Podcasts about seeds

Okay you guys, I have THOUGHTS on this one.

Grief can look very different in children than it does in adults. In this episode, Sissy Goff and David Thomas share five important ways kids process loss: in small doses, in the middle of everyday life, through emotions connected to secondary losses, through play, and in new ways as they grow and develop. They encourage parents to follow their child's lead, offer language when grief unexpectedly surfaces, and remember that there is no “right” timetable or expression of grief. Rather than trying to make children grieve like adults, caregivers can remain close, make room for remembering, and reassure kids that they never have to walk through loss alone. Resources mentioned: Helping Kids Through Grief: A Parent's Guide for Making Sense of Death, Processing Loss, and Finding Hope by Sissy Goff The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis . . . . . .  Sign up to receive the⁠ bi-⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠monthly newsletter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ to keep up to date with where David and Sissy are speaking, where they are taco'ing, PLUS conversation starters for you and your family to share! Order our new book, Capable, here!! See our speaking dates, purchase books and check out our courses here.. . . . . .  If you would like to partner with Raising Boys and Girls as a podcast sponsor, fill out our⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Advertise With Us⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ form. CHRISTIAN HEALTHSHARE MINISTRIES: Take charge of your healthcare by visiting chministries.org/solution. BOLL & BRANCH: Get 15% off plus free shipping on your first set of sheets at Bollandbranch.com/rbg⁠. Exclusions apply. QUINCE: Go to ⁠Quince.com/rbg⁠ for free shipping on your order and three hundred and sixty-five -day returns. SEEDS: Download the free SEEDS app and take one small step today. Plant your first seed and see what God can grow. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Join our This Wasn't The Plan Launch Team! Preorder This Wasn't The Plan! Get 50% off your order at Hiya!!! The BEST kids daily multivitamins and protein powder! SEEDS: Download the free SEEDS app and take one small step today: plant your first seed and see what God can grow! HI FAM!!! We kick off this episode with a very candid, very unhinged August recap that ranges from coffee creamer drama to pregnancy updates, church planting, and what it looks like to step into new seasons of life. We also share current favorites, a few listener questions, and what God has been teaching us in the middle of a lot of change. This one is part monthly life update, part encouragement for moms, singles, and anyone trying to stay grounded while life feels a little in flux. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode, Kappy shares what's on his plate at the moment. Links and handles mentioned in this episode:Happy Rice | Patch article | Phil Turley IG | Ring on Hook | Wulf's FishAhimsa | IGPB Balls episode | Clean Plate ClubObama Presidential Center | Food and the American Story | Chicago Chefs Cook | Chef Erick WilliamsMartin's Potato RollsAlex Stupak IG | EmpellónFollow Beyond the Plate on Facebook and X.Follow Kappy on Instagram and X.www.beyondtheplatepodcast.com www.onkappysplate.com

~CHECK OUT ALL THE LINKS BELOW FOR THE SYNDICATE & RIOT Co.!https://link.me/breederssyndicate~SUPPORT the channel or JOIN the Discord community:https://www.buymeacoffee.com/matthewriot(This channel is not monetized - any contributions are warmly appreciated & keep us going)~QUALITY GEAR (shirts, stickers, beanies, mugs etc): https://breeders-syndicate-shop.fourthwall.com~PLANT HEALTH & SEX TESTING: https://www.farmerfreeman.com  (Coupon Code: SYNDICATE5 )

In episode 503 of The Reformed Brotherhood, Tony Arsenal and Jesse Schwamb conclude their deep dive into Luke 10:25–37 — the Parable of the Good Samaritan. Far from a simple morality tale about helping strangers, this episode unpacks the parable's confrontational legal context, its reversal of expectation, and its profound Christological undertones. Tony and Jesse examine why the lawyer's question about self-justification was always destined to be unanswerable on his own terms, how the priest and Levite serve as a damning mirror for religious professionals, and why the Samaritan's lavish, costly mercy points beyond mere ethics to the gospel itself. The episode also explores the Mary and Martha account that immediately follows, arguing it cannot be read in isolation. Closing with Matthew Henry, the hosts land the discussion squarely on gratitude for Christ, the supreme Good Neighbor. Key Takeaways The parable is fundamentally about self-justification, not mercy ministry. The lawyer's question — "Who is my neighbor?" — is a legal maneuver, and Jesus' answer exposes the impossibility of fulfilling the law through self-effort rather than merely defining the scope of neighborly obligation. Jesus reverses the expected identification of "the neighbor." The listener naturally assumes the beaten man is the neighbor to be loved, but the punchline identifies the Samaritan — the one who showed mercy — as the neighbor, redirecting the question from who must I love to what does love actually look like. The Samaritan's mercy is deliberately, impossibly lavish. His actions — binding wounds, providing transport, paying an open-ended debt for a stranger and likely an enemy — exceed anything a reasonable person would do, pointing to a mercy that transcends mere human virtue. The priest and Levite indict religious professionalism. Their failure is not incidental; it demonstrates that meticulous law observance and ceremonial religiosity can actually obstruct the very love the law commands, hollowing out its spirit while preserving its form. The parable functions under all three uses of the law. For the unregenerate, it terrifies and condemns. For the regenerate, it is a third-use call to Spirit-empowered, grateful obedience. As civil law, it commends a society of compassion over indifference. Christ is the typological Good Neighbor. The Samaritan's actions — pouring oil and wine, bearing the cost, promising to return and settle all debts — carry genuine Christological resonance without requiring a full allegorical reading of every detail. The immediately following Mary and Martha account is thematically inseparable. Luke's editorial placement of that narrative directly after the parable creates a deliberate counterpoint: the one thing necessary is not anxious service but sitting at the feet of Jesus. Key Concepts The Lawyer's Question Was Never Going to Work The lawyer who approaches Jesus in Luke 10 is not a neutral inquirer — he is, as Luke tells us, seeking to justify himself. Tony and Jesse explore what this means with precision: the desire to be justified is not inherently wrong, but the mechanism the lawyer employs — the law — is catastrophically insufficient for the task. When Jesus responds with the parable, he does not sidestep the legal framework; he weaponizes it. The Samaritan's mercy is so extravagant, so far beyond ordinary moral expectation, that it functions not as an achievable standard but as a devastating exposure of how far short every human attempt at law-keeping falls. The command "go and do likewise" is not an encouraging send-off — it is, for the self-justifying lawyer, a door slamming shut. The Samaritan's Mercy Is Intentionally Beyond Reach One of the most important contributions this episode makes is resisting the domestication of the Samaritan's actions into a feel-good story about helping those in need. Tony reframes the scenario in contemporary terms: finding a gravely injured stranger from a hostile ethnic group, providing emergency first aid, transporting them to care, and writing a blank check for all future medical expenses — with no personal obligation to do so. No reasonable person would do this, and that is exactly the point. The mercy described is not aspirationally difficult; it is humanly inconceivable at scale. This is what Christ-like love looks like, and it is precisely what the law demands. The gap between the demand and human capacity is the gospel's entry point. The Mary and Martha Account Cannot Be Separated from the Parable Tony raises a hermeneutical observation that deserves more attention than it typically receives: Luke chose to place the Mary and Martha account immediately after the Good Samaritan parable, and that editorial decision is not accidental. Martha — busy with hospitality and service — looks, on the surface, like the practical application of everything the Samaritan modeled. Yet she is gently rebuked, and Mary, who sits at Jesus' feet, is commended for choosing "the one thing necessary." This creates a stunning theological counterweight: the parable exposes the impossibility of self-justifying law-keeping, and the very next story shows that even well-intentioned merciful activity, when it crowds out receiving from Christ, misses the point. The one thing necessary is always Christ himself. Memorable Quotes If you think you're the good Samaritan, if you think you're the one that's gonna come and rescue people — you're much more likely to see this as a sort of law beat-down. Where those of us who are regenerated and in Christ, this is third-use law. This is us seeing what it means to be holy, and going and doing likewise, trying in our power, recognizing that we can't, and trusting the Lord to accept our feeble attempts. - Tony Arsenal This text is not really to be preached or applied as some kind of bare moral exhortation. It's not 'try harder to be like the Samaritan.' That's totally disconnected from the gospel. It should be preached in a manner that exposes the impossibility of self-justification... and then of course it does point us to Christ as the one whose perfect, costly, self-giving mercy alone satisfies the law's demand on our behalf. - Jesse Schwamb If this parable and our conversation about it does nothing except stirring you to gratitude for the fact that our supreme good neighbor threw us on his donkey and carried us to the public house, and bound up our wounds, and paid for our debt — if it does nothing but drive you to gratitude and thankfulness and wonder, then we've succeeded in our task and we've left you with the Gospel. - Tony Arsenal Full Transcript Jesse Schwamb: Welcome to episode 503 of the Reformed Brotherhood. I'm Jesse.  Tony Arsenal: And I'm Tony, and this is the podcast with ears to hear. Hey, brother.  Jesse Schwamb: Hey, brother. Well, at this point, there's one thing that we know for certain, and that is if you're gonna come at the law giver, the one who's composed and written the law, with a legal question to try to entrap the one who has given you the law, you better not miss. And it turns out, in Luke 10 where we've been hanging out, the lawyer who poses Jesus with the question of, "Who is my neighbor?" is a big swing and a miss. Yeah. And we're finally gonna get to all the characters that are part of this amazing parable in this conversation. But of course, there's something we gotta do first. Affirmations And Denials Jesse Schwamb: It, it's everybody's, what I'm led to believe everybody's favorite segment of this entire show. I mean, the crowds out there say, "Why even have a full podcast? Just do affirmations and denials for the entire time." And we, we hear you, because we're borrowing from that beautiful confessional format of the dead reformers to settle all the much not confessional [00:02:00] disputes. So in the great tradition of the Westminster Divines, who of course cannot just simply say, "We like grace," without also clarifying 17 things that grace is not- ... we're now again going to bring you our own binding, authoritative, and entirely unneeded but very official statement of affirmations and denials. It's affirming the things we love and denying things we don't. So Tony, as is our own custom, are you affirming with something or are you denying against something on this episode?  Tony Arsenal: Um, I'm denying something. Uh, it's a sort of a weird situation that has cropped up, uh, online. And I, I try not to use this segment too often to sort of wade into, um, I don't know, the, like, latest social controversy in the Reformed world. But every once in a while I come across something that I feel like you just need to sort of talk about. And, um, many of our listeners are probably already [00:03:00] aware of the situation that I'm gonna talk about, and it's very well-publicized and, and very public. Um, but I'm denying the sort of weirdness that has happened with the G3 Conference. Um, I'm not sure how familiar with G3 you are, Jesse, but for the, the listener who may not be, G3 is a conference, um, primarily run by Baptists, and is, in my understanding, is primarily attended by sort of Reformed-ish Baptists. And I don't, I don't say Reformed-ish to be pejorative necessarily. Um, but it, it's sort of like predominantly, um Non-confessional but not anti-confessional Calvinistic Baptists, sort of think more like covenant framework MacArthur-style Baptists maybe is, is a way to look at it. Um, and a few years ago, one of their main figures, I don't remember exactly what position he held, but it was a relatively high position in, in [00:04:00] the conference. Uh, his name was Josh Boyce. He, uh, w- was caught/confessed to maintaining, like, multiple anonymous or pseudonymous, uh, Twitter accounts and publishing several s- like pseudonym-based Substacks, um, that he used to basically attack the character of not only anyone online that seemed to cross him, but, like, people that he shared an office with. Like, anyone and everyone was targeted by him. And at the time it was a big hullabaloo. He, uh, he resigned. As far as I can tell, he's faded into obscurity and has not sought to come back, although that's always, you know, yet to be seen. But at the time there was very firm statements by the r- remaining sort of board members, leadership of G3, at how inappropriate this was, and how acting anonymously requi- you know, sort of evacuates accountability and, [00:05:00]and all these different things. And it's come out recently, um, just over the last week, that four of the members of the G3 board, um, who are all elders at the same church, had assembled a sort of anonymous dossier of accusations against, um, a- another pastor, uh, that he had been sort of serially plagiarizing sermons. Um, and when nothing really happened when they sent their anonymous dossier, they started distributing this to other, other, like, platforms and other church and m- parachurch ministries, kind of encouraging people to do their own investigation. Um, one such, uh, outlet was ... It's a, it's a, I don't know, sort of a news discernment blogger kind of a thing, um, has done some pretty decent reporting work I think in, in the recent past, although it has sort of a s- storied beginning, um, called Protestia They did just [00:06:00] that. They did an investigation, and in the course of their investigation, they identified who these anonymous, uh, the anonymous reporters were, and it was the same, the very same people who a few years ago, uh, pontificated, uh, at, at length about the importance of accountability and how anonymity has, uh, taken that away. Uh, people that accepted Josh Boyce's resi- resignation for acting anonymously have now done the same thing. They have since, uh, resigned from their church eldership, um, which is gonna be awkward because they haven't resigned from the board of G3, which, uh, the offices of G3 are in the same building as the church that they've now resigned at. Uh, and I guess where, where my denial comes in and the reason that I feel like it, it might be worthwhile for us just to Even reflect on it a little bit is there is an element in the Reformed world that seeks a platform and seeks an audience and seeks notoriety, and I, I was musing [00:07:00] today a little bit on my own Twitter that th- there was a time in my life where that was very much what I wanted. I wanted to be a, a very public, well-known theological voice, and, um, a- and I just have sort of like drifted away from that. And the, the reason I think it's worth mentioning on our show is that we do have an audience. We have a, a modest audience. It's not huge. It's not nothing. Um, but th- there is a real temptation to seek fame and notoriety that is absolutely destructive and really antithetical to, uh, to Christian principles of what it means to serve those around you, to serve with humility, to r- you know, redound any glory that might come to you for your actions to, to the fact that it is Christ who empowers all things and brings all good blessings. So I don't know that I have much more commentary on it. It's just a weird... It's a very weird situation, but it, it seems like it very much has come from a [00:08:00] place of feeling as though minor slights by people you associate with warrant sort of a, a nuclear option like this because, uh... and I don't wanna read too much into motives, but, but it seems like because your reputation and your notoriety is so great that any offense to it needs to be responded to in kind, and that's just not, that's just not the Christian way. So again, I don't know that I have any more commentary or thoughts on it. It just was a weird situation that I'm, I'm like, "Why do we gotta do this to each other, folks?" Like, why are we, why are we biting at each other all the time? Why are we doing these things except from a place of sinful pride? So I'm denying that. I'm denying sinful pride. I'm denying my own tendencies to seek glory in a spotlight. Um, I'm very thankful that God did not, uh, see fit to grant me that desire 'cause it probably would've been even more destructive for me than it has been for these guys. So I'm very happy to live in obscurity, [00:09:00] to serve the local church, to share our voices in this very modest, tiny platform that we have, and perhaps the Lord will see fit to change that one direction or the other, and I'll, I'll be happy to serve at His, uh, at His will. But I'm glad for now that, uh, the, the temptation of international fame has not been something that I even have the opportunity to lay hold of. Um, I'm very thankful for that, that, uh, grace from the Lord.  Jesse Schwamb: I had that light, sarcastic, some might say somewhat humorous opening and affirmations and denials, and you, you just brought the heaviness, which is okay. Sometimes that's, sometimes that's what happens.  Lament Devotional Spotlight Jesse Schwamb: And- Yeah ... I- fortunately, I have an affirmation, but it's, uh, of, like, a weird, heavy kind now that I think about it. So, um, I'm trying to, I'm trying to get everybody on the cusp of good books that I think are coming out. And so here's another one where it's not even gonna be released until September 30th, and so you have plenty of time to go out and find this thing. So P&R Publishing, many may be [00:10:00] familiar, does this whole series, topical series, which are called 31-Day Devotionals for Life, and there's a new one being released by Christine Chappell. It's called Lament: Crying Out in Faith. So I'm affirming with this piece because I've had the joy of been working through some of this stuff, and I think this is some of the best treatment I've ever read, been able to practice, been coached into for lamenting. We've talked before at length about how Christians, especially in the West, often because we just have great lives, we aren't familiar with lament. We don't practice it well. We hardly sing any songs of lament. We're unfamiliar with it. It's like a foreign land to us. And then sometimes when we're, we get convicted we should lament, we kind of interpret that as, "Well, yeah, I, I know I can blow up at God. I can get angry with him and, and that's okay." David does it too, and it's okay to express all your feelings with God. What I like about this work is it cultivates more of a prayer language. It gives voice to pain and grief so that there can be a real healing. It's not just a complaining. It's not just [00:11:00] throwing your voice out into the ether to, you know, wildly pontificate or self-aggrandize about how hurt or upset you are. It enables us to cry out to God in such a way that it promotes emotional authenticity, but at the same time maintains reverence. I think that is, uh, at least what I need. The beauty of this book is somebody you know or yourself need to lament something. Actually, I think we all have something to lament, even as it's getting older or things changing in our lives. So I highly, highly, highly affirm with this book. It's Lament: Crying Out in Faith. P&R does a lot of great publishing in this way. It's just the year of the devotionals, Tony. I don't know why. Yeah. I mean, I even hate to use devotional. It's the year of good resources for daily praise and worship- Yeah ... and lament should be part of our praise and worship. Yeah. So, but doing it in the right way is something I'm learning. I had mixed understanding of it. So this will clarify, encourage, edify in all the ways that I think we need.  Tony Arsenal: That sounds great. I, I do agree with you. I think, um- [00:12:00] Although I think it may be a little bit less so in, in the sort of confessional Reformed tradition just because the Psalms in general play such a prominent role in Reformed worship. Um, I do agree with you that broadly, like, we, we in the Western evangelical w- world don't, we don't know how to do laments. Um, I'm not one of those people that would say im- imprecatory prayers are inappropriate. I know there are some even within the Reformed world that would say im- imprecatory prayers are not appropriate for God's people in, in the new covenant. Um, I don't know that I agree with that, but, but that's another example of, like, that's in the prayer and hymnbook of our people- Right ... and we don't really know how to do it. Yes. So, and, and imprecation and lament are very closely related to each other. They're, they're very similar, um, ways of thinking and they're, they're both kind of modes of prayer that, uh, we don't, we don't really engage in. And so when we do have- when the occasion arises, we're, like, out of practice. So that's a great, uh, a great [00:13:00]affirmation and yeah, a little, a little weirdly heavy. Maybe this is gonna be a, a weirdly heavy episode. Who knows?  Jesse Schwamb: Yeah, it very well could be.  Good Samaritan Deep Dive Jesse Schwamb: I mean, listen, it was no doubt heavy for the lawyer who stood up- True who was  Tony Arsenal: like- Nicely done ...  Jesse Schwamb: I'd like to justify myself, so Jesus, let me ask you, we took our question, "Who is my neighbor?" I do all these things. I'm down with the law. Yeah. I know all this stuff. And I think we had some really great conversation last time. I'm biased, but I think we had some really fantastic unpacking of the first part of this, and if you haven't heard that yet, you should go back and listen to episode 502. But in this episode, we're really getting into all of these wonderful and somewhat colorful characters. So I'm gonna pick us back up in Luke chapter 10, starting in verse 25. So I'm going back a little bit just to set that proper context for this amazing parable that Jesus tells us. So he says, "And behold, a scholar of the law stood up and was putting him," that is Jesus, "to the test, saying, 'Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?' And he said to him, 'What is written in the law? How do you [00:14:00] read it?' And he answered and said, 'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.' And he said to him, 'You have answered correctly. Do this and you will live.' But wishing to justify himself, he said to Jesus, 'And who is my neighbor?' And Jesus replied and said, 'A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell among robbers, and they stripped him and beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. And a priest happened to be going down on that road, and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. Likewise, a Levite also, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, who was on a journey, came upon him, and when he saw him, he felt compassion.'" And he came to him and bandaged up his wounds, pouring oil and wine on them, and he put them on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him. And on the [00:15:00] next day, he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper and said, "Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, when I return, I will repay you." Which of these three do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell into the robbers' hands? And he said, "The one who showed mercy toward him." Then Jesus said to him, "Go and do the same."  Tony Arsenal: Yeah. Yeah, this is one of those parables we, we mentioned, uh, I guess we've invented a new classification of parables called the Big Daddy parables. That's right. Um, uh, this is one of those parables that is so ubiquitous and well-known, uh, that word there, choice there was a little hat tip to my Lutheran friends. Um, so ubiquitous and well-known that I think we actually can, can rush into a common understanding and not, not be right at all about it. And I think the, the way this, uh, uh, the way I've seen this commonly done in, in circles I've run in in the past is this [00:16:00] becomes a parable about mercy ministry. Um, and, and the primary point is about how we serve our neighbors. And I think there certainly is, um, there certainly is an element of that that we can glean from this, that Christ is making a commentary on the fact that, um, the, the, the right way to not only serve your neighbor but to even identify your neighbor, uh, and it's funny because I think this is, this is where I think people go wrong. The, the Samar- or the, um, the, the lawyer is asking, "Who is my neighbor?" Right. And I think we commonly read this, and we read it to say, well, the Samaritan, uh, or the, the guy who got beat up is the neighbor. Right. And so we have to serve our neighbor like the Samaritan did. But the, the, the punchline, whatever, of the story is that the Samaritan is the g- is the neighbor, right? We, we call this the Parable of the Good Samaritan, but we might wanna call it the [00:17:00] Parable of the Good Neighbor. And so it says more about what it means to be a good neighbor than it does to, um, to say about who, who our neighbor necessarily is, right? The, the s- uh, the lawyer was asking, "Who's my neighbor?" And the answer was the one who shows mercy. And there's kind of a weird, there's kind of a weird paradox there, and this is something Jesus commonly does, where, like, He doesn't really answer the question. Um, the, the lawyer is like, "Well, who is it that I have to love," right? "The, I have to love my neighbor as myself, and who is it that I have to love?" And Jesus' answer basically is like, "Well, the good neighbor is the one who showed mercy." Well, that doesn't answer- Right ... His question. So I think we have to be careful when we, uh, we work through this not to just sort of default and jump to what might be called, like, the lowest common denominator interpretation, right? These are things that, yes, um, there is something to say about, uh, mercy ministry and how important it is to serve the, [00:18:00] serve those around us who are in need, right? That's, that's the command that comes out of this or the outcome that comes out of this is Christ is commanding this, um, this lawyer to go and be merciful to others. Um- But if we, if we move too quickly to that, we miss a lot of what this has to say about the nature of justification- Right ... the nature of Christ as, as the capital T good neighbor, right? The, the good neighbor who, who takes care of our sin and pays the debt for us to be restored, right? I don't, like I said last week, I don't think that that is too on the nose. Um, I think we miss the fact that the question, uh, the question is coming from a place, and we talked about this a little bit last week, but and maybe we'll get into it a little more. The question is coming from a place, um, whether you view this negatively, like I think most do, and there's warrant for that, or whether you view it a, a little bit more neutrally or maybe even positively, which is where I land, the desire to justify or to be [00:19:00] justified is not a bad desire. And the, the text doesn't seem to offer a lot of commentary on the fact that the, the, um, lawyer is desiring to justify himself, other than the implied commentary o- of what the parable says about salvation in that someone else needs to save you, so you can't do it yourself in the first place. So I'm excited to get through this. Um, I, I think we're probably gonna be here, we're gonna camp out here for at least another week after this, 'cause there's just so much to this parable. Who knows? Maybe we'll fly through it and it'll be a quick conversation, but I, I don't... That's not really our jam. Um- That's not really what we do But yeah, it, it's, it's a big daddy parable. There's a lot here to unpack.  Jesse Schwamb: Yeah. You're right about that. Interestingly, as always, Jesus flips the law, but here the law flipping, like, ends up smacking you in the face because it does start with this inquiry about just identify for me who my neighbors are. If you give me these discrete instructions like the law has given me to do all these things, which by the way, I mean, even that when we have this lawyer saying, [00:20:00] "I've done all these things. I've identified just for instance that the law includes loving the Lord God with everything, every part of who I am." He says like, "Yeah, I've done all these things." This is, I've already accomplished that. So now let me get, become self-justified in confirming I've done all these things. If you just tell me who the neighbors are, I'll be able to say to you, "Yep, I've already done that." Instead, what happens is Christ says, "Here's what neighborly love looks like. And what it's gonna look like is so dramatic and so shocking that you ought to take pity and have concern and show compassion for those not just who are unlike you, but are, like, abhorrent, those who you would even never identify with in the parable of the story I'm about to tell you." So I think there's all of that, like you said, to move away from just kind of categorizing this as a nice homily about how we ought to behave. However, there might be, like, some kind of moralistic theme in this that directs us toward actions of love and generosity, which by the way, could just be common grace. Those exist outside of strict belief and adherence to the gospel, and certainly can be far afield from actually loving Christ. [00:21:00] The other thing that I think sometimes happens with this, and I'm gonna be unpopular on this one, I'm afraid, but is that I think there is often a lot of allegorical excess. And certainly there are people more intelligent than I who really embrace that. So I'm looking at you, Patristic Fathers. Like, you know, if you wanna read some interesting stuff, everybody can go look up Origen or Augustine on this. Yeah. And they allegorize this parable in New England what we would call wicked fine detail. I mean, down, down to everything. So the oil and the- Yeah ... wine, the soil, each of the persons here representing something that in itself, like, everything. And I think that that is okay. What I struggle with on that is, and this is where I'm unpopular, I think, is that- There are a lot of other exegetes, I don't think I'm alone, that would look at this and say, "Yes, there is something about this that draws us into, like, just general typological resonance. I'm not gonna reject that." There are these, like, broader canonical themes of, like, helpless [00:22:00] humanity, like you said, and undeserved mercy. Those all legitimately, I think, echo the gospel truths. But I'm kind of resisting, or I'm prone to resist, treating every narrative detail in this as some kind of, like, independent cipher. Yeah. And so I think I want to come a little bit in criticizing, like, the allegorical method here, that instead what happens when we do that is we're, we're... I think we're obscuring a little bit Christ's actual didactic purpose, which is fundamentally ethical and legal, 'cause that's the question he's answering. He's trying to answer this question, "Who's my neighbor?" And he's gonna do it- Right ... with this definition-shattering example. And so I think, like, the most responsible hermeneutic here affirms that, like we said before, a parable should have a single main point, and it's determined in this context by that punchline, like you said. Um, at the same time, I think we can legitimately, like, permit some restrained theological reflection on, like, that broader resonance with the gospel. I'm not denying that. But without multiplying, like, allegorical [00:23:00] correspondences like the text itself doesn't even make. Even, even coming down to, like, who we see as Christ in the story, while that can be useful and helpful, it's not the same identification that we've seen in other parables. Yeah. So that's what makes this, like you're right, Tony, like, really unique and very interesting because we can draw lots and lots of parallels, and perhaps we should. But at the same time, it's always good to remember what is it that Jesus is on about here? What is it that the hearers were really being prone to understand and mull over and meditate on? And that's, like, this first principle of neighborly love, like you already called out.  Tony Arsenal: Yeah. Yeah, and I, I agree with you, too, is I, I think, um- We can sort of fall into a trap or a pit of assuming that all of the parables are meant to explain the same thing. Sure. And I think, like, within Matthew maybe that's a little bit more, uh, accurate because m- I think all, if not [00:24:00] most of, of the Matthean parables, you know, the Kingdom of God is like, the Kingdom of God is like. So th- like, that repeated f- refrain of, like, the Kingdom of God is... In, in Matthew, Christ is using parables to teach about the mysterious hidden reality of the kingdom in a way that people can understand. Um, this is different, right? This is not a Kingdom of God is like. There is no, um, clear this is like that, uh, introduction to this parable. Right. I, I've actually even read some commentaries that would question the assignment of the title parable to this, because they want to restrict what a parable is to those sort of kingdom, like, explicit simile- Good point ... things. Yeah. So- Right ... but I, I do think, um, w- we, we have to be careful not to run down that road, because this parable is not really... Again, like, it's not explaining what the Kingdom of God is like. This is trying to, um, not trying to, Christ is [00:25:00]articulating a reality that is baked into the law, um, and he's flipping the question on its head, and this is what I think is so, um, so wrong about the allegorical approach, right? Is that the allegorical approach seeks to find symbolism in every discrete character or element of the, of the parable, or of the, the allegory if you wanna, we wanna distinguish it. This really is, is trying to just get at that one point. And what- Mm-hmm ... I think is so, what must have been really just infuriating for this lawyer, um, regardless of what happened after this, right? We don't, we don't get commentary like we do with the rich, young ruler, and the stories are in many ways are very much the same. Like, it's the same basic setup. But we don't get commentary that, like, he went away sad, like we do with the rich, young ruler. We don't know what happened with this guy. We don't know what his reaction... But I, I'm sitting there putting myself in his place, and I'm, I'm thinking through this, and this is one of those things that it's actually hard even to mentally get yourself there. The, [00:26:00] the, each character that is introduced here, um, is a candidate for the neighbor. Right. But the most obvious candidate based on, um, the way we commonly interpret this, is that the dude who gets beat up and left stripped naked is, is the neighbor that we're supposed to love Right? So the lawyer, as he's hearing this parable, as it's being told, and the, the people who are there listening, right, the, the other people that are around, there's this character introduced, "Who is my neighbor? Well, a man was going down to Jerusalem. He fell among roggers, Roger, robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead." Like, the obvious answer is that Christ is introducing this poor, destitute, beat-up, naked dude, uh, as the neighbor that needs to be loved. And so he goes through the whole parable, and you're like, oh, well, like, the, you know, the, the priest and the Levite, they didn't love this guy. Uh, the Samaritan, you know, I think an audience of Jews probably would've been thinking like, "Well, the Samaritan can't be..." You know, the Samaritan [00:27:00] is just a dude. Like, none of these people are loving the, the, the beat-up dude like a neighbor should. Right. And then all of a sudden, Christ flips the script, and the neighbor is not the dude who's laying there naked, half dead, who's been rescued and, and, you know, restored and is being healed. It's actually the Samaritan. And so there's this... We have to... Part of the reason, I think, I mean, I, I, I guess I don't know for sure, but part of the reason I think s- that parables have this, like, reversal of expectation baked into many of them is that it is there to challenge our assumptions, and th- that sort of whiplash effect when you get to the end of it, you're like, "Whoa, that was like he was talking about totally, something totally different than what it seemed like he was talking about." I think that's actually a teaching tool here as well. Right. That the, the whole time you're thinking like, "Oh, this dude is the neighbor, and I've gotta figure out how to love him best," and that's what plays into these mercy ministry interpretations, is thinking that the, the point of the parable is to show us how to take [00:28:00] care of the, the people who need help, when really the point of the parable is the good neighbor. And, uh, we might butt heads a little bit on this, 'cause I think I take probably more of a Christological, uh, topological, typological interpretation than you do. I, I think that the point of the parable is that you can't justify yourself, and the only one who can justify you is the one who's kept the law perfectly. And what does it mean to keep the law perfectly? Well, love the Lord your God, but also love your neighbor as yourself. Well, who's the only person in the story who's loved the neighbor as himself? The one who s- rescues and heals and pays for this poor man who's been, you know, waylaid by robbers. He's the good neighbor who fulfills the law. He's the one who's justified himself. Now, yes, "Go do likewise," there's some echoes there of, of the go and sin no more language that we see in other places, too. So I, I think this parable is more, is more about- A, and this is where it shares some affinity with the rich young ruler, [00:29:00] right? The rich young ruler is told to go and to, to sell everything he has and donate it to the poor and to come and follow Christ. And he says, you know, he, he can't do that. He walks away sad. In this instance, it's the same kind of situation. It's an, a question about how do I fulfill the law? What do I need to do to be saved, to inherit eternal life, to obtain eternal life, whatever the phrasing is. And the answer is, "Obey the law perfectly." And the guy goes, "Well, hey, I did that." And he said, "Well, let me show you how much you didn't do that." And the reality is the only one who did that is Christ, the good teacher, right? I mean, there, there's so many parallels between these two accounts. It, it's almost the same, it's almost the same story. This one just in sort of parable answer form versus a more direct form, which we see with the rich young ruler. Jesse Schwamb: Yeah, what I find really fascinating about these is that whereas, like you said, the, some of the other parables, they come under the volitional teaching of Christ. That is, He is presenting forward the topic at hand. So usually it's in the context of conversation, but He essentially makes [00:30:00] the segue. He presents and opens up this new kind of vista to explore. In this case, or in both those cases you talked about, the confrontation really comes from the outside. Of course, God, through Christ, predestined all of these things to pass, so I'm not saying that Christ was caught off guard, of course, by this line of questioning. And presumably He understands that when the lawyer asks this question, He knows that it's from a position of self-justification. So I don't disagree that that might be there, some of that at play, and that really the ultimate end of this would bring, to bring one's self to the realization that you can't do this. At the same time, though, I think almost, especially in this one, I think, uh, it's not that Jesus withholds that, but I read that do, go and do likewise is this is what you said you wanted. You asked me for an answer, and I gave you the answer. You asked for the law- Yeah ... I will give you the law. So I actually don't know how this ended. It doesn't strike me that it ended well, and I think, I don't know if there was some kind of massive realization there, but it's almost as if there is some [00:31:00] obscuring of this. This is like typical parable, parable language where I think if you're there and you're listening, and you're trying to just track with the question and track how that compounds and corresponds with the law, that you would leave more destitute, more confused, and perhaps more angry than before, and certainly not in a position of understanding, "Well, th- this one before me is the Christ." But that's exactly what parables do. So again, I, I think to me- Right ... I see this more as certainly, again, there are these wonderful themes These kind of overtures of the gospel within, but they are dark and very obscured because the man asks a question about the law, and Jesus comes with a message about the law. And like you said, that law is- Yeah ... like, there's almost no grace in his tone as I read it because, not that he is not graceful or full of grace and gracious, but this guy asks for justification under the law. And so it ends with saying, it ends with this really phenomenal phrase, of course, of the lawyer realizing he's got himself [00:32:00] caught in having to respond truthfully in answering the question of who is the neighbor, but of course doesn't identify the neighbor except to say, "Oh, the one who has compassion," as if like he himself couldn't bring himself- Right to say these words. And then for Jesus to say, "Yeah, go do it," is, is kind of like the ultimate nail in the coffin.  Tony Arsenal: Yeah, and to tell a first century Jew to go and do, to be- Yes ... like a Samaritan is- Yes ... you know, e- even, even though that's not, like, highlighted in the text, you're right. Like, the, the lawyer probably couldn't bring himself to say the Samaritan was, right? And I, I think, um, you know, whether you take, uh, and maybe I'm novel on this. I guess I haven't really read, read a lot of people that take a, a more optimistic approach of this. But whether you take a more optimistic outcome approach or a more pessimistic or neutral, whatever, the, the actual outcome is the same, right? The, the lawyer is asking about self-justification under the law, like you said. Right. And Christ gives him [00:33:00] that. He tells him exactly what that means and what that looks like. And I think the, the impossibility of being the good neighbor as is described in the parable is exactly the sort of beat down of the law that, that, you know, we've talked about in the past is it's not as though, um, the, the, the actions of the Samaritan are not, uh, outwardly impossible, right? We- Right ... it's not unreasonable to think that someone could rescue someone from the side of the road and bring them to ... And like, the scenario itself is not that crazy. But the, the overall complex of the scenario, right? The fact that this man, um, was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, right? The, the ... All of this points to sort of like an impossible circumstance, an impossible situation. And, and the idea that even [00:34:00] within that impossible situation you're still expected to take care of the person who is your enemy, right? The Samaritan seeing a Jewish man beaten by the side of the road- That's right ... and although the parable doesn't specifically call out that he's Jewish, if he's going from Jerusalem to Jericho, there's an implication that he may actually also have been a priest. Um, we, we don't need to get into all the details on that, but there's, there's some good, uh, some good research out there that would point to the fact that the road from Jerusalem to Jericho is, uh, was actually a very common pathway traveled by either priests or Levites. And further evidence is that a priest and a Levite are also on this same road. And so the idea that the Samaritan would, um, would- Sacrifice of himself to take care of someone who very likely considers him to be an enemy, and sacrifices in a pretty significant way. Um, I, I'll, I'll pause and now as you're [00:35:00]talking I'll do all the, the background scrambling to make it look like I know exactly how much- a denari is supposed to, to be, and I know we've talked about it before, it's just not there.  Lavish Impossible Mercy Tony Arsenal: But, but it's not a- Yeah ... it's not a trivial amount of money. That's right. We're not talking about checking this guy into, like, a Motel 6 and, and dropping a couple hundred dollars. We're, we're talking about a substantial amount of money and, and we're talking about a commitment to pay whatever is required. Okay. An unknown amount of money for this man who has been left for dead. We're not talking about a minor injury. The, the robbers beat him up, they took his clothes, and they expected him to die in the desert. He needed to be carried on a donkey. He needed to have immediate first aid attention. We're talking about a, a relatively long-term recovery. So the scenario would be more like, we think of it like, "Oh yeah, I dropped him off at the local hotel for him to sleep it off." The scenario would be more like, "I found a guy on the side of the road. I didn't know who he was. He's, he's of a group of people that would consider me to be their enemy, and he's been shot 100 times, and I'm gonna patch up his [00:36:00] wounds. I'm gonna take him to the hospital. I'm gonna not only pay and say, 'Here, I, I've already used some supplies. Let me pay for that,' but I'm gonna pay for all of his medical bills until he's healed." Like, that's the scenario we're talking about. So it's not, it's not just, like, a good deed that has been done that is maybe, like, a really, really good deed, like it's a really nice thing to do. It's a, it's an outlandishly almost impossible to conceive of doing good deed. N- I don't know anyone, um, who would... And, and I know a lot of really great people. This is not a slam. I don't know anyone who would find a stranger on the road and who is, who's gravely injured and commit to pay for all of their medical care until they're healed. I just don't know anybody who would do that. Right. Um, some might say there's actually some wisdom in that, and, uh, we've talked about how sometimes the parables present a situation where maybe, like, this isn't actually the best practical knowledge. It's there to prove a point. Right. But I don't know anybody who, I don't know anybody who would do that, who, who would even think about doing that. Um, so the, the scenario here is one [00:37:00] of impossible lavish goodness being extended to those who you have no reason to be good to, and probably have reason to not be good to. That's what we're talking about. And so the, when the, the lawyer is told to go and do likewise, he's being told to do something that is impossible to fulfill, or even to conceive of fulfilling. And so there is this element of, like, "You think you can obey the law? Well, let me tell you how much you can't  Jesse Schwamb: obey  Tony Arsenal: the law."  Jesse Schwamb: Right. By the way, this episode is brought to you by State Farm. Like a good Samaritan, State Farm is there. Every time we've been saying good neighbor, I've been just been trying to avoid thinking about- Yeah Jake from State Farm. That's what I've been doing most of this time.  Tony Arsenal: Jake from State Farm?  Jesse Schwamb: Um, I totally agree, of course.  Priest Levite And The Law Jesse Schwamb: Like, what strikes me here is that it's, like you said, there is all this emphasis on what it means to show neighborly love, but the setup is also in those who basically should be showing it but aren't, and that's where we get, can get into this lovely... It's, [00:38:00] it's okay to kinda think through some of these characters. You know, for this priest and the Levite here, and what we know about them is that they, at first it sounds like there, there's almost this sense in the language like the priest falls ab- upon this, this, you know, bloodied man by chance, and that kinda heightens the drama, I think. The priest's confrontation is a little bit unplanned, but it's immediate and unavoidable, and he chooses to cross on the other side of the road, which is of course a deliberate act of avoidance. It's not mere obliviousness. And then the Levi almost goes further, or he came to the place, he saw him closer inspection, you know, greater culpability, and yet he still passes by. I really do wish I could hear this, like, in real time, like be among, because I have to- Yeah ... wonder that there'd be this kind of sense of building in the story. And the people might be kind of getting the sense that the characters that they know and love or should love as the heroes are not gonna be performing that way. And so I think even they're curious. They might be hoping against hope that it's gonna turn out well, but knowing the question and maybe something about Jesus, [00:39:00] they might anticipate that he's gonna go in a different direction. And so again, I think we have to stick with the text here. Like, Jesus doesn't explicitly state the motives of these gentlemen, but it's truthful. What's true- Right ... is that, like, these boys should have known better. You know, a lot of people have speculated that it was for ritual purity concerns or the, another ambush or social distance or just callousness. And I think that ambiguity might be deliberate because, again, what cuts against the lawyer here is whatever the specific excuse, the point is that these, like this kind of professional religiosity and even, like, meticulous law observance are of course not identical with, and probably can even distract or obstruct the love of neighbor that the law itself commands, which is wild, right? Because we talked about how, again, this just shows the law doesn't empower you to do the thing, and in fact, here- Right ... you could essentially abuse the law so that you suck the spirit right out of it and therefore do not do the very thing that it was intended to accomplish. So even this by itself, you just stop the parable here, it's kind of condemning because it's really this [00:40:00] potent warning against some kind of merely external ceremonial, professionalized religiosity that fails to produce, I guess, what Matthew calls, like, the weightier matters of law, like justice and mercy and faithfulness. And, you know, we should understand this because I think those that are from tradition have a certain affinity for the third use of the law as a guide for the grateful Christian living, and that's, you know, kind of what we're talking about here. But it insists that true law keeping is never merely ritual or notional, but it must issue in love, like costly love. Love outside of being inconvenienced is not genuine. I, I guess we'll get there. But, you know, I don't wanna harp on the characters as some are prone to do, but that is, I think, why the characters are here. It's both to set up and show, like, you're about to see that you really do not wanna identify by your own persuasion, by your own presuppositions with the one who's gonna be the hero, that is the, the one that shows neighborly love. At the same time, I'm gonna show you by way of condemnation that those who should exercise the greater love, [00:41:00] that do know better, that should know better, that should emblem- be emblematic of the spirit of the law, have done the exact same thing. Which I can only, uh, hope but believe is what this lawyer heard as well was that he was hearing that he was being stuck into this place before he was even given the question, well, who was the neighbor here? Tony Arsenal: Yeah. Yeah, and I, I think, um- There is a real sense in some of the parables that are sort of spoken against people. Um, this one doesn't specifically use that language, but it, it is a targeted, kind of a targeted response. There is a sense that throughout the course of the parable being told, they start to recognize midway through that they're like- Right you are the man. Like, this is one- Right, right ... of those Nathan and David kind of parables where, like, at some point the realization must have dawned on this guy that, like, "I've gotta be somebody in this parable." And I think that's where, where the, the challenging part is, is it's not clear, um, [00:42:00] it's not really clear even at the end of the parable who Christ is intending this guy to be, right? Right. Is he the lawyer or is he the, uh, is he the, the dead man on the side of the road, right? Is he... Or the dying man. Is, is he the l- the priest and Levite who pass by? Is he supposed to be the Samaritan, which would just be wildly offensive. Um, he's not necessarily, like, supposed to be anyone except for the fact that now at th- the punchline of the, the encounter here, Christ says, "Go and be like the Samaritan." And it's kind of like y- you know, if you were really following God's law, you would be the Samaritan in this one- Yeah, that's right ... but you're not. That's right. You're not and you can't be. Um, and so go, go ahead and do likewise.  Christ As True Neighbor Tony Arsenal: Um, I, I do think, too, there is some elements here where, um, I- Again, I, I think I take a little bit more of a typological, Christological-centered approach on this, but I, I don't think they're incompatible. But I do think there's an element here where Christ is also [00:43:00] unveiling, uh, sort of what he would do, like what, what his own plan of salvation is as the good, as the capital G, capital N good neighbor. Um, he is the one who does pour oil and wine on our wounds, right? A- and I don't wanna ... I don't think we need to fly off the allegorical deep end of reading oil and wine to be a reference to the Holy Spirit and t- Right but sometimes those things are evocative, indirect things that should, we should call our mind to those things. Like, I think, um, you know, when Melchizedek comes to bless Abraham and he, he presents him with bread and wine, right? I, I think, like, it's okay for us to go, "Wow, the Holy Spirit really made a point there that's subtle." And I think those little things within this parable drive me to look at this a little bit more along the lines of not only is there this sort of, like, law beat down, you [00:44:00] know, John Bunyan or not, um, Bunyan style, like the, "Moses just beat the crap out of me," kind of a- Right ... kind of a thing from Pilgrim's Progress. There's that, and I think it's really there. But it's also, uh, it's also sort of like this, uh, you know, "Blessed is the one who has ears to hear" side of it of, like, for those who are regenerated and can see the parable, can see the figures in the parable, it is now this beautiful picture of what it is that Christ does for those who cannot do it for themselves, right? And it's almost like the parable becomes a litmus test. If you look at the parable, and as you're reading through it, you sit there and you go, "Yeah, man, I'm like that guy who got beat up and left for dead. That, that really describes me," um, you're gonna get to the end of this and you're gonna be sort of, like, sitting in awe of, like, "Man, I have such a great savior who threw me on his donkey and, and promised to take care of all of my, all of my wounds, and promised to pay whatever it, whatever it cost." Um, y- you know, and all of these elements of, [00:45:00] like, oil and wine and, and all of these things be- kind of become alive to you in a way that someone who sees themselves as the, the good Samaritan, who thinks they're the one who's gonna come and rescue people, or I think increasingly in our day, and it's, it's weird to even say this, I think there are people who would look at this and resonate with the priest and lawyer and actually say, like, "Yeah, they shoulda, they shoulda crossed to the other side of the room." Mm-hmm. I've heard defenses of that in trying to argue that- The priest and the Levite, if they had, if this person was dead, they had touched the dead body, then, you know, they would've been ceremonially unclean. Uh, all of that is, I think, worth speculating about. But the reality is, um, who you see yourself in the parable actually says a lot, I think, about how you see Christ in light of either our ability to fulfill the law or our inability to fulfill the law, and therefore have our need for Christ. If you think you're the good Samaritan, if you think you're the one that's gonna come and [00:46:00] rescue people, that you're gonna be, you're gonna be the good neighbor, you're much more likely to see, uh, to, to be needing this as a sort of a law beat-down. Where those of us who, maybe this is the way you wanna parse it out, right? There's those of us who are, uh, regenerated and in Christ, and this is third-use law, right? This is, this is us- Right ... seeing what it means to be holy, and going and doing likewise, trying in our power, in our, our best to go and do likewise, empowered by the Holy Spirit, recognizing that we can't, and trusting the Lord to accept our feeble attempts- Right and be pleased by them. Right. Um, or maybe if you're not regenerated, this is f- this is first use, right? Right. And, and, and this is actually there to terrify you and to show you your condemnation and to serve as your condemnation. And, and there's even, and I didn't really intend to go all the way with this, but there's, there is also an element in here, and this is where, like, the mercy ministry interpretation comes in, where this is civil, this is civil law, where this is the, the, the, um, you know, the civil use of the law [00:47:00] to restrain evil, to show society what it is to be good, to, to restrain sin. Right. Yes, we want to be, uh, we, I would rather live in a society where people stop and help someone who's stranded or injured on the side of the road than, than a society where people pass by. Um, so I, I think all of those elements are in play here, and we do have to be careful not to take the full-on, like, never go full allegory approach to this, 'cause y- you can really... That's just a good general wisdom for all of, all of the Bible, but especially the parables and other figurative stuff. You can really just go totally far afield of what actually the point of the parable is- Right ... if you're not grounding it in the purpose that Christ is teaching it for, and, and the stated outcome of the parable, right? No one in the Bible makes c- I don't know that anyone in the Bible makes specific commentary on this within scripture, but the, the idea that, like, there's all these hidden meanings, well, if those are the hidden meanings, then why doesn't Christ talk about it? Why doesn't he come back- Right ... and [00:48:00] interpret those symbols later on like he does, like the Parable of the Sower or the Parable of the Seeds or Soils. Um, that one is much more directly allegorical in that the different seeds, the different soils represent specific people with specific s- scenarios. Christ comes and, and does that allegorical interpretation later on in the passage. There's nothing like that here. So I think we have to be really careful not to slip down that road. Jesse Schwamb: I think that it could be all those things. I, I totally agree with you on that. I think it could be all the use cases of the law. I think what makes this so wonderfully complex and a little bit tricky is that when I read this, I actually don't necessarily find myself gravitating toward putting myself in one place or the other. It almost depends on where I am or what's going on in my life. So for example, I think any time that any one of us, and we've all done this as Christians, have quenched the spirit, especially with respect to helping, serving, or loving others as my, our neighbor, then we're firmly in this parable in the place [00:49:00] of the priest and the Levite. Sometimes I think we are the one on the side of the road. We look to the church, to our brothers and sisters to help us, and what do they help us with? Like you were saying, Tony, they help us with that blood and oil. They help us with this, the power of the Holy Spirit, which is given to each one to help and to serve, to identify, to comfort with the comfort we ourselves have been received. And then I do think, and this might be unpopular, that, that sometimes by the grace of God, He empowers us to be the Samaritan, but only through His empowerment. Not, of course, because we're trying to just self-justify or because we're overtly generous in our own merit, but in fact, this is the way we ought to live, and that we ought to commend that kind of behavior to, again, acknowledge it as God-given and to promulgate it, especially among the body of believers. So I do think all three forms of the law are present there, but I do think I tend to, for whatever reason, right or wrong, I tend to tilt a little bit toward that third use here, just to see this as it's not wrong to, of course, to, I think, uh, lay over all of this, all these delightful variables and [00:50:00] details. Again, this idea of blood and oil, n- normative things, normal things, standard things that are being used to address- Yeah ... wounds. They're, they're... Of course, that would've been the practical way which you would've provided some kind of medicinal care to somebody in both that extreme circumstance, but also generally, because nobody's, like, keeping gauze or popping Advil to help this, this poor guy. And so it is- Right ... like this beautiful complexion of, I think, everything that we just talked about, that there is the law present, and depending on where you are, both in terms of your ingrafting into eternity, into the Kingdom of God, and then where you are in life, you- we should read ourselves probably, or l- let me say it this way, not so it's like eisegesis, but, like, that we should see ourselves often at different pli- times maybe playing or being tempted to play the parts of these different characters. And in that we find, I think, ultimately, of course, as you're saying, that Christ is over all, and that He is the one that, of course, perfectly emphasizes all of what it means to be the Savior, the [00:51:00] true loving neighbor who cares and binds and heals completely full stop. And yet there is something instructive here, I think, as well about going and bringing that compassion. I was just thinking, like, as we were talking, that there's such a difference, isn't there, like, in our world between these days, like, pity and compassion? Like, pity often is like, "Yeah, I feel sorry for you," but it strikes me as kind of like the James, is it James 1 or James 2, where it's kind of like, "Oh, you're... I, I'm so sorry that, like, you're, you're hungry and cold. You know what? Go, be warm, and be well-fed." You know, that's like pity. Like, "Yeah, I just- Yeah ... I feel a little bad. I identified with your emotions." Sending  Tony Arsenal: good vibes.  Jesse Schwamb: Yeah. I've got- Yeah. Yeah. That's right, right? Sending good thoughts and good vibes your way. I wanna say, like, keep those to yourself 'cause they're probably not all that- Yeah ... good. Um- I  Tony Arsenal: don't want your vibes.  Jesse Schwamb: I don't want your vibes. Get your vibes out of here. What I need is that power of God himself, uh, to bring compassion, and compassion is always wrapped in action. It identifies- Right ... and then goes. It, it's, it [00:52:00] is not self-promoting, it's self-sacrificing. And so that rule of law, which is like the good rule of law, the good teaching, the kind that brings life because it's the Decalogue wrapped in skin perfectly performed by the power of the Holy Spirit through the one who is perfect again in his passive obedience and active obedience. Yes, yes, we need, we need all of that. It's modeled here, I think, to a certain extent, but I think the go and do likewise is actually for all of us, but it's not the kind like we would say, "Well, like, good luck." It's more the- Yeah ... you know the one from whose side the blood flowed. You know the one who is pressed in the garden as if olives under the press leaking oil. You know who that one was, and that one is His spirit resides in you. So now go and do these acts- Yeah ... of mercy. Again, not s- for some kind of meritorious reward, but because you were made for good works, which were set apart for you to do, and part of those good works are [00:53:00] just always being a good neighbor. Tony Arsenal: Yeah. Yeah, and, and maybe to, to close out, I, I, I think maybe we actually did it. I don't know that we're gonna have to do another episode on this. I guess we'll see after we do- Who would've guessed? ... our postmortem here.  Mary Martha And Final Charge Tony Arsenal: But I, I think part, part of, um, part of what we need to at least acknowledge is that what, what follows this parable, right? This, this goes from a parable of a lawyer seeking to justify himself to now the account of Mary and Martha, and the fact that, uh, that, um, M- Martha, you know, is busy with much work, and Mary is sitting and listening to, to Jesus and is said to have chosen the better part. And I think, like- Mm ... this is something that I think because of the way, like, Bibles are formatted, the way that certain things are sort of, like, extracted out as discrete teaching units, this parable is pulled out and separated from this next part. And I, I think we can [00:54:00] really run into problems when we do that because- You know, even if we, even if we were to sort of treat the scripture as, like, a purely human book, right? Luke chose to put this account of Mary and Martha after this, right? And, and- Right ... probably not just because, like, it happened chronologically. There's no real, um, there's no real necessity that this account of Mary and Martha in this particular story had to happen immediately afterwards. Like, there's no organic link in, in the chronology of the story to drive that, right? And the two aren't related in terms of, like, historical cause and effect or, uh, proximity. There's none of those things. So the only answer as to why this was selected to follow the parable of the Good Samaritan is that there's some thematic connection that drove Luke as an author to put this, put this right following that. And so I think even that should drive us to thinking about, all [00:55:00] right, we've got this statement of go and do likewise, show mercy. Now there's almost this foil that the, the, the person in, in the account in the, the narrative here, and a, a true narrative, right? We're not in parable land anymore, but the person in the narrative that seems to be showing mercy, seems to be taking care of people the most, is actually the one who's chastised a little bit for, for being- Right overly zealous about m- mercy ministry, hospitality ministry- Right ... is what you might call it. She's the one who's like, "Tell my sister to help me with this." And she said, like, "You know, you're always gonna have time to do this, but, like, I'

Before We Dive InRecording this on August 26th, and I want to say clearly at the start: I am feeling a bit low. The eclipse energy has been personally challenging in a number of ways, and also — Dolly Parton and Tim Curry have both passed, within days of each other. Both around 80 years old. I loved them both, for very different reasons, and I find their passing sitting in me in that particular way that celebrity deaths sometimes do, when someone has been part of the landscape of your whole life.I'm telling you this because it's also very much the energy of this week. This is the come-down after eclipse season. If you're feeling deflated, that's appropriate. That's the astrology. The cards are honest about it — but they end in a place of genuine hope. If you're looking for that hopeful note right now, go and watch the September 10th Virgo New Moon video I just put up. That one has more light in it.This week: do your inner work. Go into the woods. Slow your roll.Subscribe free on Substack for all posts in your inbox. Spiral Weave / Spiral Codex membership — $10/month or $90/year.Venus Retrograde: Heroine's Journey — I'll decide on the final pricing when I'm back from Chicago. For now, it's still open and I'll let you know. Two tiers: the basic Venus Retrograde course, and Dragon Rider (adds a year of Spiral Codex membership, a 30-minute one-on-one with me, and a personal gift). louiseedington.com/VenusRetrograde2026One more small thing: if you enjoy astrology AND music, Chris Brennan did an extraordinary interview with Roland Orzabal from Tears for Fears about his astrology memoir. It's worth your time. I've listened twice and bought the hard copy.The Energy of This WeekWe come off the lunar eclipse on August 28th and begin to wane. The week opens with the Moon in Aries and ends with it in Cancer, waning all the while, heading toward the September 10th new moon. We are in the shedding phase.What makes this week distinctive — and why the message keeps being the same — is the sheer number of retrograde planets in Aries: Neptune, Manwë, Saturn, Pallas Athena, Eris, and Vesta, all moving backwards. When the Aries Moon moves through them, each conjunction or activation is saying: slow down. Go in. Revisit. Review. Do not charge forward. Aries likes action and speed; the retrogrades are applying the brakes.The overall prescription for this week: radical, extraordinary self-care. More than you normally would. The whole week is a churn of inner processing. Let it do its work.Three more things to note:Pluto is out of bounds until December 5th — as it will be for a few months around this time of year until 2035. Going out of bounds to the south, which Rosie Finn's book Persephone's Revolution associates with people rising up and more peaceful collective energy. We are in that window.Sedna stations retrograde this week (Thursday) — her 11,406-year orbit is so slow that her stations are gentler than most, but she's still asking: dig deeper into your perceptions and adaptations. She was last in Gemini at the end of the Great Ice Ages.Venus is entering the shadow of her retrograde — she hits 21°50' Libra at the start of the week, which is the point she'll return to when she stations direct on November 13th. Start paying attention now to what comes up around your values, your relationships, your sense of justice and beauty, your desires. Everything that surfaces in the next few weeks will have something to say when Venus goes retrograde in October.Only Venus, Mercury, and the Sun have passed the South Node and Regulus so far. Everyone else is still coming. Gradually, one by one.The Cards — A First GlanceFrom the Red Seeds Tarot and the Witch Oracle: Two of Bees, Eight of Seeds reversed, Ten of Bees, and The Witch.Tension. Disengagement. Then: revelation. And then the Witch herself — the one in total control of herself — to close. More at the end.Day by DaySunday, August 30 — Moon in Aries. Slow Your Horses. Venus Enters Her Shadow.The Moon is freshly in Aries — and immediately hits all those retrograde planets. A sextile to Sedna (about to station), a sextile to Pluto activating the basket at 4°, then the Moon conjuncts Neptune — stop and smell the coffee. Tune in to your intuition. There is nothing to rush into right now. The Moon then sextiles Uranus — the aha question of this whole period: who am I in this new world we're building? That's worth sitting with.The Moon squares Ceres in Cancer — do your self-care. Take care of yourself first, and then you are able to care for and protect your loved ones. And squares Pholus — the lid is still coming off things.The Moon is being slowed at every turn. Neptune is particularly potent here: the retrograde Aries cluster, every one of them applying the brakes to the Aries Moon's natural preference for speed. Slow your horses. We are not at full speed ahead yet.The Moon conjuncts Pallas Athena (revisiting strategy and pattern recognition), then conjuncts Eris (tables turning, but within — going in to see what you need to overturn in your own life), then squares Juno (renegotiating contracts), sextiles Hekate (the torchbearer is saying: the path forward is through your inner truths), and finally conjuncts Vesta (inner flame — what are you devoted to, really?). Before the day closes, the Moon conjuncts Saturn — a hard stop. Reality check. Put the brakes on.Venus at 21°50' Libra directly opposes Pallas Athena retrograde — the strategist, the pattern-recognizer, looking keenly back at Venus. Slow down. Think through your relationships, your values, your sense of justice. See the patterns before you charge on. Venus is covering ground she will cover again during the retrograde. Pay attention to what surfaces.Black Moon Lilith makes a fire trine to Eris and Vesta, and sextiles Hekate — that inner feminine rage at injustice, in flowing conversation with the table-turners and the inner flame, with the way-shower lighting the path. And Mercury in Virgo trines Pholus — more information coming to light. More things being seen.Monday, August 31 — Saturn Squares Asteroid Lilith. Black Moon Lilith Enters Capricorn. Earth Grand Trine.Saturn at 13° Aries squares Asteroid Lilith in Cancer. Thirteen — the number of the goddess, the witch. Saturn in Aries retrograde is revisiting the rules, the structures, the identities we've been building. Asteroid Lilith — the talk-to-the-hand, we-were-created-equal, original divine feminine — is in the Moon's sign, looking around and asking: how are all our needs being met? How are outsiders' needs being met? It's a hard look, again, before we do anything more. Saturn can bring the “shoulds” — and this week: don't. It will still be there later.Black Moon Lilith reaches the end of Sagittarius and enters Capricorn — the sign of our institutions, structures, and the man-made rules we live under. And the moment she crosses into Capricorn, she trines Regulus at 0° Virgo and Chiron at 0° Taurus — an Earth Grand Trine. The exiled feminine energy, in flowing conversation with the Royal Star that now speaks of future stewards, and with the medicine man shining his light on wounds and healing.The way forward is this world. This experience. Being on this Earth, which is our home.Jupiter at 13° Leo trines Saturn at 13° Aries. Thirteen — the goddess number, the witch number, also a number of creation (Fibonacci, phi). This is the opening trine of the cycle that began at the Great Conjunction in December 2020 — Jupiter and Saturn at 0° Aquarius, the beginning of the Age of Air. Now Jupiter has moved into Leo and this is the first flowering of that seed. We have to change these man-made rules that are not in alignment with the natural laws of the universe. That's what this aspect is saying. In the number of the goddess, no less.The Moon in Aries moves through Pallas Athena (revisiting strategy), opposes Venus (emotions stirred around what Venus is covering in her pre-retrograde territory — feel it, don't push it away), conjuncts Eris (more inner table-turning), squares Juno, sextiles Hekate, conjuncts Vesta.Tuesday, September 1 — Moon Into Taurus. Mars Squares Saturn. Mercury Meets Circe. The Brakes.The Moon finishes its Aries passage by aspecting the Nodes (still at 29° until October 9th — eclipse energy still reverberating) before moving into Taurus at 4:01am Eastern. Immediately, the Moon conjuncts Chiron — the shaman, the medicine man, hands-on healing. Earth. Body. Values. The wound and the medicine.Venus at 23° Libra makes a lovely unbroken flow aspect to Chariklo in Aquarius — the cosmic doula, Chiron's consort, the grace-spinner, holding space for the new story we're weaving. I am here with you. I am helping you weave it.Then the aspect that defines the day: Mars in Cancer squares Saturn in Aries. Mars in Cancer is already uncomfortable — fire in water, drive dampened by sensitivity. And Saturn in Aries is retrograde, in Mars's own sign. One foot on the accelerator, one foot on the brake. Except this week: it is far more brake than accelerator.If you feel the shoulds pressing in — I should be doing this, I should be doing that — this week is not the time. What needs to be done will still be there after you've rested and gone in. The brakes are on for a reason.Mercury in Virgo meets Circe the Sorceress — Circe is also conjunct the upcoming Virgo New Moon, which feels intentional. Mercury saying: get into the details, go in and do some inner sorcery and magic. The craftsmanship here is interior. Mercury then sextiles Asteroid Lilith — she's in there too, having a very good look at what she's going to say no to. Not performing the no yet. Looking clearly.The Taurus Moon Earth-trines the Virgo Sun and Pholus at around 9-10° — a pull to earth, to the somatic, to the body, to roots. Get your bare feet on the ground. Do grounding meditations. Go into the woods. That's why I chose the Red Riding Hood image for this week — the feminine going into the woods, into the inner world, is the heroine's journey. Read those old fairy tales from a different lens.Wednesday, September 2 — Moon in Taurus. Everything Is Within.The Taurus Moon squares Jupiter at 13° Leo — the natural laws of the universe, in the sign of the heart, at the goddess number again. The pattern of all of these 13° aspects this week is unmistakable.Everything is pointing inward. Everything is saying: come into balance and harmony within your nervous system. These eclipses have been nerve-jangling. If you feel your nervous system a bit fried, that's both appropriate and fixable. You have the tools. Use them.The Moon sextiles Mars (still cooling its jets, heading toward Asteroid Lilith), and the Sun trines Black Moon Lilith — with Okyrhoe the seer joining that aspect. This is about uncovering your inner seer. Going to the depth within that knows things before the mind catches up. The inner oracle.Thursday, September 3 — Sedna Stations Retrograde. Moon Into Gemini. Basket Activated.The Taurus Moon makes an Earth trine to Juno — our sacred contracts with each other, held in the flowing earth energy that's been the backbone of this week. This Earth trine has been holding the whole week: pulling inward, pulling down to ground, pulling roots deeper.Sedna stations retrograde in Gemini. Her 11,406-year orbit means she was last in Gemini at the end of the Great Ice Ages. Her stations are slower-burning than closer-in planets, but this is still a turning point: dig deeper into your perceptions, your ideas, your words, your thinking. How do you need to shift? How do you need to adapt?Black Moon Lilith squares Saturn — now in his own sign Capricorn, pressing against the rules and structures of our institutions. More things being seen. More reality checks arriving. This is not the moment to rail at every little thing. It's the moment to take it in, to see clearly, to know what you're looking at before you act.The Taurus Moon reaches 27-29° — the Pleiades degrees. This may feel like a tender, even sad day. The Pleiades carry the grief of endings and the beauty of the in-between. With Dolly and Tim Curry's passing this week, and with so much being released in the collective, let yourself feel what's there. The Moon then squares Hekate, squares the Nodes, and begins moving toward the drain of the South Node.At 7:47am Eastern, the Moon enters Gemini and immediately meets Sedna — who just stationed retrograde, all that adapt-or-transform energy newly concentrated. The Moon then trines Pluto, sextiles Neptune, conjuncts Uranus — the basket, again. The cradle activated. The aha moment: something about letting go. Something about death and rebirth. Something about what's trying to move through.Mars is opposed by Black Moon Lilith at 2:44pm Eastern — a question not about action but about wisdom. Is the action we're taking coming from a wise place? Or are we just acting? Black Moon Lilith is a lunar point, not a physical body — she's the inner voice, the interior knowing. Are we using her wisdom to shape what we do?Friday, September 4 — Last Quarter Moon. Venus Opposes Eris. Inner Tables Turning.The Gemini Moon (out of bounds since late Wednesday or Thursday) squares the Sun — Last Quarter Moon at approximately 11:48am Eastern. Eleven: the master number, the gateway. What are we letting go of before we step through this doorway? Not one big doorway — a series of doorways. That's what this whole period is. Each week, another door. What are we releasing at this one?The Last Quarter Moon is always a crisis in consciousness — the moment of maximum tension before the letting go. In this context, coming off eclipse season, it's the inner churn before the new moon plant.Venus at 25° Libra opposes Eris — more inner tables to turn. Not out there, not yet. Going within, looking at strategy and patterns, recognizing what needs to be overturned within your own relating and your own values before you bring a new version of yourself to the world.The Moon sextiles Saturn (opportunity to let go of self-limiting beliefs, old rules we were taught to live by) and sextiles Jupiter (the curious Gemini Moon trying to make sense of it all through the lens of the natural laws).Mars meets Asteroid Lilith at 15° Cancer — the midpoint of the degree, the middle of Cancer. Mars will move ahead of her after this. But she is right there with him, saying: you are more of a protector and a guardian than you have been portrayed. Right now, at this moment — using the language of internal family systems — you are my inner protector. You are here to help me move within, do more self-care, love myself more. You are the guardian of my interior, not just the warrior taking on the external world.If your inner Mars is feeling frustrated and angry (Mars doesn't love Cancer), you can actually talk to that part of yourself: I know you're here to help me. Right now your job is to protect my inner work, not to attack everything out there.The Moon squares Mercury — information, details, adjustments, what you think. All of it inside.Venus squares Juno — we are rewriting the contracts. With each other, and with ourselves.Saturday, September 5 — Moon Into Cancer. Venus and Hekate. One Last Look at the Toxins.The Gemini Moon finishes its journey — way out of bounds — making last aspects to the retrograde planets in Aries: Pallas Athena, Eris, Vesta. Fire and air. What do I need to burn off? What ideas need to be released? What does the inner flame actually want? Intense, but passing.At 10:30am Eastern, the Moon enters Cancer — her own sign — and sextiles Chiron. The wound and the medicine. The shaman. What's the medicine I've become because of what I've been through?Venus makes a lovely unbroken flow aspect to Hekate — the way-shower, the torchbearer, the triple moon goddess at the crossroads. Venus and Hekate work together beautifully during Venus retrogrades (you'll experience this directly in the class), and this pre-retrograde aspect is a preview: pay attention to your inner voice about which paths to choose. Which direction through the woods of your inner self is being illuminated?The Cancer Moon trines Haumea — pure regeneration, the Hawaiian creatrix, the handle of the basket. She hasn't been aspected much this week, and here at the close she shows up to say: something new is being birthed from all of this. Something is regenerating. And the Moon squares Neptune — Haumea moving forward, Neptune moving back, an aspect of adjustment between the two Mars signs (Aries and Scorpio). We are moving into a more Venusian era. We cannot stay where we were.The last aspect of the week: one more look at the toxins, at what needs to be released, at what we've been carrying that belongs to the past. What more can I let go of to be a better ancestor? (If you want to go deeper on Nessus, there's a beautiful blog post from the Amalthea website — search “Amalthea Nessus” — and the author contributed to Sideways from Saturn, the book on the centaurs that I wrote the foreword for.)The Cards in DetailTwo of Bees (Swords) — I Am Tension:Proverbs: “Gracious words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones.”This week suggests difficult choices and decisions. Your ideas and opinions may be questioned — by others and, perhaps more intensely, by yourself. You may feel mentally paralyzed as you try to navigate stress, uncertainty, and inner conflict.How do we move forward? Balance the tension of the opposites. Hold the tension of not knowing the outcome for a while. Clarity and a balanced view will make itself known. Positive choices and insightful decisions will arise from the centre of your being, once you've taken time to contemplate and listen to yourself before you act.And remember that quote when you speak to yourself this week: gracious words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones. Including when you are talking inside your own head.Eight of Seeds (Pentacles), reversed — I Am Disengaged:Upright, the Eight of Seeds is productive, diligent, sowing and harvesting. Reversed this week: I feel disengaged. I feel like I've never done enough, like I'm not good enough. The inner perfectionist shows up.This is an Earth card, and its very reversal is the prescription: self-development and inner work. Not productive outer work. The shadow of Virgo — the perfectionism, the not-enoughness — can come through here. Let it be acknowledged and then gently set aside. You don't have to perform productivity right now.Ten of Bees (Swords) — I Am Revelation:Khalil Gibran: “For the bee, the flower is the fountain of life. For the flower, the bee is the messenger of love.”This is the card I was genuinely glad to see at the end of this challenging set. Here it is:We have tripped up and plummeted along the way, and now know what rock bottom feels like. It has challenged us. Self-pity, at times, has heightened our suffering.However, in reality, the rocks actually grounded us, and a relief and an understanding is starting to rise up within us. It is clear that we have been stung into waking up to some hard truths. Our ego may have been battered, and we may feel sore, vulnerable, as we reflect on what appear to be failures and endings that lie behind us.The good news is: the worst is over, for this week. The weight we have carried is finally lifting. We have survived, and our stings will heal. Our wings gently unfurl, and we start to ascend, breathing in the clear air, and dancing into a new beginning.By the end of the week, you will start to feel the call of the new moon. Not quite there yet. But coming.The Witch (Witch Oracle) — I Am Coordinating, Not Dominating:“Control. No woman alive today needs a dictionary to know what control means within a toxic patriarchy. She's experienced it a thousand different ways. It is domination and restraint.But in a balanced psyche and in a balanced culture, control can mean something else entirely.A witch experiences control through cooperation rather than competition. She is engaged with all the parts of her psyche in an attempt to coordinate rather than dominate.You are being asked right now to embrace all the inhabitants of your inner realm, because each deserves respect and a place at the table. Even the unruly, the inconvenient, the ugly. Making space for all under the banner of wild inclusion — giving voice to the shame, malice, and anger, as well as every other outlawed part of the psyche — is the way we create integrity.When your intent is to create rather than compete, you don't have to dominate. Your influence is enough. This is power with, rather than power over.Invite whatever is bothering you today into the realm of inclusion. Assert your inner authority.”Coordinate, don't dominate. Including inside yourself. This is the whole week. This is the whole work.Summing UpPost-eclipse. Waning. Brakes firmly on. The Aries retrogrades slowing everything down, saying not yet, not yet. The Earth Grand Trine pulling us down to roots and soil and body. The 13s showing up everywhere — the goddess number, the witch number — at Saturn and Jupiter and the Moon's aspects. Venus entering her pre-retrograde territory and asking us to start paying attention. Sedna stationing to dig deeper into how we adapt. The Last Quarter Moon at the gateway number, releasing before the new moon.The rocks grounded us. The wings are beginning to unfurl.Go into the woods. Slow your roll. Do the radical self-care. Talk to your inner Mars. Embrace all the inhabitants of your inner realm. And coordinate, don't dominate — inside and out.The new moon is coming on September 10th. We'll get there.— LouiseVenus Retrograde: Heroine's Journey — louiseedington.com/VenusRetrograde2026Subscribe free on Substack. Spiral Weave / Spiral Codex — $10/month or $90/year.Code COSMICOWL20 (20% off) or COSMICOWL30 (30% off $99+) at Otter Spirit. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit cosmicowlastrology.substack.com/subscribe

The Top 10 Tour continues with one of our most-downloaded conversations of all time.John Richardson — president of the Richardson Nutritional Center and Operation World Without Cancer — joins Jim Mann to tell a story that's been in his family for over fifty years. His father, Dr. John A. Richardson, became a Bay Area folk hero in the 1970s for offering laetrile to his patients, and a national headline in June 1972 when his clinic was raided. The arrest didn't end the movement — John says it started one, leading to G. Edward Griffin's book World Without Cancer and a grassroots network that grew to a million members strong.John walks Jim through the science as he understands it: what amygdalin is, why he believes the cyanide warnings have been overstated, and what his father documented in Laetrile Case Histories. He also opens up about the family business, where the seeds are grown, and why he believes this story is finally getting a hearing.Jim also shares his own first encounter with apricot seeds after his 2016 stage four melanoma diagnosis.HealingStrong's mission is to educate, equip and empower our group leaders and group participants through their journey with cancer or other chronic illnesses, and know there is HOPE. We bring this hope through educational materials, webinars, guest speakers, conferences, community small group support and more.Please take advantage of our FREE resources below to help you along your health and healing journey:Support Group DirectoryHolistic Curriculum - Participant GuideSupport Our Mission - DonateAdditional Health ResourcesListen to Previous EpisodesWebsite: healingstrong.org

If grey squirrels have ever stripped your pots overnight or raided a carefully planted bulb lasagne, there are ways to protect your perfectly composed pots.Sarah is joined by Josie Lewis this week to share what's actually worked at Perch Hill after years of trials – from cleverly laid thorny rose prunings to beautiful pot toppers that protect bulbs and earn their keep. In this episode, discover:How Sarah and Josie protect freshly planted bulbs from grey squirrels and other pests without relying on ugly or ineffective solutionsExactly how to use thorny stems as a simple, physical barrier over pots through autumn and winterWhich ornamental plants make the best pot toppers over bulbs, and where each works bestHow to use edible pot toppers such as hardy lettuces and salad leaves to both shield bulbs and provide generous harvests before tulips emergeProducts mentioned:Ammi visnaga: https://www.sarahraven.com/products/ammi-visnagaAmmi majus: https://www.sarahraven.com/products/ammi-majusHeuchera ‘Black Taffeta': https://www.sarahraven.com/products/heuchera-black-taffetaErysimum ‘Bowles Mauve': https://www.sarahraven.com/products/erysimum-bowless-mauveWallflower ‘Sugar Rush Purple': https://www.sarahraven.com/products/wallflower-sugar-rush-purple-bicolour-f1Cerinthe (Honeywort): https://www.sarahraven.com/products/cerinthe-major-purpurascens Cerinthe 'Kiwi Blue':  https://www.sarahraven.com/products/cerinthe-major-kiwi-blueMizuna ‘Red Knight': https://www.sarahraven.com/products/mizuna-red-knight-f1Salad Rocket: https://www.sarahraven.com/products/salad-rocket-serrata‘Red Frills' Mustard: https://www.sarahraven.com/products/mustard-red-frillsSea Holly (Eryngium): https://www.sarahraven.com/products/eryngium-x-zabelii-big-blueSee our events: https://www.sarahraven.com/courses-eventsGet in touch: info@sarahraven.comShop on the Sarah Raven Website: https://www.sarahraven.com/Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sarahravensgarden/Follow Sarah: https://www.instagram.com/sarahravenperchhill/Order Sarah's latest books: https://www.sarahraven.com/gifts/gardening-books?sort=newest

Today, I sit down to talk about if our faith is firm enough to weather trends and culture, and some ways to ensure that it is.  Christianity is honestly trending right now. It's kinda popular. BUT Christians are called, in the Bible, to be prepared for push back and persecution.  How can we be sure our faith isn't just trendy but is sure? Are we as Christian women spending time with Him? Are we remembering all He's done for us? Are we growing an actual relationship based on truth? Are we practicing taking up our cross? And then I have the CUTEST story to share about my kiddo that reminded me that the seeds I am sowing MATTER. (HINT: It's about prayer) LINKS: Daily Grace Co SALE (Use code MEGANE10 for an extra 10% off!): thedailygraceco.com/shelivespurposefully Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When's the last time you sat down, mapped out where you wanted to be by year's end, felt genuinely fired up about it, and then quietly stopped mentioning it by March?In this throwback episode, we're bringing back this conversation with David Horsager, business strategist and author of the national bestseller The Trust Edge, about his book The Daily Edge. David shares the 90-day quick plan that helped him lose 50 pounds and helped his clients triple sales, the SEEDS habits that keep leaders sustainable, and the simple daily practice he calls DMAs (Difference Making Actions) that keeps his team focused on what matters most.It's not that you don't want to change. It's not even that you don't have a plan. The real problem is you're working in a timeframe too long to hold your focus and a level of clarity too vague to act on.If you've got a goal sitting untouched on a sticky note, this one's for you.Find more from David at trustedge.com.

In this week's episode, we spotlight the critically endangered White Faced Black Spanish Chicken. In our main topic we take a look back at 6 years of podcasting about poultry. We also share our recipe for delicious Zucchini Spice Bars and provide some retail therapy with zucchini seeds.Pre-order our book! The Chicken Ladies' Guide to Life with ChickensSponsored by Nutrena Naturewise Feeds.Grubbly Farms - click here for our affiliate link.https://www.anrdoezrs.net/click-100963304-15546963Omlet Coops- Use Our Affiliate Link and COFFEE10 code for 10% off!https://tidd.ly/3Uwt8BfBreed Spotlight is sponsored by Murray McMurray Hatcheryhttps://www.mcmurrayhatchery.com/Metzer Farms Waterfowlhttps://www.metzerfarms.com/Eaton Pet and Pasture - Use code COFFEE for a discount on first-time purchases.Nestera UShttps://nestera.us/cwtclUse our affiliate link above for 5% off your purchaseZucchini Spice Bars - https://coffeewiththechickenladies.com/farm-fresh-egg-recipes/zucchini-spice-bars/CWTCL Websitehttps://coffeewiththechickenladies.com/CWTCL Etsy Shophttps://www.etsy.com/shop/CoffeeWChickenLadiesAs Amazon Influencers, we may receive a small commission from the sale of some items at no additional cost to consumers.CWTCL Amazon Recommendationshttps://www.amazon.com/shop/coffeewiththechickenladiesSupport the show

What you consistently put into your work, relationships, habits, and leadership will eventually come back to you in a harvest—often later than you expect and on a much larger scale than you imagined. In this episode of the Waste No Day Podcast, Nate and Brian explore the law of sowing and reaping and why it applies whether or not you recognize it. Using examples from delayed investments, and the demands of building a career in home services, they explain why diligence, honesty, training, accountability, and intentionality compound over time, while laziness, arrogance, blame, and neglect create consequences that also grow exponentially. You will learn why many people quit just before their season of reward, how to distinguish a temporary plateau from a declining trajectory, why the people around you can influence your performance, how small habits become patterns that shape your career, family, finances, health, and future generations, and why weeds must be removed before they overtake the field. Listen to discover how to evaluate the seeds you are planting today, stay patient when results are invisible, learn from the harvest you already have, and intentionally cultivate a more purposeful and abundant future—without wasting another day. Presented by Trainual Build a better-trained home service team with Trainual.

Life has a way of knocking us out of alignment. Disappointment, betrayal, tragedy, loss — the potholes we hit along the way can leave us cracked, tired, and drifting from God. But in Jeremiah 18, God sends the prophet down to a potter's house with a message we all need to hear: what's broken doesn't have to stay broken.In this message, Pastor Delman Coates walks through the potter's wheel to show us how God realigns and restores our lives:

Thank you for watching!~CHECK OUT ALL THE LINKS BELOW FOR THE SYNDICATE & RIOT Co.!https://link.me/breederssyndicate~SUPPORT the channel or JOIN the Discord community: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/matthewriot (This channel is not monetized - any contributions are warmly appreciated & keep us going)~QUALITY GEAR (shirts, stickers, beanies, mugs etc): https://breeders-syndicate-shop.fourthwall.com~PLANT HEALTH & SEX TESTING: https://www.farmerfreeman.com  (Coupon Code: SYNDICATE5 )

Edited Transcript Below for Readers on Substack. A pivotal astrological week centered on the Lunar Eclipse on August 28 and a rare sequence of personal planets (Sun, Mercury, Venus) crossing the South Node and Regulus at 0° Virgo — a pattern Louise frames as accelerating the "fall of kings" and a long-term paradigm shift toward humility, stewardship, and inner work. The overarching theme is surrender, self-care, and transformation amid heightened emotional intensity.Venus Retrograde Heroine's Journey 2026 https://www.louiseedington.com/VenusRetrograde2026Features and Press ReleasesUSA Today! https://www.usatoday.com/press-release/story/39476/louise-edington-launches-landmark-venus-retrograde-program-as-she-approaches-15-years-in-business/https://www.womansworld.com/contributors/louise-edington-fear-astrologyhttps://feedvoice.com/louise-edington-on-why-midlife-women-are-turning-to-astrology-for-self-trust-instead-of-self-improvement/International Business Times https://www.ibtimes.com/louise-edington-reclaiming-language-stars-through-intuition-embodiment-matrifocal-wisdom-3803596Wellness Voice https://wellnessvoice.com/louise-edington-on-reclaiming-the-language-of-the-stars-through-intuition-embodiment-and-matrifocal-wisdom/Red Seeds Tarot https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/TheRedSeedsW.I.T.C.H. Oracle Deck https://a.co/d/0bOgiJsrBefore We Dive InA few things before we get into what is — still — an extraordinary week.AstroTheoros has been adding features since I last mentioned them on the lunar eclipse video: chart import (from nearly any source) and export (to CSV), chart folders, chart notes with a timeline, and lovely PDF print options. More is in the works. If you're looking for affordable, cloud-based astrology software that works on any device, go and check it out. Code COSMICOWL at astrotheoros.com — one free month on the monthly plan, or one extra month off the yearly plan.Venus Retrograde: Heroine's Journey — we now have 50 people enrolled. First call is October 1st. The price is holding through the end of August, so this week is your last chance at the current rate. And — this matters, so I'm saying it clearly — I offer partial scholarships. If you genuinely cannot afford the class, please email me at louise@louiseedington.com with a “pay what you can” offer. I do believe in some form of exchange, but I believe even more in this work reaching the people who need it. Please be in integrity — you don't need to give me your life story. Just be honest. louiseedington.com/VenusRetrograde2026My article — “Can We Let Evolutionary Astrology Evolve?” — is on Substack now. I'm not calling for anyone to cancel evolutionary astrology as a whole. I'm calling for patience, grace, and recognition that the practice itself is already evolving — which is rather fitting. I've had people come out of the woodwork in response to it, in good ways, and there will be follow-ups. Subscribe free on Substack to get it in your inbox.Spiral Weave / Spiral Codex membership — $10/month or $90/year — is where we go deeper together. Live calls, community, and the monthly Ask Me Almost Anything. Link below. Membership is OFF Substack going forward.The Big Picture: Three Planets Cross RegulusBefore we move into the week, I want to give you the context that has been building for months — because it reaches a significant milestone this week.Regulus — the Royal Star, one of the four great fixed stars of the ancient sky — moved from Leo into Virgo from our perspective in late 2011. Before Virgo, it spent approximately 2,160 years in Leo. Before that, 2,160 years in Cancer. And before that, Gemini.The astrologer Michael Lutin — rest in peace, a truly lovely man — apparently wrote about Regulus's ingress into Virgo in practically every post after it happened. His words, which I keep coming back to: “Long after this foolish war is over, Regulus in Virgo will produce beings — the future stewards of the Earth and planets. The goddesses.” And he also said: kings in rags.Now here is where we are this week: the three most personal solar system bodies — Venus, the Sun, and Mercury — are all crossing the South Node and then Regulus, one after another, for the first time since the South Node met Regulus at 0° Virgo.Venus crossed first. The Sun crossed last week. And this Tuesday: Mercury crosses the South Node and then meets Regulus.These are the three bodies closest to the Sun — the inner solar system, our most personal planetary energies. In order from Sun outward: Mercury, Venus, Earth. All three crossing that symbolic drain and meeting Regulus in its new sign. Not kings. Something different. Something more humble, more curious, more meaningful, more Virgo.I also want to mention the larger wheel. I believe the turning of the ages began in 1781, when Uranus was discovered — that moment of collective breakthrough also marked the start of the Industrial Revolution. It takes a very long time to turn the great wheel. We are roughly three ages back from when the descent began — Gemini to Cancer to Leo — and now, with Regulus in Virgo, we are at the point between the descent and the return. Beginning to push back up. That is where we are.Three Out-of-Bounds Bodies — and a PrescriptionThis week, the Moon, Mars, and Pluto are all out of bounds simultaneously. That is not nothing.The Moon out of bounds means our emotions are running beyond the normal range — heightened, eccentric, more extreme in some direction.Mars out of bounds (since August 3rd) means protective instincts and defensive reactions have been especially reactive. Mars in Cancer is already sensitive and protective; out of bounds, it's been operating well beyond convention. The good news: Mars comes back in bounds on Friday the 28th, the eclipse day.Pluto out of bounds happens for about three months around this time of year, and will continue until 2035 — after which Pluto never goes out of bounds again in any of our lifetimes. Rosie Finn's book Persephone's Revolution documents the pattern: Pluto out of bounds to the south has historically coincided with people rising up, more peaceful collective energy. Pluto out of bounds to the north coincided with the Second World War. We are in the south-running period. That is, in Rosie's words, the revolution.The prescription for all of this: radical self-care. Not the usual amount. More than you'd normally think necessary. Out-of-bounds planets go beyond the norm — so your self-care needs to go beyond your norm too. Keep your boundaries. Retreat when you need to. Do what genuinely restores you.The Cards — A First GlanceFrom the Red Seeds Tarot and the Witch Oracle: The Hanged Goddess (upright!), Two of Bees reversed, Queen of Seeds reversed, and The Companion.Pause. Inner turmoil. Inner pillars. And your body as the cauldron. Every single card is pointing in the same direction: inward. More at the end.Day by DaySunday, August 23 — Sun Meets Regulus. The Third Great Crossing Begins.The Moon in Capricorn, out of bounds, opens the week by opposing Ceres — the Great Mother, the one I wrote my book on. Self-care first. What are your needs right now, really? Then the Moon squares Neptune — forming a mutable T-square that forces change and says: surrender. Let go. Trust the flow.At 3:12am Eastern, the Sun meets Regulus exactly at 0°11' Virgo. Venus is already past this point, heading ahead. Now the Sun has joined her. Two personal planets past the drain, past Regulus, heading toward what comes next — including the Venus Star Point, the Cazimi in Scorpio, on October 23rd. (That Star Point, incidentally, squares 20° Aquarius — a potent point I'll speak to more in the Venus class.)Venus is now falling in the sky — every morning in the east she rises closer and closer to the rising Sun, descending back toward conjunction. We are in the falling phase of her cycle. The invitation: more humility, more curiosity, more meaning, more Virgo. Less performance, less pedestal energy. Let it go.Happy birthday, Virgo humans. Your season is carrying something remarkable.Mercury in Leo trines Eris — the messenger meeting the original table-turner. Eris does not like artifice. She does not like the glitz and vanity and pedestal energy of shadow Leo. She is the one who says I was created equal and I will not submit — and she says it again now through Mercury. Expect more news of people falling from pedestals. More truth being spoken. More of the old guard losing its grip.The Moon opposes Mars (both out of bounds — very heightened), then conjuncts Asteroid Lilith (talk to the hand, enough) and Pholus (Pandora's box wide open). We've had enough. The lid is coming off more things. There is grief in all of this. There is loss. People are going to be feeling it this week — whether it's playing out in their personal lives or in the collective. Both are real.The Sun in Virgo trines Chiron — an Earth trine. Healing the wounds around being human. Around how we've treated each other. Around our severed relationship with the Earth itself. This is an ongoing theme for the Chiron-in-Taurus years, and the Sun newly in Virgo is making it tangible.The out-of-bounds Moon squares Saturn retrograde — initiating, letting go of old institutions, old rules, old self-limiting beliefs. The structures that are stagnant. They are going.Monday, August 24 — Capricorn Moon. Radical Self-Care. The Inner Crossroads.The Moon is still out of bounds in Capricorn all day — and Capricorn Moons can feel a bit cold, emotionally blunt. With everything going on right now, you or people around you may seem more shut down than usual. That's self-protection, not coldness. Give yourself and others some latitude.The prescription is clear: more self-care than you normally think you need. Out-of-bounds planets go beyond the norm. Match that.The Moon squares Venus — both out of bounds, both in their own way asking: what do we value? What are we creating? What relationships, contracts, and connections need new boundaries? Where are we letting go of the old and building something genuinely different?Mercury trines Vesta — the messenger in conversation with the inner flame. This isn't coming from outside. The flame is within. The article I wrote on evolutionary astrology (link below) speaks to this — the turning of astrology toward helping people explore their interior landscape, rather than telling them what it means.The Moon sextiles Nessus — seeing the toxins within and without. Bloodletting the inherited poisons, the patterns that have been running. Then the Moon squares Pallas Athena — wise strategy, wise justice. How are we going to fight for this? And how do we find the strategy within ourselves first?Mercury opposes Hecate at 28°57' Aquarius. Hecate — the torchbearer at the crossroads, the triple moon goddess — is in the sign of the future, the collective, the Aquarian North Node. Mercury opposing her says: the crossroads is within. The way forward is through the interior, not through the external drama. Tune in.The Moon squares Eris to close the day — tables still turning, within and without.Tuesday, August 25 — Mercury Crosses the South Node. Mercury Meets Regulus. Vesta Stations Retrograde.Three major events. One day.At 5:01am Eastern, the Moon enters Aquarius — back in bounds, or very close to it, stepping into the sign of the future.At 5:04am Eastern, Mercury conjuncts the South Node. The drain. The third major personal planet to cross this threshold since the South Node met Regulus at 0° Virgo.First Venus crossed — love, values, our relationship to all things, our social and material world. Then the Sun — the very core of our solar system, our identity, the ego and the heart simultaneously. Now Mercury — the mind, the voice, communication, the messenger between worlds.Three, in succession. All releasing through the drain. All letting go of old ideas, old beliefs, old ways of thinking about leadership and hierarchy and who gets to be on a pedestal.And then: at 7:04am, Mercury enters Virgo. Crossing from Leo (the voice of the heart) into Virgo (the meaningful, discerning, humble voice). Mercury is strong in Virgo — curious, detail-oriented, wanting to find the meaning, wanting to get it right not for praise but because doing the right thing matters.At 9:26am, Mercury conjuncts Regulus at 0° Virgo.Three planets. Venus. Sun. Mercury. All having now crossed Regulus in Virgo for the first time since the South Node met it. All going down the drain of the age of kings, and emerging — more humble, more curious, more Virgo. Kings in rags. Future stewards of the Earth and planets. The goddesses.I am just like... I love astrology. And I love Michael Lutin for seeing this.The Moon in Aquarius then squares Haumea, trines Sedna (adapt or die, but also — so many kinds of death), and conjuncts Pluto — the basket activation again. The Moon carries the collective emotional energy through the 4° basket degree, four legs of stability, and we are held.At 2:01pm Eastern, Vesta stations retrograde. Vesta — the inner flame, focus, commitment, sacred devotion — goes retrograde. And look at the Aries cluster now: Neptune retrograde, Manwë retrograde, Saturn retrograde, Pallas Athena retrograde, Eris retrograde, and now Vesta retrograde. All those Aries energies — the new beginning, the identity in the emerging aeon — going back, reviewing, revisiting. We are not finished with what Aries has been teaching us about who we are becoming. The retrograde does not cancel the flame. It turns it inward to assess what it's actually devoted to.Mercury in Virgo trines Chiron — and I want to sit with this one. Virgo, in the older traditions, was the healer, the witch, the medicine carrier, the one with the pouch of herbs who knew how to tend bodies and communities. Chiron is the wounded healer, the shaman, the one who becomes medicine through the wound. Together: be the medicine. Not just know about healing. Embody it.The Moon then trines Uranus — the basket activates again, and we are held in it. Still. Despite everything.Wednesday, August 26 — Moon Opposes Jupiter. The Pedestal Shadow.The Aquarius Moon opposes Jupiter and Hygieia in Leo — and I find this potent. Jupiter in Leo is the expander in the sign of kings, of leaders, of the performer. And now the Moon — the people, the collective emotions — is directly across from it, in the sign of the future.What we're starting to see, I think, is not just the fall of individual gurus and leaders. We're starting to see the shadow of how we've participated in putting them there. Not just in them, but in us. The energy of wanting someone to tell us the answers. The hunger for authority figures. The guru culture, the cult-of-personality culture, the tendency to surrender our inner judge to someone else's version of truth. Jupiter expanded all of that. Now we're looking at it clearly.Jupiter will go retrograde at some point soon, which means it will turn back to review that Leo territory more carefully. Watch that.The Moon sextiles Saturn — self-limiting beliefs, old structures. Let them go. And Mercury sextiles Haumea — the Great Mother of regeneration. All three personal planets are now moving toward Scorpio, toward the Venus Star Point, toward the Venus and Mercury retrogrades. It is going to be intentional. The Venus class exists to help you work with this from the inside out — the meditations are channeled, not scripted, so each journey is genuinely different.Thursday, August 27 — Moon Into Pisces. Mercury Cazimi at 4° Virgo. Moon Conjuncts North Node.The Moon moves through Aquarius — sextiling Pallas Athena (strategy), conjuncting Chariklo (the cosmic doula is holding space for the story we're weaving), sextiling Eris and Vesta (burn things off, from devotion and inner flame) — and then meets Hecate at the crossroads. Always. She is always there.And then the Mercury Cazimi — the Sun and Mercury meet exactly, in a superior (exterior) conjunction at 4° Virgo. Mercury is behind the Sun from our perspective, meaning it's on the far side — gathering information from outer space, which it then channels through the solar core. These exterior Cazimis are often moments of receiving rather than transmitting: something is coming in that Mercury will carry forward toward the coming retrograde.4° Virgo. The basket degree, again. Four legs of the table. When the basket peaked in July, the Moon at 4° of Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn each activated the whole configuration in turn. Now Mercury and the Sun meet at 4° Virgo. The messenger is filled with what it needs to carry toward the Venus retrograde and then into its own retrograde in Scorpio. Information from the far side, encoded in the cauldron, to be distilled in the descent to come.At 3:03pm Eastern, the Moon enters Pisces — and the emotional waters deepen as we move toward the eclipse tomorrow. The Moon sextiles Chiron and trines Haumea — a water grand trine still operational, eroding, regenerating. The Moon squares Sedna — adapt, or be changed. The Moon conjuncts the North Node — the Aquarian future, the care-for-each-other energy, the people rising up. Forget the labels. Just vote for the person who genuinely wants to care for people. They are human. They will not be perfect. But listen to what they say.Friday, August 28 — Venus Day. The Lunar Eclipse. Mars Back in Bounds.The full lunar eclipse post and video cover all the detail — please do go and read/watch those. But here's what matters from this forecast's perspective.The eclipse is at 4° Pisces/Virgo — the basket degree, the number of stability. Four legs. We are held.Mars moves back in bounds on this day. He's been out of bounds since August 3rd — erratic, sensitive, defensive, more extreme than usual. Now, at last, he comes back within the established range. You may notice a very slight settling of some of that reactive, overly self-protective energy. Mars in Cancer at its highest is the fierce guardian — protective of home and family, yes, but from love rather than fear.Mercury square Uranus exactly at 5° — number of change. Radical shift in perceptions. Could come as shocking news, shocking falls, or shocking good news. The Uranian energy doesn't telegraph which. Stay awake.The Moon in Pisces trines Ceres — amid eclipse energy, Ceres in Cancer says: meet your needs. Take care of yourself. Your family and community. There may be grief around ancestors, around family, around inheritance. Let the water move through.The Sun in Virgo sextiles Ceres and squares Uranus — more eclipse activation, more radical change in the practical, meaningful sign of Virgo. This is the call to do things differently in the everyday, the ordinary, the somatic. Virgo is the medicine carrier. Be the medicine.The Moon trines Mars (now back in bounds) — water to water, Cancer and Pisces. The guardian and the depths. The eclipse is very emotional. Let it be. Surrender. The Hanged Goddess is upright this week precisely because we need her permission to pause.The Moon also trines Asteroid Lilith — talk to the hand. We are not going back to the old way.Saturday, August 29 — Quiet Close. Moon Into Aries.The Moon in Pisces closes the week quietly — meeting Nessus (the poisons, the inherited patterns, a last look at what we're releasing in this eclipse), then sextiling Juno (contracts, the renegotiating continues).And then, at 10:37pm Eastern, the Moon enters Aries — and we end the week with the Moon about to move through that entire retrograde cluster: Neptune, Manwë, Saturn, Pallas Athena, Eris, and Vesta, all revisiting, reflecting, reviewing, in the sign of new beginnings.As the week closes: Venus, the Sun, and Mercury are the only major planetary bodies on the Virgo side of Regulus and the South Node. All the rest are still coming. It will take a while. This is a turning of a great wheel, not the flipping of a switch.But the three most personal planets are leading the way. Be more meaningful. Be more curious. Be more humble. Be the medicine.The Cards in DetailThe Hanged Goddess — I Am Paused (upright this time):In the Red Seeds Tarot by Linda Hill (find her on Etsy, UK), the Hanged Goddess is Demeter — the Great Mother who, in the myth, became weary of both mortals and gods and withdrew to her newly built temple, closing the door to everyone. She knew that to invoke the powers of healing, she would need silence and isolation. And so she paused.“A change of perspective is much needed. The complexity of life can imbalance us at times, leaving us feeling lost, drained, exhausted. Confusion surrounds us, and we can't see the wood for the trees. Have we forgotten who we are? What has brought us to this point? Is it time to stop and pause? Old cycles, habits, poor self-care may have blocked our way. It's time to surrender to the self and allow the depths of our being to open gently. It is not necessary to hurry or try to direct what should happen next. There is really nothing for us to do but wait. Such a position helps us to see things in a very different light. New perspectives will arise. There is much to come from this.”Herman Hesse: “Within you there is a stillness and sanctuary to which you can retreat at any time and be yourself.”This is Demeter closing the temple door. This is the invitation: close the door. Just for a while. Let the silence in. Let the new perspective arise.Two of Bees (Swords), reversed — Inner Turmoil:This week there may be anxiety, inner turmoil, indecision. Everything feels tense inside. Reversed, this card asks for all the inner work — going within rather than pushing outward, balancing the nervous system, retreating, doing the self-care. The Hanged Goddess gave you the permission. Take it.This is strong energy. The eclipses are strong. You do not have to perform having it together right now.Queen of Seeds (Pentacles), reversed — Inner Pillars:In this deck there are two Queens of Seeds, and they both came out this week. They embrace the Divine Feminine — nurture, healing, generosity, intuition, stability, and service. Like the Caryatids — the sculpted figures from the Eleusinian Mysteries who literally held up the sanctuary — these queens hold things up.“We can be supportive and in service of those in need, whilst always remembering to nurture, support, and stabilize ourselves first. This feminine energy has agency: self-sufficient, strong, kind, empowered, and belonging to no gender. These queens held up the Eleusinian sanctuary for many years, on many levels. These queens hold us up. Know that we are supported and always cared for.”Reversed this week, I read these Queens as pointing you toward the inner pillars of support — the ones that don't require anyone else's permission or presence. And to remember Michael Lutin's words: future stewards of the Earth and planets, the goddesses. That doesn't mean only women. It means the goddess energy — the nurturing, supportive, reciprocal, holding energy — within all of us.The Companion (Witch Oracle):Your body. The cauldron. It has appeared before and it keeps appearing because the message keeps being needed.“Your body, like a cauldron, holds the energy of what you put into it. Are you putting shame, diminishment, or rejection into it? Or acceptance, appreciation, adoration?Science would have you believe your body is an experiment. Religion would have you believe your body is a sin. A witch would have you believe your body is a marvel — a cauldron of celebration, home to spells of delight, healing, and wonder.Your body is a sacred companion. She is the one entity that will never leave you during your journey as a human. She is always working on your behalf to restore, heal, and create the balance that allows you to participate in this life. This kind of loyalty deserves devotion, not diminishment.Shed the weight of expectations. Trim down the thoughts of too much and not enough. Dance like your hips move mountains. Put some magic of unabashed self-approval in your cauldron, and witness how the steam of that self-esteem wafts out into the world — passing on permission for others to feel the same about their unique shape.A witch understands that liking and loving herself, her body, just as it is, in a toxic patriarchy, is an act of rebellion.Be the rebel.”And here is what I want to add: your body is also the cradle. It is the basket. It is the cauldron that is being held in the larger cauldron of these four great outer planets at 4°. You are held. Your body is held. The transformation is happening inside it, and through it, and because of it.Summing UpMercury crosses the South Node and meets Regulus. Vesta stations retrograde, joining the entire Aries cluster in reflection. The Mercury Cazimi at the basket degree of 4° Virgo brings through what needs to be carried toward the Venus and Mercury retrogrades. Mars comes back in bounds on eclipse day. The lunar eclipse arrives at 4° Pisces — held, stable, held.And four cards all pointing inward: pause. The turmoil is real, and it belongs inside where you can work with it. The inner pillars of support are there. Your body is the cauldron, the companion, the sacred rebel.Three planets have now crossed Regulus in Virgo. Kings in rags. Future stewards of the Earth and planets. The goddesses.We are in the birth canal, and we are pushing.Go close the temple door for a while. Let the new perspective arrive.— LouiseVenus Retrograde: Heroine's Journey — price holds through end of August. Partial scholarships available: louise@louiseedington.com. louiseedington.com/VenusRetrograde2026“Can We Let Evolutionary Astrology Evolve?” — now on Substack. Subscribe free for all posts.AstroTheoros — chart import/export, folders, notes, PDF printing, and growing asteroid support. Code COSMICOWL at astrotheoros.com.Code COSMICOWL20 (20% off) or COSMICOWL30 (30% off $99+) at Otter Spirit.Spiral Weave / Spiral Codex membership — $10/month or $90/year. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit cosmicowlastrology.substack.com/subscribe

Thank you for watching!~CHECK OUT ALL THE LINKS BELOW FOR THE SYNDICATE & RIOT Co.!https://link.me/breederssyndicate~SUPPORT the channel or JOIN the Discord community: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/matthewriot (This channel is not monetized - any contributions are warmly appreciated & keep us going)~QUALITY GEAR (shirts, stickers, beanies, mugs etc): https://breeders-syndicate-shop.fourthwall.com~PLANT HEALTH & SEX TESTING: https://www.farmerfreeman.com  (Coupon Code: SYNDICATE5 )

We're stepping once more into Tom Stimpson's tiny town garden to see how he coaxes months of colour from the smallest of spaces. In this episode, Tom shares the mini bulbs that have truly earned their keep in pots and window boxes – from long-flowering iris and species tulips to cheerful muscari and dwarf narcissus. Together we explore simple planting “recipes”, clever table‑top displays, and a low‑maintenance watering approach that lets the weather do most of the work. In this episode, discover:How Tom turns a tiny town garden into months of spring colour using mini bulbs in pots, tabletops and window boxesWhich small bulbs really earn their keep in containers – from Ipheion ‘Alberto Castillo' and ‘Wisley Blue' to favourite species tulips and dwarf narcissusSimple ways to plan a small-space bulb display, including easy paper layouts and colour planningA low-maintenance watering approach for bulbs in pots that relies on deep, occasional soaking rather than constant fussingPractical tricks for protecting bulbs from squirrels and how to give narcissi, muscari and Iris reticulata a second life in borders.Products mentioned:Ipheion ‘Alberto Castillo': https://www.sarahraven.com/products/ipheion-alberto-castilloTulipa sylvestris: https://www.sarahraven.com/products/tulipa-sylvestrisAnemone blanda ‘Blue Shades': https://www.sarahraven.com/products/anemone-blanda-blue-shadesMuscari ‘Blue Magic': https://www.sarahraven.com/products/muscari-blue-magicMuscari ‘Valerie Finnis': https://www.sarahraven.com/products/muscari-armeniacum-valerie-finnisNarcissus ‘Minnow': https://www.sarahraven.com/products/narcissus-minnowNarcissus ‘Sailboat': https://www.sarahraven.com/products/narcissus-sailboatScilla / Squills (Siberian Squill): https://www.sarahraven.com/products/scilla-sibericaSee our events: https://www.sarahraven.com/courses-eventsGet in touch: info@sarahraven.comShop on the Sarah Raven Website: https://www.sarahraven.com/Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sarahravensgarden/Follow Sarah: https://www.instagram.com/sarahravenperchhill/Order Sarah's latest books: https://www.sarahraven.com/gifts/gardening-books?sort=newest

Great interview with Broadcasting Seeds Podcast on why all Bibles are supernaturally changingStay connected in case we get bannedSign up for newsletterhttps://www.wakeuporelse.com/newsletterLEAVE A REVIEW...PLEASE!Why All Bibles Are ChangingLeave A Review On Amazonhttps://bit.ly/4aaCydmThe Mandela Effect Supernatural Bible ChangesLeave A Review On Amazonhttps://bit.ly/4vZsP1NThe Conspiracy Theorist Survival GuideLeave A Review On Amazon https://bit.ly/3QrDZO0JUMP IN - BE A PART OF THE REFORMATIONDO NOT make checks payable to "wakeuporelse"Make checks payable to John KirwinMAIL CHECKS TO John KirwinPO Box 78362Charlotte NC 28271Be a $10.00/month partner https://donorbox.org/wakeuporelseCREDIT CARDhttps://donorbox.org/wakeuporelsePAYPAL https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/kirwi...CASHAPPhttps://cash.app/$wakeuporelse$WakeuporelseVENMOhttps://www.venmo.com/wakeuporelse@wakeuporelseZELLEwakeuporelse@proton.meCRYPTO CURRENCIEShttps://www.wakeuporelse.com/donateOur Channelshttps://www.wakeuporelse.comhttps://www.alteredbible.comhttps://www.rumble.com/c/wakeuporelse / wakeuporelse1 / wakeuporelse1 https://www.bitchute.com/wakeuporelse"The Conspiracy Theorist Survival Guide Podcast"https://www.wakeuporelse.com/ourpodcastContact John wakeuporelse@proton.meGet my books FREE www.alteredbible.com1) The Mandela effect Supernatural Bible Changes 2) Why All Bibles Are Changing3) The Conspiracy Theorist Survival GuidePURCHASE MY BOOKSWhy All Bibles Are Changinghttps://bit.ly/44kItsUThe Mandela Effect Supernatural Bible Changes and the doctrine of the preservation of scripture https://bit.ly/3SiceIkThe Conspiracy Theorist Survival Guide: A Guidebook For Persecuted Truthers https://bit.ly/4ezfx5d

An interview with musician Roland Orzabal from the band Tears for Fears, discussing his new autobiography, Welcome to Your Life, where he tells his life story through the lens of astrology. In the late 1980s, Roland experienced a profound shift in his worldview, moving from the psychological belief that we are all born as "blank slates" to discovering the stunning accuracy of the natal chart. We discuss his deep dive into the subject and how understanding his Leo Sun and Capricorn stellium helped him navigate the intense pressures of global fame, the complex creative dynamics within Tears for Fears, and his challenging family history. What makes Welcome to Your Life so unique is that it serves as both a deeply personal, unfiltered memoir and an accessible introduction to astrology. During the episode, we pull up Roland's birth chart to track the major transits of his life, from the Jupiter-Saturn conjunctions that aligned with some of his biggest career milestones, to the heavy Pluto and Neptune transits that correlated with periods of profound personal loss, addiction, and eventual healing. Ultimately, this is a conversation about fate, free will, and how astrology provides a hidden language to make sense of our most difficult and triumphant moments. It was an honor to speak with a legendary musician who is also a dedicated, lifelong student of the astrological tradition. This is episode 545 of The Astrology Podcast. Get the Book The book came out on August 4, and it is available now in bookstores everywhere: Welcome to Your Life: Love, Death & Tears For Fears Timestamps 00:00:00 Introduction and Roland's new astrological memoir00:03:16 Discovering astrology and primal therapy in the 1980s00:10:55 Interpersonal astrology and synastry with bandmates00:16:36 Perspectives on fate, free will, and major Pluto transits00:20:57 Looking at Roland's birth chart and key placements00:25:26 The non-linear, Mercury retrograde style of the book00:28:13 The loss of his first wife and the astrology of meeting Emily00:33:02 Jupiter-Saturn conjunctions and signing the first record deal00:35:41 The first Saturn return and the split with Curt Smith00:46:24 Weaving astrological teachings into a mainstream memoir00:50:18 The astrology behind Songs from the Big Chair and The Seeds of Love00:53:40 Progressed Sun in Libra and experiencing a major life shift00:56:09 Thoughts on the Gary Jules cover of "Mad World"00:59:50 Childhood, his parents, and fourth house Uranian themes01:08:16 Neptune squaring the Ascendant and recovering from addiction01:17:31 How birth charts correlate with personal belief systems01:24:41 Major astrological influences: Liz Greene and Richard Tarnas01:28:55 Releasing an album on 9/11 during the Saturn-Pluto opposition01:32:34 Closing remarks01:32:42 End cards Watch the Video Version of This Episode https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7miA6G8eqQ - Listen to the Audio Version of This Episode Listen to the audio version of this episode or download it as an MP3:

A full 2026 College Football Playoff bracket, built from the ground up — all 20 teams in contention, all 12 seeds, and every round of the bracket projected out to a national champion. The breakdown starts with the bubble, working through the "close but no cigar" group before revealing the top-four seeds and the rest of the field with current odds to make or miss the playoff. Conference-by-conference sleeper candidates get a look across the SEC, Big Ten, Big 12, and ACC, along with a handful of Group of Six programs with real outside shots. From there, first-round matchups, quarterfinal projections, semifinal storylines, and a national championship pick close out the show, with a preview of what's coming next on the channel — weekly Game Day picks and updated preseason power ratings.

Yes, it's August. Yes, we're talking about Christmas. Stick with me, because the artists who do holiday well aren't the ones scrambling in November, they're the ones who planned in the summer. Today I'm walking through the framework I use with my coaching clients to think about holiday sales: seeds versus money makers. Money makers are your originals, commissions, and bigger bespoke pieces. Seeds are the giftable stuff, ornaments, calendars, small prints, cards, and their real return isn't the sale price, it's the marketing. A seed sits in a stranger's home for years, doing the kind of word-of-mouth work no ad campaign can touch. I share the story of the ornaments my grandmother gave my sister and me every year growing up, why I still think of her every time I decorate my tree, and what that kind of loyalty could mean for an artist's business. We also dig into pricing psychology (the holiday-party-wine-bottle test), why underpricing gift items can actually lose you sales, and how to reverse-engineer your whole season from your ship dates. Want the deeper breakdown, with case studies? Subscribe to my Substack, Paper Trail, for Thursday's issue.  And if you want to build out your own holiday plan with me directly, the waitlist for the Art Coaching Club is here: https://www.theartcoachingclub.com/about-1 Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Elisabeth Pierite (Tunica-Biloxi Tribe of Louisiana) was a teenager when Hurricane Katrina tore through New Orleans in August 2005. Her family's home was destroyed and they relocated a few hours north to Marksville, La., the hub of the Tunica-Biloxi Tribe of Louisiana. Miles away, then-principal chief of the United Houma Nation, Brenda Dardar Robichaux, was thrust into the role of helping her community that she says was abandoned by disaster response and recovery efforts. Hurricane Katrina bested local, state, and national emergency response abilities and also exposed racial and socioeconomic inequalities. It also brought to light a gap in how disaster resources are allocated to tribes. We'll talk with Louisiana tribal leaders and citizens about surviving the 2005 disaster, what it took to rebuild, and what they reflect on 20 years later. GUESTS Lora Ann Chaisson (United Houma Nation), principal chief of the United Houma Nation @united_houma_nation Brenda Dardar Robichaux (United Houma Nation), former principal chief of the United Houma Nation Elisabeth Pierite (Tunica-Biloxi Tribe of Louisiana), cultural specialist for the Tunica-Biloxi Tribe of Louisiana Marshall Pierite (Tunica-Biloxi Tribe of Louisiana), chairman of the Tunica-Biloxi Tribe of Louisiana Break 1 Music: 500 Years O' Blues (song) Digging Roots (artist) Seeds (album) Break 2 Music: Another Night to Cry (song) Blue Moon Marquee (artist) Scream, Holler, and Howl (album)

A Special Sunday PTL Conversation - John Richardson - Genesis, Apricot Seeds, and the Power to Heal https://robertscottbell.com/a-special-sunday-ptl-conversation-john-richardson-genesis-apricot-seeds-and-the-power-to-heal/ Purpose and Character The use of copyrighted material on the website is for non-commercial, educational purposes, and is intended to provide benefit to the public through information, critique, teaching, scholarship, or research. Nature of Copyrighted Material Weensure that the copyrighted material used is for supplementary and illustrative purposes and that it contributes significantly to the user's understanding of the content in a non-detrimental way to the commercial value of the original content. Amount and Substantiality Our website uses only the necessary amount of copyrighted material to achieve the intended purpose and does not substitute for the original market of the copyrighted works. Effect on Market Value The use of copyrighted material on our website does not in any way diminish or affect the market value of the original work. We believe that our use constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you believe that any content on the website violates your copyright, please contact us providing the necessary information, and we will take appropriate action to address your concern.

In this episode, Coach JC shares with you how to get your harvest you must plant the seeds. Coach JC believes every person deserves the opportunity to WIN in life, and through his WIN ALL DAY Playbook and Academy, Coach JC and his team help high performers build purpose-driven, passion-filled lives and highly profitable personal brands. In the WIN ALL DAY Podcast, Coach JC drops a daily WINNING Word of the Day (Mon-Fri) and once a month interviews a guest who is representing what WINNING looks like! The podcast will inspire you, motivate you, encourage you, empower you and most importantly, coach you to WIN ALL DAY - to live a life of passion, fueled by purpose! Have a question you'd like Coach JC to answer on a future WIN ALL DAY episode? Submit it as a message on our social media accounts:   https://www.instagram.com/thecoachjc/ https://www.facebook.com/WINALLDAYWITHCOACHJC   Subscribe to the WIN ALL DAY podcast and leave a review for a chance to win some FREE WIN ALL DAY merchandise or even a coaching session with Coach JC each month.   Be sure to join Coach JC's VIP email list, download our free resources and learn more about WIN ALL DAY and Coach JC at  www.CoachJC.com    Learn more about what we do at www.THEWINALLDAY.com If you're ready to personally develop, become your best, and get certified to serve others while building a powerful personal brand business... Then it's time to become a WIN ALL DAY Certified Coach. Master the mindset. Live the mission. Monetize your message. We equip and certify WINNERS just like you to take your story, your purpose and your passion and give it back to the world as a coach and get paid to do it! So if you're ready to go from being a winner… to a certified WINNING WIN ALL DAY COACH… Head over to www.WinAllDayCertified.com  right now and apply. Your next level is waiting. Let's build YOU, your brand, your business, and your legacy.

https://cdn.enduringword.com/audio/devotional/Devotional08132026.mp3 The post Great Joy from Seeds Already Sown – Acts 8:5-8 – August 13, 2026 appeared first on Enduring Word.

You all know that I talk about gathering a fertility TEAM when you are a fertility patient. TEAM stands for  T: Therapist E: Eating and Exercise A: Acupuncture M: Mindfulness and meditation I'm speaking with two Egg Whisperers visiting with us from Seattle, Washington, Stephanie Gianarelli and Dr. Lora Shahine. They are experts in all aspects of fertility.  I invited them on to discuss the A of TEAM = ACUPUNCTURE. Stephanie is a fertility acupuncturist in downtown Seattle. Dr. Lora Shahine is a reproductive endocrinologist specializing in infertility and recurrent pregnancy loss at Pacific NW Fertility and IVF Specialists in Seattle. Together, they have written a book called Planting the Seeds of Pregnancy.  We are talking about the role that Chinese Medicine plays in fertility treatment, and they will share the benefits of acupuncture during treatment, as well. Read the full show notes on Dr. Aimee's website You can learn more about Dr. Lora Shahine and find her book by clicking here. Stephanie Gianarelli at Acupuncture Northwest   Do you have questions about IVF? Click here to join Dr. Aimee for The IVF Class. The next live class call is on Monday, August 17 at 4pm PST, where Dr. Aimee will explain IVF and there will be time to ask her your questions live on Zoom. Click to find The Egg Whisperer Show podcast on your favorite podcasting app.   Watch videos of Dr. Aimee answer Ask the Egg Whisperer Questions on YouTube.  Sign up for The Egg Whisperer newsletter to get updates  Dr. Aimee Eyvazzadeh is one of America's most well known fertility doctors. Her success rate at baby-making is what gives future parents hope when all hope is lost. She pioneered the TUSHY Method and BALLS Method to decrease your time to pregnancy. Learn more about the TUSHY Method and find a wealth of fertility resources at www.draimee.org.

If you love the idea of beautiful pots that don't need replanting every five minutes, perennials in a container can be the perfect solution, and just as stunning as a bed or a border.Tom Stimpson returns to discuss trusted “banker” perennials for containers – from long-flowering hellebores and acers underplanted with geraniums, to hydrangeas, heucheras and beloved agapanthus. You'll hear exactly which combinations have stood the test of time in Tom's garden as well as at Perch Hill, and how to get colour from winter through to late autumn.In this episode, discover:How to design perennial pots that give you colour and structure from winter through to late autumn, without constant replantingWhich plants Sarah and Tom rely on most strongly for containers Practical planting combinations for small gardens, such as Pittosporum with hellebores and scabious, or an acer underplanted with Geranium ‘Rozanne'A realistic regime for watering, feeding and deadheading perennial pots so they stay sturdy rather than sappyProducts mentioned:Helleborus niger: https://www.sarahraven.com/products/helleborus-nigerHelleborus orientalis: https://www.sarahraven.com/products/helleborus-orientalis-pretty-ellen-spottedHelleborus ‘Ice n' Roses Red': https://www.sarahraven.com/products/helleborus-x-glandorfensis-ice-n-roses-redPittosporum ‘Bannow Bay': https://www.sarahraven.com/products/pittosporum-tenuifolium-bannow-bayScabiosa atropurpurea ‘Black Cat': https://www.sarahraven.com/products/scabiosa-atropurpurea-black-catScabiosa ‘Kudo Pink': https://www.sarahraven.com/products/scabiosa-incisa-kudo-pinkGeranium ‘Rozanne': https://www.sarahraven.com/products/geranium-rozanneGeranium ‘Dreamland': https://www.sarahraven.com/products/geranium-dreamlandHydrangea ‘Madame Emile Mouillère': https://www.sarahraven.com/products/hydrangea-macrophylla-madame-emile-mouillereHydrangea ‘Little Lime': https://www.sarahraven.com/products/hydrangea-paniculata-little-limeHydrangea ‘Limelight': https://www.sarahraven.com/products/hydrangea-paniculata-limelightHydrangea ‘Little Fresco': https://www.sarahraven.com/products/hydrangea-paniculata-little-frescoHeuchera ‘Black Taffeta': https://www.sarahraven.com/products/heuchera-black-taffetaGaura ‘The Bride': https://www.sarahraven.com/products/gaura-lindheimeri-the-brideGaura ‘Flamingo': https://www.sarahraven.com/products/gaura-collection-for-potsSalvia nemorosa ‘Caradonna': https://www.sarahraven.com/products/salvia-nemorosa-caradonnaSalvia ‘Peach Melba': https://www.sarahraven.com/products/salvia-peach-melbaVerbena rigida: https://www.sarahraven.com/products/verbena-rigidaLinaria ‘Peachy': https://www.sarahraven.com/products/linaria-x-purpurea-peachyAgapanthus ‘Midnight Blue' / ‘Navy Blue': https://www.sarahraven.com/products/agapanthus-navy-blueSee our events: https://www.sarahraven.com/courses-eventsGet in touch: info@sarahraven.comShop on the Sarah Raven Website: https://www.sarahraven.com/Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sarahravensgarden/Follow Sarah: https://www.instagram.com/sarahravenperchhill/Order Sarah's latest books: https://www.sarahraven.com/gifts/gardening-books?sort=newest

This is a Vintage episode from 2006.Why This Episode MattersErica Renaud explains why heirloom, traditional and open-pollinated seeds matter to agricultural biodiversity.Mark and Francis share how they worked directly with local farmers to plan crops, commit to purchases and even shoulder some of the farmer's risk.The conversation connects sustainable agriculture with something more immediate to a restaurant: better-tasting food.From backyard tomatoes to restaurant purchasing, they explore ways consumers, chefs and farmers can build a closer connection to where food comes from.The ConversationIn 2006, organic farmer and researcher Erica Renaud of Seeds of Change joined Mark Pascal and Francis Schott for a conversation about something fundamental to the food on our plates: the seed.Erica explains the differences among heirloom, traditional and open-pollinated varieties and why preserving genetic diversity matters. The discussion moves from seed saving and organic agriculture to the relationship between farmers and chefs—and that's where Mark and Francis bring the conversation directly into their restaurants.They describe meeting with farmers before planting season to decide what to grow, committing to buy entire crops and sharing some of the agricultural risk. When hundreds of pounds of Jersey tomatoes arrived at once, the restaurants put them across the menu and preserved the harvest so they could serve local tomato sauce in the middle of winter.For Mark and Francis, the motivation wasn't simply philosophical: the food tasted better. Their argument is that the search for the most sustainably grown tomato and the search for the best-tasting tomato can lead you to the same farm.Erica also makes the case for growing something yourself—even in a container or small garden—as a way to understand food differently. From teaching children where food comes from to discovering how dramatically one tomato variety can taste from another, the conversation follows food from seed to farm to restaurant to plate.Guest BioAt the time of this 2006 conversation, Erica Renaud was an organic farmer and researcher and the Research and Farm Manager for Seeds of Change, working on organic seed production, agricultural biodiversity and programs connecting farmers with chefs and consumers.Timestamps00:00 Heirloom seeds, open pollination and preserving biodiversity04:00 Seed patents, hybrids and who controls the food supply07:00 Why chefs and farmers should plan together12:00 Sustainable food often tastes better and everyone should grow something18:30 Why organic food should start with organic seed24:30 How consumers can drive demand for better, more sustainable food InfoSeeds of Change https://www.seedsofchange.com/The organization discussed in this 2006 interview has evolved considerably since the original broadcast. The Seeds of Change garden-seed brand is currently part of Green Garden Products and continues to offer seeds described by the company as 100% organic and 100% non-GMO.Subscribe: Restaurant Guys' Regularhttps://restaurantguysregulars.buzzsprout.com/Magyar Bankhttps://www.magbank.com/Stage Left Wine Shophttps://www.stageleftwineshop.com/Our PlacesStage Left Steakhttps://www.stageleft.com/Catherine Lombardi Restauranthttps://www.catherinelombardi.com/Stage Left Wineshophttps://www.stageleftwineshop.com/Reach Out to The Guys!TheGuys@restaurantguyspodcast.com

In this wonderful episode, the eighth in the LDF series, "Women Outside the Garden," host Terri Petersen interviews and converses with Kim Hamblin, the founder of "Seeds of Life" life coaching services, which specializes in Mormon faith transitions as well assisting people of all spiritual backgrounds in figuring out their faith and allowing it to lead them to where they should be. They talk extensively about Kim's spiritual journey and the kinds of work she does with folks seeking to negotiate their Mormon lives (whether they are current or former members). At some point in her own journey she noticed that the word "question" starts with "quest," a term featured in hero/heroine journeys toward wholeness found prominently in books and movies in which the protagonist endures many trials before finding what is really important to them and decide how they should show up in the world in new (or more open-hearted, enlightened) ways. Her substack is called, "Doubting My Way to Faith," which says much about how the difficult processes involved in faith transitions is very much worth it. Kim's journey is one of over-thinker learning to also trust (and more deeply) what her body is telling her. What is going on deep within all of our souls that might be keys to magnificent growth and greater peace? We think you will enjoy this delightful conversation! Tune in, and go to Latterdayfaith.org to find links to Kim's contact info, as well as her substack and coaching website.

As fall approaches, is your bowling center ready? In this episode of Seeds of Success, we cover the key areas centers should prepare for, from returning league bowlers and birthday parties to holiday events, staff training, equipment inspections, and facility appearance. We also discuss how small details, including clean shoes, house balls, and well maintained technology, can make a big difference in the guest experience.

Rowan Blackwell hat keinen guten Tag: Nach dem Sieg über einen finsteren Dämonenlord und jahrelanger Idylle kehrt eines Abends plötzlich die Finsternis in seine Heimat zurück. Zwei Dämonen entführen seine Frau und drängen den einstmaligen Helden dazu, ihre Weltherrschaftspläne zu unterstützen. Rowan bleibt zunächsts nichts Anderes übrig, als einzuwilligen, aber im Laufe der Geschichte wird sein Gerechtigkeitsempfinden immer wieder auf den Prüfstand gestellt: Gibt er sich nur loyal, um die Dämonengeschwister klammheimlich zu hintergehen... oder findet er womöglich Gefallen an der dunklen Seite und ihren zahlreichen Versuchungen, die vor allem auf sexuelle Eskapaden hinauslaufen? Nina und Gloria begleiten den tapferen Recken auf seinem Leidensweg, Nina ächzt unter Gloria Lutschelicht-Anekdoten, und wir beleuchten den langen, mühsamen Entwicklungsprozess eines Spiels, das nach zehn Jahren bald endlich als Vollversion erscheinen soll. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Sunni behemoth has awakened, but Iran is still doubling down. This will lead to catastrophe.

Cameron sits down with Jon Reiss and Marjan Safinia to examine the structural challenges facing independent filmmaking—and why many of the assumptions that shaped the last two decades no longer hold.Jon is a filmmaker, author, and media strategist whose book Think Outside the Box Office has become a key resource for independent filmmakers thinking seriously about audience building and distribution. Through his company 8 Above, he creates custom audience-building strategies, theatrical experiences, and digital release campaigns for independent features and documentaries—and actively distributes films himself, most recently bringing The Librarians to over 200 theaters. He has consulted with hundreds of filmmakers and organizations worldwide, helped run the IFP/Gotham Filmmaker Lab for a decade, and founded the 8 Above Distribution Lab to teach filmmakers how to distribute and market their work.Marjan is an Iranian documentary filmmaker whose work—including Seeds and But You Speak Such Good English—has played at over 100 international festivals and been broadcast across North America, Europe, and the Arab world. She is the longest-serving president of the International Documentary Association and the only woman of color to have led the organization since its founding in 1982. A member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences Documentary Branch and a Sundance Catalyst Fellow, she is also a board member of Chicken & Egg Pictures and co-hosts The D-Word, a leading online documentary community.Jon is also the co-founder and board president of the Future Film Coalition, formed in 2025 to unite independent film professionals and organizations in building collective power, securing visibility, and shaping public policy that ensures U.S. independent filmmaking continues to flourish. Marjan is an active member of the coalition. In this conversation, Jon and Marjan discuss how financing, distribution, discoverability, and audience behavior have fundamentally shifted—and why the biggest challenge facing independent filmmakers today isn't getting a film made, but building a sustainable path for it to reach an audience. They explore why distribution thinking needs to begin at the development stage, how marketing and audience strategy have become inseparable from production, and why the changing economics of streaming and theatrical exhibition make direct audience relationships more important than ever.Finally, Jon and Marjan discuss the Future Film Coalition's broader advocacy work, including efforts to address media consolidation, strengthen tax credit programs across the country, and make the case to policymakers and regulators that independent film is a significant economic force in communities across the United States.The views and opinions expressed by guests on this podcast are solely their own and do not reflect the views of Wrapbook, its employees, or affiliates.ABOUT WRAPBOOKWrapbook is the AI platform for production finance.Built for today's fast-moving production landscape, Wrapbook brings payroll, spend, and accounting into one AI-powered system—giving production teams the tools they need to do more, faster.Built for features, TV, or commercials—Wrapbook helps the industry's biggest production companies stay compliant, track every dollar in real time, and eliminate the paper-chasing that slows everything down. AI handles the busywork—reading invoices, flagging issues, syncing data—so your team can focus on the work that really matters.But software is only half the story. Wrapbook pairs powerful automation with concierge support from industry experts who've worked on set and know what's at stake. It's how the best production teams scale smarter, protect their budgets, and keep their crews happy.See how Wrapbook is a force multiplier for production finance teams at www.wrapbook.com.

This week host @Jackgreenstalk (aka @Jack_Greenstalk on X/instagram backup account) [or contact via email: JackGreenstalk47@gmail.com] is joined by special guest Boudica seeds from the UK as well as the regular panelists @spartangrown on instagram or X f.k.a. Twitter at https://x.com/grown43626 or email spartangrown@gmail.com for contacting spartan outside social media, any alternate profiles on other social medias using spartan's name, and photos are not actually spartan grown be aware, TheAmericanOne on youtube aka @theamericanone_with_achenes on instagram who's amy aces can be found at amyaces.com and @DrMJcoco from cocoforcannabis.com as well as drmjcoco.com for commercial consulting and youtube where he tested and reviewed grow lights and has grow tutorials and ask dr mj show for subscribers and @drmjcoco on instagram, .... This week we missed Rust Brandon of @fulcrop.sciences / fulcrop.ceo regained @Rust.Brandon instagram page, and products can be found at bokashiearthworks.com and @NoahtheeGrowa on instagram , Matthew Gates aka @SynchAngel on instagram and twitter @Zenthanol on youtube who offers IPM direct chat for $1 a month on patreon.com/zenthanol , and @ATG Acres Aaron The Grower aka @atgacres his products can be found at atgacres.com view his instagram to find out details about drops!

In this episode of Sixtysometing, your host, Grace Taylor Segal, recounts taking her three young grandchildren to their first baseball game, an Anaheim Angels game, with her husband Aaron, daughter Juliet, and Aaron's brother Elliott, staying for postgame fireworks and spending the night at a nearby hotel.Though she worried about meltdowns and attention spans, the kids did great, enjoying snacks, souvenirs, and the overall ballpark experience more than the game itself, and the fireworks captivated everyone. Grace reflects that the day was really about sharing places and experiences tied to family history—Aaron's childhood memories at Angel Stadium and her own baseball roots with the St. Louis Cardinals—and how grandparents can “open the door” to what they love without pressure.She emphasizes showing up, being flexible about what “success” looks like, starting traditions simply, and not waiting for a perfect time to make memories.* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *Hey Friends! It's me, Grace! I just want to thank you for listening. I hope you'll let me know what you think about the podcast and if any particular episodes resonate with you.Listed just below here is my contact information and all of the social channels where you can find me, as well as the link to our Facebook Group. Contact InfoGrace Taylor SegalEmail: grace@gracetaylorsegal.comFacebook: 60something Page(https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61553062496332)Instagram: @60somethingpodFacebook Group: 60Something Podhttps://www.facebook.com/groups/1665326354000332CreditsSixtysomething Theme SongMusic & lyrics by Lizzy SanfordVocals by Lizzy SanfordGuitar: Lizzy & Coco SanfordTo Leave a Review: On Apple Podcasts (no link is available--here are the steps)Open the Apple Podcasts app.Search for the podcast you want to review.Select the podcast show page (not an individual episode).Scroll to the bottom of the page.Click "Write a Review".On the Sixtysomething Podcast Websitehttps://www.sixtysomething.net/reviews/new/Thank you so much for taking the time to review the show!Timestamps:00:00 Welcome and Setup00:13 First Ballgame Plan02:51 Snacks Treats and Surprises04:35 More Than Baseball06:58 Special Places Memories10:06 Grandparenting Perspective11:28 Kids See Wonder14:24 Let Them Love Differently15:54 Lessons From Grandparents18:34 Seeds and Influence21:57 Redefining Success24:05 Traditions Start Small26:32 Fireworks and Time28:29 Dont Wait Make Memories31:37 Wrap Up and Next Episode

08/09/26 Amazing Grace: Seeds of Restoration - Doug Robins by City Tribe Church

Thank you for watching!~CHECK OUT ALL THE LINKS BELOW FOR THE SYNDICATE & RIOT Co.!https://link.me/breederssyndicate~SUPPORT the channel or JOIN the Discord community: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/matthewriot (This channel is not monetized - any contributions are warmly appreciated & keep us going)~QUALITY GEAR (shirts, stickers, beanies, mugs etc): https://breeders-syndicate-shop.fourthwall.com~PLANT HEALTH & SEX TESTING: https://www.farmerfreeman.com  (Coupon Code: SYNDICATE5 )

You have probably heard of Hawaii Farm Bureau and their annual state-wide farm fair and their annual convention, but did you know that they are first and foremost an advocate for farmer-focused Hawaii agriculture bills? Did you know that if you have an idea for a bill that could help Hawaii agriculture that there is a path to working with the Farm Bureau to make it a law? In this episode we speak with Executive Director Brian Miyamoto about the work of HFB and why you may want to be involved.Brought to you by University of Hawaii College of Tropical Ag. and Human Resilience (CTAHR), and the Seeds of Well-being (SOW) Project. This podcast is supported by the Farm and Ranch Stress Assistance Network (FRSAN) grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Institute of Food and Agriculture and Hawaii Department of Agriculture.Resources:Hawaii Farm Bureau (HFB) Our podcast with Hunter from HFUU Hawaii State Farm FairHFB Annual ConventionHFB Farmers MarketsOur podcast with Tim Richards Find out more about us:Seeds Of Wellbeing websiteSeeds of Wellbeing Resource HubAll the SOW links

Have you ever stopped to ask yourself, Who does it all belong to? Most of us naturally think of our homes, businesses, gardens, and finances as our own. But what if the Bible paints a different picture? What if we're not owners at all, but stewards of everything God has entrusted to us? In this episode, I'm joined by David Stelzer, president of Azure Standard and author of Seeds of Hope. Together, we explore the biblical difference between stewardship and ownership, what it means to build a God-led business, and how trusting God's principles can transform the way we approach our homes, homesteads, finances, and daily lives. In this episode, you'll learn: • Why seeing God as the true Owner changes everything. • The biblical principle of stewardship versus ownership. • How Azure Standard has built a business guided by faith and biblical values. • What Scripture teaches about Sabbath rest for both the land and ourselves. • How an abundance mindset replaces fear and scarcity with trust in God's provision. • Practical ways to faithfully steward what God has placed in your hands. Whether you're managing a backyard garden, raising a family, running a business, or simply seeking to live more faithfully, this conversation will encourage you to view every area of your life through the lens of biblical stewardship. Resources Mentioned: Grab all the resources on the accompanying blog post here: https://melissaknorris.com/517  Seeds of Hope by David Stelzer: https://amzn.to/4wiHGEE  Azure Standard: https://melissaknorris.com/azure-standard  Thanks to Azure Standard for sponsoring this podcast. If you're looking to shop from a company you can trust has your best interest in mind, give Azure Standard a try. Be sure to use coupon code MELISSA15 on your first order of $100 or more (delivered to a drop location only) and start stocking your pantry with wholesome foods without all the junk. https://melissaknorris.com/azure-standard 

What can one person actually do about the metacrisis? In this week's Frankly, Nate explicitly outlines just a few of the countless actions we can take to actually change what's coming, rather than just prepare for it. He touches on why the metacrisis is better understood as a predicament to be continually shaped, rather than as a problem with a single solution – calling for a shift in mindset in order to navigate the uncertainty ahead. In complex systems such as ours, even seemingly modest differences in initial conditions can lead to wildly different outcomes down the road, meaning that what each of us chooses to do today shifts what becomes possible in the decades ahead. With that framing, Nate offers a list of small, specific, and slightly unordinary interventions that serve to challenge the forces driving the metacrisis. He explores methods like reducing dependence on constant stimulation, cultivating humanity and humility, and finding our own version of what is "enough." Along the way, he also shares how he sees resilience growing through shared effort, meaningful relationships, and a renewed sense of responsibility for the more-than-human world. None of these things will solve our predicament on their own. But if millions choose to start living differently in the immediate present, the forces shaping our future might just start to shift. How can redefining success, consumption, and community make us less vulnerable to today's systemic challenges? Why does "practicing loss" help change the way we respond to disruptions? And what if the most meaningful response to the world's biggest challenges isn't a sweeping political movement or a technological breakthrough, but a collection of ordinary actions practiced consistently over time? (Recorded August 2nd, 2026)   Show Notes and More   Watch this video episode on YouTube   Want to learn the broad overview of The Great Simplification in 30 minutes? Watch our Animated Movie.   ---   Support The Institute for the Study of Energy and Our Future   Join our Substack newsletter   Join our Hylo channel and connect with other listeners

The next parable Jesus tells is one of the most debated in Scripture. Unlike some of the other parables, Jesus never explains this one. That means faithful Bible scholars have reached different conclusions. Let’s read it for ourselves. Matthew 13:31-32, “He put another parable before them, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field. It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is larger than all the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.” So…what do you think? Is this story about the beautiful growth of God’s Kingdom? Or is it a warning that evil can quietly grow alongside it? So what do we do when Scripture isn’t immediately clear? We go to Jesus. Because Jesus didn’t just tell the truth… He IS the Truth. John 14:6 says, “I am the way, the truth and the life.” So I asked Him, “Jesus, what do you want me to see here?” Here’s what I believe the Lord showed me. This parable has two sides. Like a coin. If I flip a coin and it lands on heads, does that make tails false? Of course not. Both are always there. I believe this parable contains both a beautiful promise…and a loving warning. So the heads side of this parable is a story of growth. The mustard seed is known as a tiny seed. This isn’t the only time Jesus talks about the mustard seed. There’s a much more familiar scripture many of us remember. Jesus says to his disciples in Matthew 17:20, “If you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.'” Throughout Scripture, the mustard seed represents something tiny that carries incredible potential. God specializes in starting with what everyone else overlooks. A tiny seed. A shepherd boy. A teenage girl. Twelve ordinary fishermen. Five loaves and two fish. Heaven has never been impressed by size. Heaven has always been impressed by surrender. The mustard seed is something that is so small and seemingly insignificant, but within it is potential for big things. Even the tiniest grain of faith can move mountains. So, this tiny grain of the mustard seed can be planted in a garden and become larger than all the other plants in the garden and grow to be a tree where birds make their nests. What begins so small, with God, can grow to become greater than you can possibly imagine. Zechariah 4:10, “Do not despise these small beginnings, for the Lord rejoices to see the work begin.” We all love the idea of doing something BIG for God. We dream about changing lives. Writing books. Starting ministries. Launching businesses. But most of us don’t love the tiny assignments that produce those things. We want the tree. God hands us a seed. “God, send me across the world as a missionary…” …but I don’t want to pray with my neighbor. “Lord, use me in powerful ways…” …but I don’t want to serve where nobody notices. We want significance. God offers faithfulness. Most of us woke up today holding seeds from God. The problem is… Seeds don’t look impressive. They don’t look like the future God sees. And because we can’t see the tree… we underestimate the seed. We’re not willing to start small. We want big full blown trees, not tiny seeds. People ask me all the time how to build their own mentoring, or a podcast, or retreats. They usually don’t like my answer. I tell them… Start with the seed. Do it when you’re unsure. Do it when you’re uncomfortable. Do it when nobody applauds. Do it when almost nobody shows up. Do it for free. Keep planting. Keep watering. Keep showing up. But we want to be great from day 1. We want immediate success. We want a full blown tree by day 2 please. But Jesus says, “from this tiny seed, something big can grow.” GROWTH TAKES TIME. We all want overnight success. God almost always chooses faithful consistency. Trees don’t explode into existence. They grow. Slowly. Quietly. One ordinary day at a time. There’s one way you grow something great … be willing to be bad at it long enough to get good! I remember my first ever mentoring session in 2012. I was cutting edge hosting live videos before live videos were a thing outside of the nightly news. Facebook live didn’t exist. There was no zoom. I had a full blown studio set up in our master bedroom, special lights and cameras and programs. That first live mentoring session I had like 12 people watching and I was a nervous wreck. I taught my lesson, then I thought I was done. But there was one problem – we had practiced how to start the live broadcast, however we had failed to practice ending the broadcast. We literally didn’t know how to stop recording. My husband signaled to me to continue as he frantically searched for a way to stop recording. By this time I had said absolutely everything I knew to say and I had nothing left. So you know what I did … I started dancing. Yip, just me in front of a live camera dancing. Y’all, I cannot dance. It was so awkward. Finally in desperation my husband just unplugs the entire thing from the wall and cuts power. We both looked at eachother and said, “Whew, now that was a mess! I never want to do that again.” Then the next week, we did it again. And again, and again. Over 700 weekly mentoring sessions later, we’re still just showing up and doing it again. Looking back now, that wasn’t embarrassing. That was a seed. Seeds are awkward. Seeds are unimpressive. Seeds are hidden underground where nobody celebrates them. But without the seed… there is never a tree. It was a small seed and a messy process, but with God, it has grown into more than we could have ever imagined. Again, Jesus says, “The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field. It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is larger than all the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.” This is how God has always worked. He works through small beginnings. He works through ordinary obedience. He works through people who are simply willing to keep planting. Never underestimate what God can do with one tiny act of faith repeated over and over again. He works in small beginnings. He works in unseen potential. Don’t let unseen potential become unmet potential because you’re not willing to put in the ground work. But every coin has another side. The same principle is true of evil. Sin rarely shows up looking dangerous. It usually arrives looking small. Harmless. Easy to justify. One compromise. One lie. One bitter thought. One secret. One click. One missed opportunity to forgive. They’re just tiny seeds… Until they aren’t. Left unattended, what began as something small quietly grows in the dark until it takes over far more of your life than you ever intended. Be careful what you’re planting. Tiny seeds always become something bigger. Follow Pamela on Instagram – https://instagram.com/headmamapamela Or Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/pamela.crim Find out more about BIG Life – http://biglifehq.com

We're approaching the perfect moment for bulb planting, and if you're looking to force bulbs for a lovely indoor winter, then look no further than the sage advice of Tom Stimpson.In this episode, Sarah and Tom - our Head of Horticulture - share their favourite bulbs to force indoors, and how to pot and water them, plus a few simple tricks to keep them flowering for weeks on end. In this episode, discover:The best bulbs to force indoors, from dramatic amaryllis and classic paperwhites to scented narcissus, hyacinths and tiny muscariSimple methods for planting, positioning and watering indoor bulbs so they flower reliablyThe importance of “mean” watering to avoid rot and keep flowers lasting longerEasy ways to move forced bulbs from house to garden so they go on to provide colour and cut stems for seasons to comeProducts mentioned:Amaryllis ‘Papillio' (Papilio): https://www.sarahraven.com/products/amaryllis-papillioAmaryllis ‘Green Magic': https://www.sarahraven.com/products/amaryllis-green-magicAmaryllis ‘Nymph': https://www.sarahraven.com/products/amaryllis-nymphPaperwhite Narcissus ‘Ziva': https://www.sarahraven.com/products/narcissus-papyraceus-ziva-for-forcingNarcissus ‘Polar Hunter': https://www.sarahraven.com/products/narcissus-polar-hunterHyacinth ‘China Pink': https://www.sarahraven.com/products/hyacinth-china-pinkHyacinth ‘Delft Blue': https://www.sarahraven.com/products/hyacinthus-orientalis-delft-blue-forcingMuscari ‘Blue Magic': https://www.sarahraven.com/products/muscari-blue-magicSee our events: https://www.sarahraven.com/courses-eventsGet in touch: info@sarahraven.comShop on the Sarah Raven Website: https://www.sarahraven.com/Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sarahravensgarden/Follow Sarah: https://www.instagram.com/sarahravenperchhill/Order Sarah's latest books: https://www.sarahraven.com/gifts/gardening-books?sort=newest

Chef Keiona Jackson became the first African-American and first female executive chef in Oxford, Mississippi; then walked away from six figures and a kitchen she loved when her body finally said what her mouth wouldn't. This episode is for anyone who's ever been praised for their grit and never asked what that grit was actually costing them.-------------Registration for the free monthly Leadership Lab is open — a live working space for chefs ready to lead without losing themselves — @ https://thecheflifebrigade.com/thelab--------------"You have to value yourself and your worth more than a title or two accolades — or appeasing somebody, or a credibility, whatever the driving force is behind doing something that your intuition told you not to do."Standing on a Sugar BucketChef Keiona's story doesn't start in a professional kitchen. It starts in Mississippi, five years old, standing on a gallon sugar bucket next to her grandmother so she could reach the counter. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Everybody in the neighborhood knew that if you were hungry, you could find a plate at her grandmother's house — any part of the day.She didn't set out to chase titles. She started an aviation mechanic job for Jeep and accidentally built a catering company on the side — business cards from Vistaprint, an EIN, no idea she was technically operating illegally. All she wanted was to feed people and watch them smile. That was the whole plan.The plan changed because other people kept seeing something in her that she wasn't looking for.Becoming the First — and Paying the Tax Nobody Talks AboutIn 2018, Keiona became the first African-American executive chef and the first female executive chef in Oxford, Mississippi. She calls it an honor. She's also honest that it wasn't celebrated the way it should have been, in a town she describes plainly as racist-centric.She was in kitchens with the "good old boys" who told her she wasn't good enough to be anything but a prep cook or a dishwasher — after she'd already worked her way past those positions. She was, more often than not, the only woman and the only Black woman in the room. She had to earn respect from men who didn't extend it by default, just so they'd do their jobs.She didn't do it to be a trailblazer. She did it because she wanted the next person who looked like her to have an easier path than she did. "I didn't want to be the only African-American executive chef," she says. "I want to mentor people to come in that look like me to take that position."What Actually Surprised Her About the JobAsk most people what it's like to become an executive chef and you'll get a story about pressure, pace, plating. Ask Keiona and she'll tell you about systems and processes — the invisible infrastructure most kitchens don't have, and the reason so many restaurants fail long before anyone notices."As an executive chef, you are a mother, a mentor, a leader, a cook, a paper pusher," she says. She still has employees from 2018 who call to check on her. She leads by example — if she asks someone to deep clean, she's on her knees next to them, because she doesn't want to explain what she wants. She wants to show it.That instinct comes partly from her master's in psychology, which she never formally used as a career — she uses it every day with her team instead. Her coaching philosophy is simple and hard to actually practice: "You have to humanize the experience." Take the business logic out of the moment when someone's struggling. See them as a whole human being, not a pair of hands on a schedule.The Cost of Being the One Who Can Do AnythingHere's where the episode turns. Because being that reliable, that skilled, that willing to carry the kitchen on your back — it works, right up until it doesn't.A company that bought the hotel she used to run in Oxford asked her to come back and restore it. She still had a heart for that place. It was home. Against her own discernment — the part of her that was telling her not to go back — she said yes.She got the property back into Marriott compliance. She stood up a rooftop restaurant short-staffed, in the slow season, while corporate told her they were "solely dependent on her expertise" — and then micromanaged every decision she made. Seven days a week. Twelve to fifteen hours a day.Her body started keeping score before her mind admitted anything was wrong. Memory loss. A stutter that came and went. And one day, trying to get on an elevator at work, she pushed the button — and her feet simply wouldn't move. Her brain sent the signal. Her body didn't answer. People were behind her trying to get off, and she couldn't make herself step forward.She resigned October 7th. It took nearly six months to be restored, mentally and physically.Can Resilience Actually Be a Hindrance?We asked her directly: can endurance and resilience — the very traits that got her here — actually be a bad thing?"It's absolutely a hindrance," she says, without hesitating.That's the hammer of this episode. Not that resilience is bad. That resilience without a boundary attached to it isn't strength — it's a slower, quieter way of disappearing. You have to value yourself and your worth more than a title, more than an accolade, more than the credibility of proving you can do it again. Whatever the driving force is behind ignoring your own intuition, you have to value yourself over it.Putting Her Brain on PaperSince then, Keiona has spent months doing something that sounds unglamorous and is actually the whole turnaround: she wrote it all down. A thousand Google Sheets and docs. Fifteen years of operational knowledge that used to live only in her head — the reason she was always the one everyone called — finally on paper, so someone else could actually step in."It was a heavy weight," she says, "and I can feel it lifting from my chest when I submitted the last document."That's what delegation actually looks like when it's not a productivity buzzword. It's relief. It's the difference between being needed and being trapped.Boundaries, Routine, and the Discipline of NoThese days, her mornings start with prayer and meditation. She's in the gym regularly. She reads for the pure pleasure of it again, because that's a version of herself she'd lost. And she names the one skill that changed everything: learning to say no."No is the biggest thing for me," she says. "The ability to say no and to understand that you don't have to accept everything." In the past couple of years, she's walked away from more deals than she's said yes to — a hard reversal for someone who used to jump on every opportunity out of fear it wouldn't come again, and who's been burned by people who took her ideas because she gave too freely, too fast.What She's Building NowKeiona isn't stepping back from the industry — she's rebuilding it from underneath. She's launching the Mississippi Culinary Reentry Program Initiative, training and placing returning citizens in culinary jobs. Seeds to Skillet brings kids in her hometown of Oakland, Mississippi into the kitchen and the garden, teaching them to grow their own food and eventually cook a graduation dinner for their community. And she built the Operator's Playbook — an app that puts real restaurant SOPs, costing sheets, and P&L education in front of small operators who can't afford a consultant.All of it traces back to one line she repeats twice in this conversation, once for herself and once for anyone still building without a map: "I want to be that person that I didn't have."Chapters00:00 - Cold Open: The Elevator That Wouldn't Move01:45 - Welcome, Chef Keiona Jackson02:14 - From a Sugar Bucket in Mississippi to Culinary School04:42 - Becoming Oxford, Mississippi's First Black and First Female Executive Chef08:08 -The Mentors Who Believed First10:42 - What Nobody Tells You About Running a Kitchen13:19 - Humanizing the Team, Not Just Managing It16:13 - The Bolognese Test: Chasing Validation in Italy17:34 - Living With Imposter Syndrome20:04 - Building What She Didn't Have: Reentry Program, Seeds to Skillet, the Operator's Playbook27:47 - Can Resilience Become a Hindrance?29:44 - The Elevator That Wouldn't Move (For Real This Time)34:16 - Boundaries, Delegation, and Putting Her Brain on Paper36:59 - The Power of NoChef Keiona JacksonAB Techniccal College | Culinary ProgramCarolina Health & WellnessRegister for The Leadership LabThe Recipe For Your Success NewsletterStay Tall & Frosty. And Lead from the Heart. —Adam.Podcast Copyright — Chef Life Media LLC

On August 6, 1945, the U.S. dropped the first atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima, killing an estimated 140,000 thousand people. Hideko Tamura Snider was 10 years old at the time of the devastating blast and suffered unspeakable loss. She tells her story and her work for peace and reconciliation in the new documentary “Seeds of Peace.” She recently revised and updated her 1998 memoir  “One Sunny Day” to include this work.   The film documents her involvement in the years-long effort taking the seeds of trees that survived the atomic bomb to grow dozens of trees in Oregon. The communities chosen have ties to “World War II memory, Japanese American incarceration, veterans’ experience, and reconciliation.” We talk with the historian David-Paul B. Hedberg, producer and director of “Seeds of Peace." The film is screening around the state, including on the August 6 anniversary at Portland’s Tomorrow Theater.  

The David Alliance TDAgiantSlayer@Gmail.com Garth Heckman Facebook - Faceblah Instagram - InstaSHAM actual filters that show reality TikTok - Ticked off    INTERESTING INSIGHT TO THE SEEDS PARABLE: Luke 8:14 The cares of the world choke out Gods seed and you quickly no longer believe    Cares GK - Mer-im-nah  what the world holds as important.  Choke GK Soom-pnee-go  choked off by having the wrong identifications…  Imagine straining your neck looking at everything the world has in front of you… you strain your neck so twisted you choke yourself to death.    A woman had an epiphany standing in her 4.5 million dollar home… IT'S JUST A REFRIGERATOR BOX. HERE IS THE TRUE INSIGHT - WHEN WE FEEL LIKE WE DON'T HAVE ENOUGH (TO COMPLETE US), THEN WE TELL OURSELVES “WE ARE NOT ENOUGH” - WE FEEL LIKE WE ARE ILL EQUIPPED TO DO WHAT GOD HAS CALLED US TO DO.    It is easy to feel inadequate when we measure ourselves by our own strengths, skills, lifestyle or limitations. The Bible directly tackles this feeling by shifting the focus from our own sufficiency to Christ's completeness in us.

The crews dig into the blues with BB King's 1971 crossover album Indianola Mississippi Seeds.  Rock On!BB King at Konserthuset in Stockholm 1974https://youtu.be/MhgyfSfTm0w?list=RDMhgyfSfTm0wTheme music by The Steepwater Band.  Follow them @steepwaterbandWebsite: https://ridiculousrockrecordreviews.buzzsprout.comContact us! e-mail: ridiculousrockrecords@gmail.comFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/R4podcastTwitter/X: @r4podcasterInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/r4podcaster/

This week host @Jackgreenstalk (aka @Jack_Greenstalk on X/instagram backup account) [or contact via email: JackGreenstalk47@gmail.com] is joined by @spartangrown on instagram or X f.k.a. Twitter at https://x.com/grown43626 or email spartangrown@gmail.com for contacting spartan outside social media, any alternate profiles on other social medias using spartan's name, and photos are not actually spartan grown be aware, Rust Brandon of @fulcrop.sciences / fulcrop.ceo regained @Rust.Brandon instagram page, and products can be found at bokashiearthworks.com and @DrMJcoco from cocoforcannabis.com as well as drmjcoco.com for commercial consulting and youtube where he tested and reviewed grow lights and has grow tutorials and ask dr mj show for subscribers and @drmjcoco on instagram, .... This week we missed TheAmericanOne on youtube aka @theamericanone_with_achenes on instagram who's amy aces can be found at amyaces.com and @NoahtheeGrowa on instagram , Matthew Gates aka @SynchAngel on instagram and twitter @Zenthanol on youtube who offers IPM direct chat for $1 a month on patreon.com/zenthanol , and @ATG Acres Aaron The Grower aka @atgacres his products can be found at atgacres.com view his instagram to find out details about drops!

Mary welcomes missionaries Bamshak Dagwer and his wife Makayla to talk about what it means to grow up in Nigeria under the unending threat of violence and persecution. They are the founders and directors of Seeds of Hope Nigeria, a Christ-centered ministry dedicated to restoring hope to vulnerable and displaced children through the love of Christ. Born and raised in Nigeria, Bamshak survived the horrific religious violence that has plagued his homeland for more than two decades. Witnessing the loss of loved ones and experiencing God's miraculous protection transformed his life and ignited a calling to serve those whose lives have been shattered by conflict. Bamshak met his wife, Makayla, from Green Bay, Wisconsin, while serving as missionaries with Youth With A Mission (YWAM) in the Philippines. After more than ten years of ministry together in the Philippines and Nigeria, they founded Seeds of Hope Nigeria in 2017 in response to God's call to care for displaced children and share the hope of the Gospel. Under their leadership, it has grown into a thriving ministry that provides a safe home, Christian education, discipleship, vocational training, and pastoral care for vulnerable children. Their vision extends beyond meeting immediate needs—they are raising Christ-centered leaders who will bring lasting hope and transformation to Nigeria and beyond. We take our SUFTT conversation international, so the listener can get a taste for what God is doing in another corner of Christendom.     Stand Up For The Truth Videos: https://rumble.com/user/CTRNOnline & https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgQQSvKiMcglId7oGc5c46A