's ambitious.Linda Racine Very ambitious. But a group of interested folks at church looked at that and said, “Let's do it. Let's go for it.” So you need to start—understand where you are first before you can reduce something. So we use the Interfaith Power and Light carbon assessment. And Chris Wendland, who you met, really drove that train, and she and Randy both worked with staff to gather all the—here's our electric bills and our gas bills and all the stuff needed to submit that. And so then we got this feedback about, “Here's where you are.” And then it was, “Okay, now what do we do?” And so another church member said, “Let's talk with Tim Pulliam,” who was—he's the owner, executive, I don't know what his title, but he runs Keen Technical Solutions who, for I don't know, 25 years have been really focused on clean energy transformation.Debra Rienstra This is also a member of the church?Linda Racine Tim Pulliam is not, but it was a church member who recommended him. So Tim brought a team of folks in and looked at all this stuff, and they said, “Well, the thing you could—that would make the biggest impact the quickest would be changing all your lighting to LED.” So that seemed like a no brainer. We also had this ancient boiler that was ready to die any minute, and people were starting to panic about that. And so, okay, we got to do something there. And then there were a lot of people in the church saying, “Can we put solar panels up?” Because there's so many great things about the solar. Not only is it good for the clean energy, but it's also a public statement. It really is a public witness, and it helps normalize, because there's still so many people out there who think, “Oh, this is Northern Michigan. You can't— solar is worthless here.” Well, actually, it's not.Debra Rienstra Actually, it's not, especially because we have such very long summer days.Linda Racine Yes, yeah. And so anyway, there was a lot of enthusiasm around that. So kind of gathered after Sunday, after church on Sunday, anybody who wanted to come and talked about, “Well, here's what the report said, and what do we think?” And so there was interest in all three of those ideas. So we created task forces. People said, “Yeah, I'll work on this.” And everybody, the groups, had about three months to do their homework, come back with, “Here's what we think the options are and what it's going to cost.” And that in about April of that year, we heard what people had to say, and people wanted to do all three.Debra Rienstra Yeah, that's just amazing. Was there resistance at all? Were there people who were resistant?Linda Racine I'm not remembering that. Maybe they weren't showing up at the meetings. Are they quiet? I don't know. I don't remember. I mean, there's always questions about, “Well, will solar really work?” There were questions about, “Well, can we afford it?” And that was maybe the biggest concern. But people had done quite a bit of research on that, and between the very low interest loans that our denomination offers—that was huge, the potential for grants. And we did end up getting an $80,000 grant from our local utility. And then at that time there were IRA dollars available. That's a question mark right now, but the combination of that, and then when you look at the energy savings, it's like, “Okay, what we're going to save in electric bills is probably going to be pretty darn close to covering our monthly loan payment.” So when people saw that, it was like, collective, “Okay, sure, this is doable.”Debra Rienstra So at that point was the video made at that point?Linda Racine Yes, because the next step was, “Okay. So we've got maybe 50 people in the room. We've got 600 people in the church. How do we get everybody involved?” So putting together a strategy for really getting everyone enthused about it. And so the idea for the video came up. And Ray Starkenberg and her dad are professional videographers.Debra Rienstra Once again, talent in the congregation.Linda RacineOh my gosh. And so they took that project on. And you've seen the video, it's just amazing. The storytelling is so well done.Debra Rienstra It's playful, it's persuasive, it's full of facts. And I love the theme, you know, “the time is now” is the theme of the video, and the involvement of kids in the video saying their piece, saying, “This is about me and my future. Please help.” It's just—and that combined with the playfulness, it's just brilliant.Linda Racine It's a good balance, isn't it? Yeah. And a couple things about that. One member of the church, after seeing the video, said, “If this was just about buying a new boiler, I wouldn't be that enthused. But this is about the future. There was so much enthusiasm in the church after really hearing the whole story and the possibilities there. I do want to mention, that theme, “the time is now,” that's right out of the overture that was passed by our general assembly.Debra Rienstra Yeah. Once again, that denominational leadership is so important.Linda Racine Yeah, that was in that very first overture in 2022 talking about how serious this moment in time is and the time is now to act.Debra Rienstra Hi, it's me, Debra. If you are enjoying this podcast episode, go ahead and subscribe on your preferred podcast platform. If you have a minute, leave a review. Good reviews help more listeners discover this podcast. To keep up with all the Refugia news, I invite you to subscribe to the Refugia newsletter on Substack. This is my fortnightly newsletter for people of faith who care about the climate crisis and want to go deeper. Every two weeks, I feature climate news, deeper dives, refugia sightings and much more. Join our community at refugianewsletter.substack.com. For even more goodies, including transcripts and show notes for this podcast, check out my website at debrarienstra.com. D-E-B-R-A-R-I-E-N-S-T-R-A dot com. Thanks so much for listening. We're glad you're part of this community. And now back to the interview.Debra RienstraSo how was the video used and disseminated?Linda Racine We started doing some meetings, just in homes, small groups, eight or 10 people. Showing the video, and then having a discussion. And that was the first step, and getting people's questions answered, and then Sunday morning it was in the service. And, wow.Debra Rienstra So it worked, so to speak, yeah.Linda Racine And then it's been on our website ever since. The thing is that video has gone—I wouldn't say viral, but it has been broadly, broadly disseminated.Debra Rienstra Oh, I can see why. I think every church should imitate it as best they can. Yeah, I mean the statistics—the numbers are specific to you folks.Linda Racine Yeah, the storytelling though, the power of that, are things that other churches can use, yes.Debra Rienstra And it stars many people from your church. So the stars of the show are your fellow congregants.Linda Racine And they're all people who have really stepped up and wanted to be and are a key part of this.Debra Rienstra So at this point you have—the heat pump system is well underway. Solar panels are sitting on the roof waiting for installation when the snow melts. You have education programs going. Maybe we'll come back to that. Quite a lot of landscaping work, quite a lot of native planting done, really neat native gardens. You have a pocket forest going. So as far as the four things, the four elements of earth care congregation: it's the building, the landscaping...Linda Racine Well, those are kind of together, so how you manage your facilities.Debra Rienstra Okay, what are the other three again?Linda Racine Worship. And pastors lead that, and they do that beautifully. That first year that we received certification, we had a kickoff celebration in the prayer garden that was just lovely. And so that theme gets worked into the worship by the pastors.Debra Rienstra Yeah, give some examples of how that happens in worship. Are there sermons? Is it in the litanies, in the music?Linda Racine Hmm, probably all of the above.Debra Rienstra Yeah. Okay, and you have two worship services. So this has to be done in two different ways, so it requires a little creativity.Linda Racine Yeah, although often in the spring, especially around earth— there can be combined services. We do a combined service once a month anyway, and so there have been a couple earth care themed services, that way it was one service.Debra Rienstra Yeah. And then do you have anything special for Earth Day or Season of Creation?Linda Racine Usually, yes, on like Wednesday, well, that would be more the education piece, but usually on the Wednesday nights, we've done something big related to earth care. This year, we're telling our story. We've got a thing planned for that Wednesday of Earth Week. We're inviting every church in the region to come and hear the story. Our contractor will be there to answer questions, and resource people, the Light and Power folks will be there. So if they have questions about, “Well, what programs do you have?” And there are other churches in the area also that are doing similar things. So it'll be a good chance to share stories also and learn from one another. So we're doing— that's the plan for this during Earth Care Week.Debra Rienstra So just to make the refugia connection there, as Traverse City Presbyterian is operating as a refugia place, a refugia space, doing their work, modeling that work, with this idea of getting other churches together, you're creating those corridors and creating that whole network to let these life giving capacities spread and grow. That's brilliant. Really great idea.Linda Racine Another thing that we've done, we've got a racial justice task force that has, over the last several years, made a very focused effort to build relationship with the local tribe. And so the last, I think, three Lent seasons that we've had a Lenten series where inviting tribal leadership into talk about the—to educate us about the history of the tribe and practices and beliefs, and whereas much of that is focused on caring for the earth, caring for Mother Earth, it's central, yeah. So we've learned a lot and helped make a connection with that.Debra Rienstra I noticed in your bulletin, there's a land acknowledgement. And also I noticed you have a garden specifically co-cared for with the indigenous folk around.Linda Racine Not yet.Debra Rienstra Okay, that's in the plans.Linda Racine Yes, it's on the plans to—because in one of the sessions where a tribal leader was talking about...it was right after the land acknowledgement had been created. And the talking through that, someone at the end asked, “So, what's next?” You know, we really, our heart is in this land acknowledgement, what's next? And her response was, “When you care for the earth, you care for the Anishinaabek and what we believe in.” So that sparked this thing in my head of, “Oh my, here's a beautiful opportunity.” And we followed up, thinking, if we could learn from tribal leadership on how to create a healing garden, we'd love to do that. And so we have had one of the tribal leaders come and help educate us about a healing garden, what all it involves. And we've created a space. It's all smothered and ready to go. And the first thing that we would like to plant there is a plum tree. Because what we learned from her, I had no idea, but apparently, the plum tree is a has a very special place in the Anishinaabek story, where—my understanding is that plum trees were very prevalent in the Grand Rapids area, and when the Dutch came and settled that area, the plum trees were taken out. And so, in fact, it was hard when she came to meet with us, she had brought a plum tree as a gift, and we didn't have a place to put it. Broke my heart. But we so would love that to be the center of this healing garden. So we've got, you know, ground is all ready. We weren't even sure where it ought to go. And so anyway, so we've got a spot, because she helped us find a place for the healing garden. So as soon as we can reconnect, and they have the time, though, we're going to get that garden launched.Debra Rienstra Wow, that's beautiful. And will it be medicinal plants?Linda Racine That's the thought, yes.Debra Rienstra So healing plants, but also healing a relationship.Linda Racine Both, yes, all three, yeah, all three things.Debra Rienstra Beautiful. So a lot of churches struggle with—I've been sort of calling it the “boutique issue” problem, which is to say, you have, you know, your creation care folk, and they have a green team or something, and they kind of do their little thing off to the side, and other people have other issues that they're dealing with, and it's really hard to get that creation care work to infuse through, to diffuse through the whole congregation's life. And it sounds like that happened fairly organically. So what advice would you have for other churches that struggle with that boutique issue problem?Linda Racine Well, I think the strength of the PCUSA certification process is what allowed that to happen or fostered that. Because when you've got—you're required or expected to set goals in very comprehensive list of how the church functions, it really requires everybody to be involved. And so right from the beginning, pretty much every committee was asked to look at, what are we doing related to creation care, and what do we want to do? And every year that gets repeated. So there's a clear—we've got a pace of it. It's built into the planning structure. Every fall, the committees are looking at their goals around everything but creation care is on the list, and they're looking at their budgets to submit for the final reports and what happens next year. So it's really built into the fabric and structure of how we operate. So if it weren't for that, it would be a committee off to the side doing whatever it does. But really, everyone in all committees are involved.Debra Rienstra So it sounds like that answers my next question too, which has to do with the problem of “fade.” So by that, I mean everybody gets excited. You replace the boiler, you replace the LED lights, or replace lights with LED, and then...yeah, this enthusiasm sort of fades. But it sounds like that annual goal-setting process with an indefinite horizon, like there's no end point to that, right? So that annual goal-setting process also helps with that fade problem.Linda Racine I think it's key.Debra Rienstra One last question, what has been most challenging and most joyful about the transformation that Traverse City Presbyterian has gone through in a mere five years?Linda Racine I don't know that anything has been particularly hard, but oh my gosh, the joy. Ah. Just so many examples. When we decided that there was this huge section of lawn that was totally unusable as lawn, let's turn it into a pocket forest. And we were able to get a local tree trimmer to donate the wood chips to smother it. And we have this huge group of people with two truckloads or three, I don't know how many truckloads of stuff. We're out with the wheelbarrows spreading stuff. We're having so much fun. Jordan is sliding down it like it's a ski slope. We're just having a great time, and I'm looking around and thinking, “I absolutely love this community.” They're so committed to being the best stewards of creation and one another. Yeah, it's not hard, it's just wonderful.Debra Rienstra Linda, it's been such a pleasure to talk to you. There's been joy in this conversation, too. Thank you for your time. Thank you for all that you do and blessings on Traverse City Presbyterian.Debra Rienstra Thanks for joining us for show notes and full transcripts, please visit debrarienstra.com and click on the Refugia Podcast tab. This season of the Refugia Podcast is produced with generous funding from the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship. Colin Hoogerwerf is our awesome audio producer. Thanks to Ron Rienstra for content consultation as well as technical and travel support. Till next time, be well. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit refugianewsletter.substack.com
This week Jeremy welcomes Devin Swank from the band Sanguisugabogg. On this episode, Jeremy and Devin talk Columbus Ohio, record stores, Skeletonwitch, SCION Festivals, 50 Cent's "Get Rich or Die Tryin'", borrowing band shirts from adults, filtering out band lifers, the evolution of his vocal approach, touring with Nile, being promoted on NPR, their new album "Hideous Aftermath" and so much more!!! SUBSCRIBE TO THE PATREON for a bonus episode where Devin answered questions that were submitted by subscribers! FOLLOW THE SHOW ON INSTAGRAM / X
In this episode, Dr. Samuel B. Lee, MD guides a deeply activating solo transmission on reclaiming your inner creator, reawakening the artist within, and stepping into your role as a builder of the New Earth. From his earliest memories of not feeling “from here” to his revelations as a psychiatrist working with indigo, rainbow, and crystal children, Dr. Lee invites listeners to remember their divine origin and ignite the spark of authentic creation.Through vivid storytelling, ancient wisdom, and modern metaphysics, he breaks down the sacred architecture of how Source creates — intention, sound, and light — and how your unique expression heals not just your DNA, but Mother Earth herself. If you've ever felt like a misfit, a creative soul on the fringes of a 3D world, this episode is your permission slip to be unapologetically you.Dr. Lee reveals why authentic expression is the resurrection, how inspiration flows from the higher heart (Azuray), and how every poem, painting, dance, or design transmits frequency repair codes to the planetary grid. This is a masterclass in spiritual creativity and your soul's sacred mission.
Welcome to Awakening Aphrodite — the podcast that helps you harmonize and align your masculine and feminine energy, awaken your true power and be more fit in body, mind and spirit.In each episode, holistic health expert Amy Fournier shares inspiring conversations with a variety of guests, blending ancient wisdom and modern science to offer practical tools that help you thrive in today's fast-paced world.Featured Guest: Mitch, The Orgone DonorMitchell Joseph, A.K.A. "The Orgone Donor" is an Orgone Energy researcher and Orgone device creator who bridges the realms of what's going on in our skies now (geoengineering), life energy, consciousness, electromagnetic fields, and the universal theme that connects them all: frequency.Get ready to learn a lot and feel inspired with this true "boots on the ground" warrior who offers effective solutions to help protect our beautiful planet and ourselves!Products Mentioned in This EpisodeBioGeometry: https://amyfournier.com/biogeometry/EMFSafe: https://amyfournier.com/emfsafe/Vogel Crystals: https://amyfournier.com/vogel-cut-crystals/Modern Om (Shungite): https://amyfournier.com/modern-om/Earth Pipe: https://www.theorgonedonor.com/store/p108/earth-pipes.htmlPucks and a Pipe Pack: https://www.theorgonedonor.com/store/p128/ppp.htmlCloud Busters: https://www.theorgonedonor.com/store/p188/The_Orgone_Chembuster_aka_Cloudbuster_%28Base_Unit%29.htmlShop all of Amy's curated favorite products with discount coupons!:
Did you know there's MAGIC in your Meditation Practice? Say Goodbye to Anxiety and Hello to More Peace & More Prosperity! Here Are the 5 Secrets on How to Unleash Your Meditation Magic https://womensmeditationnetwork.com/5secrets Join Premium! Ready for an ad-free meditation experience? Join Premium now and get every episode from ALL of our podcasts completely ad-free now! Just a few clicks makes it easy for you to listen on your favorite podcast player. Become a PREMIUM member today by going to --> https://WomensMeditationNetwork.com/premium Feel the drums of Mother Earth, As she gently soothes your soul. She draws you in with rhythmic beats, And leaves you feeling whole. LONG PAUSE The drums beat on, and soon you feel, The waves of peace roll in. Your body sways and softens too, As calmness flows within. LONG PAUSE Gentle and serene, The space in between. Soften and you'll feel, Your soul begin to heal. Join our Premium Sleep for Women Channel on Apple Podcasts and get ALL 5 of our Sleep podcasts completely ad-free! Join Premium now on Apple here --> https://bit.ly/sleepforwomen Join our Premium Meditation for Kids Channel on Apple Podcasts and get ALL 5 of our Kids podcasts completely ad-free! Join Premium now on Apple here → https://bit.ly/meditationforkidsapple Hey, I'm so glad you're taking the time to be with us today. My team and I are dedicated to making sure you have all the meditations you need throughout all the seasons of your life. If there's a meditation you desire, but can't find, email us at Katie Krimitsos to make a request. We'd love to create what you want! Namaste, Beautiful,
https://vimeo.com/1123370740?share=copy&fl=sv&fe=ci With the world around us filled with so much conflict and division, as we currently at the time of this recording head into holiday season in the next month or so, you might be wondering where do I belong? How can I show up as non-duality, embodied love, multidimensional expression of awareness and peace? How do I do that today? Today's guest, Helen Quail offers beautiful guidance, transmissions of love and even a very beautiful meditation at the end of today's episode. Will put you back in your remembrance of who you are in love. Join us! Helen Quail is a mom to five unique beings. She has two Masters Degrees. She is a Professional Kinesiology Practitioner, an Embodied Meditation Teacher, Certified Guiding Mindful Change Coach, a Transformational Coach, an Angel Healing Teacher and Light Grids Practitioner. Helen has completed a Reiki Mastership, a two-year Shamanic Priestess Training, Isis Healing, Lemurian Healing, and Metatronic Healing. Helen is a guide to the cosmic evolution of human consciousness and has shared meditation, consciousness development, facilitated large group healing sessions, and assisted thousands of people with self discovery and living a life of authenticity, for more than three decades. She has led pilgrimages, retreats and events all around the world. Helen is a light holder, a vessel for some of the highest levels of cosmic and galactic light frequencies, the Sacred codes of the Divine Feminine Mother. Helen offers embodied awakening and multi-dimensional healing through personal sessions, mentoring, daily tools, soul circles, and powerful transmissions. Watch or listen to the show to discover how to find the courage to open your heart and fully embody your purpose for being here. You're Invited! READ: Coming Home - https://a.co/d/35ouGgL FREE GIFT: Being Born Meditation https://www.helenquail.com/shop/p/birthday OFFER: $50 off a Private Session https://calendly.com/helenquail/soul-nectar-special-1-1-session HELEN QUAIL BIO Helen Quail is a global-level heart-centered consciousness shifter. Her life-transforming approach is embodied awakening –how to live a life of embodied love as an awakened human with full-spectrum authenticity. Serving for more than 25 years internationally as a wisdom teacher, embodied awakening and meditation guide, group facilitator, soul mentor, master energy healer and author, Helen has aided consciousness development with thousands of people globally. With a particular focus on group meditation and transformation as well as 1-1, she has assisted many in navigating the challenges and gifts of our unique unfolding and embodiment as a multi-dimensional Being in a human body. Reconfiguring paradigms around all levels of mothering is at the heart of her function. In 2018, she relocated from Scotland to the USA, with four of her five children, following her soul call to anchor light. She currently resides between Mount Shasta and Hill Country, Texas. LINKS Web: https://www.helenquail.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/helenquail.org Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/embodiedlight/ Substack: https://helenquail.substack.com/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@HelenQuail InSight Timer: https://insig.ht/YplUVI8c4Wb YOUR GUIDE TO SOUL NECTAR: KERRI HUMMINGBIRD Kerri Hummingbird, Medicine Woman, Mother and Mentor, is the Founder of Inner Medicine Training, a Mystery School that shares potent ancient traditions from the Andes and Himalayas for owning your wisdom and living your purpose. She is the #1 international best-selling author of “Inner Medicine: Becoming One with Mother Earth for the Survival of Humanity”, “Love Is Fierce: Healing the Mother Wound”, “The Second Wave: Transcending the Human Drama” (on the int'l bestseller charts for over 6 years) and the award-winning best-selling book “Awakening To Me: One Woman's Journey To Self Love” which describes t...
In this episode of Created to Reign, Dr. David Legates discusses the latest scandal. Apparently, living with asthma... ruins the planet? Listen to learn more.Visit our podcast resource page: https://cornwallalliance.org/listen%20to%20our%20podcast%20created%20to%20reign/Our work is entirely supported by donations from people like you. If you benefit from our work and would like to partner with us, please visit www.cornwallalliance.org/donate.
The Real Reason America Is Turning from God with Pastor Lucas MilesEpisode Description:In this powerful continuation of The Pagan Threat series, Pastor Lucas Miles unpacks how the Hegelian dialectic—thesis, antithesis, and synthesis—has become the engine driving America's moral and cultural drift.From the shift away from a constitutional republic to the erosion of biblical values, Lucas exposes how conflict is strategically manufactured to advance ideological change. He explains how this same dialectic now shapes conversations around marriage, gender, government, and even the church itself.Lucas confronts the rise of modern paganism and goddess worship, showing how ancient spirits of rebellion—Asherah, Diana, and Gaia—have reemerged in pop culture and progressive spirituality. Drawing from Scripture and history, he traces the spiritual roots of feminism, socialism, and radical environmentalism, connecting them to a single global agenda: to replace God with man-made utopia.You'll also hear Lucas explain the “master-slave dialectic” and how it fuels identity politics, feminism, and digital idolatry—from the sexual revolution to the rise of OnlyFans. His message is clear: every attempt to find identity apart from Christ leads to bondage.
https://vimeo.com/1122063536?share=copy In times of great calamity, destruction and fear she comes to us to hold our hand, to let us know that all is well, to answer our prayers, and to guide us through synchronistic messages and signs towards our heart's desires. Today, we're gonna hear about The Way of the Rose, the radical path of The Divine Feminine hidden in the rosary by the co-authors Clark Strand and Perdita Finn. Join us to hear this beautiful transmission of love! After receiving messages from The Divine Feminine, Clark Strand and Perdita Finn collaborated to co-author their first book, The Way of the Rose, The Radical Path of the Divine Feminine hidden in the Rosary. They co-facilitate an open-hearted community dedicated to the forgotten earth wisdom of the Rosary. The shrine, Our Lady of Woodstock was installed in Woodstock, NY. To be seen from the road, always accessible. The Novena, is celebrated on June 16th, consisting of prayer, songs, art, plantings, sculptures, performances, food, and of course roses of all kinds. The Way of the Rose Circles can be attended in person or via zoom and free of charge. The Facebook group offers daily fellowship and support. Watch or listen to the show to learn more about connecting with a community devoted to honoring the prayers of The Divine Feminine. You're Invited! PERDITA FINN BIO Perdita Finn is the co-founder of the non-denominational international fellowship The Way of the Rose, which inspired their book The Way of the Rose: The Radical Path of the Divine Feminine Hidden in the Rosary. In addition to studying with Zen masters, priests, and healers, she apprenticed with psychic Susan Saxman, with whom she wrote The Reluctant Psychic. She wrote middle grades novels. She has been a ghostwriter, a book doctor, a copy editor and a writing teacher. She has a lively substack, Take Back the Magic where readers can get sneak peeks into what she's working on now. She teaches workshops (takebackthemagic.com), to empower participants to their own magic. She is the author of Take Back the Magic: Conversations with the Unseen World. LINKS Web: takebackthemagic.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/perdita.finn Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/perditafinn/ Substack: https://substack.com/@perditafinn Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/B00MQG0I3U/ CLARK STRAND BIO Clark Strand, a former senior editor at Tricycle: The Buddhist Review, has been studying the world's spiritual traditions for more than forty years. The author of Waking Up to the Dark , Waking the Buddha, Meditation Without Gurus, How to Believe in God, and Seeds from a Birch Tree, Strand has written for The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and the Washington Post/Newsweek "On Faith" blog. He is the co-founder of Way of the Rose, a nonsectarian rosary fellowship open to people of any spiritual background, and the co-author, of Way of the Rose: The Earth Wisdom of the Goddess Hidden in the Rosary. LINKS Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/clarkstrand Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/clarkstrand/ Substack: https://substack.com/@clarkstrand COLORABORATIVE LINKS Web: wayoftherose.org Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/398032263660376/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/way_of_the_rose/ YOUR GUIDE TO SOUL NECTAR: KERRI HUMMINGBIRD Kerri Hummingbird, Medicine Woman, Mother and Mentor, is the Founder of Inner Medicine Training, a Mystery School that shares potent ancient traditions from the Andes and Himalayas for owning your wisdom and living your purpose. She is the #1 international best-selling author of “Inner Medicine: Becoming One with Mother Earth for the Survival of Humanity”, “Love Is Fierce: Healing the Mother Wound”, “The Second Wave: Transcending the Human Drama” (on the int'l bestseller charts for over 6 years) and the award-winning best-selling book “Awakening To Me: One Woman's Journey To Self Love” which descr...
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