A Quiet Revolution

A Quiet Revolution

Pip Waller and Lucy Wells speak with Joanna about: plant spirit medicine, all about relationship; the uniqueness of medicine received from plants; re-emergence of our original, ancestral knowing; signs of the cry of the spirit; the loss of our indigenous ways in Europe; the medicine of rootedness; praying to the roots of the one tree; the mesenger plants; an ongoing, humbling process of initiation and service; feeling divinity in nature; Fire, the deep ocean of joy, connection and transformation in living, breathing life; a journey through the Chinese medicine wheel of the year; the ancient, mysterious yew tree.

Words from a Maasai Chief

Words from a Maasai Chief

Maasai Chief Nickson Parmisa speaks with Joanna about: the Maasai way of life; the Maasai origin story and spirituality; the key role of livestock in Maasai life; empowerment for Maasai women today; the challenge of combining traditional life and innovation; leadership in Maasai culture; protectors of wildlife; Acacia Moyo, where tradition meets technology.

Eldering into Hope

Eldering into Hope

Stephen Harrod Buhner is an Earth poet and the award-winning author of books on nature, indigenous cultures, the environment, and herbal medicine. He comes from a long line of healers including Leroy Burney, Surgeon General of the United States under Eisenhower and Kennedy, and Elizabeth Lusterheide, a midwife and herbalist who worked in rural Indiana in the early nineteenth century. The greatest influence on his work, however, has been his great-grandfather C.G. Harrod who primarily used botanical medicines, also in rural Indiana, when he began his work as a physician in 1911. He has been the senior researcher for The Foundation for Gaian Studies for the past 30 years. In that time he has explored Gaia’s complex organism interactions and how human beings can reinhabit their interbeing with the Earth, taking their place once more in the circle of life. All of his many books deal with that exploration and what he has discovered on the journey, among others, “Herbal Antivirals, “Healing Lyme: Natural Healing and Prevention of Lyme Borreliosis and Its Co-infections”, “Sacred Plant Medicine”, “The Secret Teachings of Plants”, “Ensouling Language” and “Plant Intelligence and the Imaginal Realm”.

Roots Deeper Than Whiteness

Roots Deeper Than Whiteness

David Dean speaks with Joanna about : the circularity in systems of oppression; the system of domination began dissociating people from the land; the connection between economic exploitation and racism; the roots of white supremacy; the scientification of racism; inquiring into the history of Western culture through developing a summer program integrating basketball with social justice education; the key tool to unlocking white resistance to movements for racial justice and progress; dismantling white privilege for the collective liberation of everyone; a life-changing advice from Fania Davis, Angela Davis’ sister; reconnecting ancestral energy and restorative justice; emotional healing and social justice work; “roots deeper than whiteness”, developing skills for solidarity-based organizing.

The Science of the Sacred

The Science of the Sacred

Nicole Redvers speaks with Joanna about: medicine and the nature of things; the journey of perseverance and community service; the challenge of reconciling two cultures within; an example of the science of the sacred; the modern rediscovery of interconnectedness known to traditional indigenous cultures; epigenetics, trauma and healing; the reverberation of laughter; vibrational medicine and the sound of the Universe; the “grandmother diet”; the holistic wisdom of indigenous systems around the world; ways to reconnect to our original self; our original purpose.

The Medicine of Connection

The Medicine of Connection

George Greer speaks with Joanna about: the work of teaching how to do MDMA-assisted therapy; the unique characteristics of MDMA; the openness of love is always present, fear is a distraction from it; the healing effect of psilocybin in high doses; two stories of healing existential transformation with psilocybin mushrooms; the life-changing summer of 1968; the helpful complementarity of meditation and psychedelic work; MAPS, Heffter Research Institute and the spirit of Esalen; passing on the lineage of Stan Grof and Leo Zeff to the next generation; generosity as the core value of Burning Man; the process of training psychedelic therapists; safety first.

Healing with the Black Mother

Healing with the Black Mother

Alessandra Belloni speaks with Joanna about: growing up with the Black Madonna; the universal Mother is everywhere; the hidden continuity, from Cybele and Isis to the Black Madonna; sacred chants of the Divine Feminine; a life-changing vision of the Black Madonna, feeling other’s people pain and the pain of the Earth; guided to the dancing and singing rituals of the Black Mother in Southern Italy; tammoriatta, the wild communion with the Divine Mother; the sacred erotic; healing the trauma of sexual abuse with the communal spider; Mama Schiavona and the sacred mountain of Montevergine; the ancient tradition of the femminielli; the journey of grief into ecstasy; Black Madonna, revering Mother Earth as a Living Being; a prophetic dream calling to change our relatioship with the Earth; joining inner and outer activism.

The Root of Life

The Root of Life

Larry Glover speaks with Joanna about: the wild resiliency that connects us to the heart of the cosmos; Nature’s capacity for change and transformation; a shift in identity for belonging; falling in love with the Earth; moving beyond rebellion to freedom; a theology of awe and wonder, the mother of all religions; a life-changing meeting with a black bear; Nature lives inside of us; an emerging story of kinship with the planet; a practice of communion with all of life; rediscovering breathing as a door to being present; the integration of peak experiences; the aspen trees and remembering the common root of life.

Peace from the Soil

Peace from the Soil

Emmanuel Karisa Baya speaks with Joanna about: a prayer answered from the soil; his beginnings as a farmer; learning to listen to the soil from the heart; feeling the love from the soil; creating the Magarini Children Center & Organic Demonstration farm; the soil will let you know what to do; from traditional farming to learning organic farming in Japan; natural crop protection; children learning that loving the soil is loving ourselves; supporting 252 children and families; asking the soil for water in a long draught; learning conflict resolution at the Deep Democracy Institute; the singing of the plants; recreating the broken relationaship with nature through the trees; singing back peace.

Life is Art

Life is Art

Stepehen Nachmanovitch speaks with Joanna about: interdependence, the source of improvising; the poetic genius of Thich Nhat Hanh, emptiness is interbeing; the dance of the secular and the sacred; fluidity makes things new; breathing and time; the gateway to living life as art; mistakes create extraordinary things; the circularity of leadership; allowing oneself to have a fresh perception of objects or processes; the life-affirming power of beauty; how an experimental musician changed a small town for the better; life is art itself.