Rooted Healing

After another long pause, this episode arrives from a place shaped by profound loss. A convergence of grief has moved through our lives, and for those subscribed to the Rooted Healing newsletter, you’ll already have some sense of what’s been unfolding. It is a true honour to welcome back the wonderful ceremonialist Isla Macleod. Isla returns now with something entirely new: an immersive, seasonal offering created to honour the Wheel of the Year through ritual, story, and practice - rooting us in the living seasons and landscapes, and the liminal thresholds within and between them.For those new to Isla’s work, she is a renowned ceremonialist of these wise isles and the author of the beautiful book Rituals for Life. She also shares a beautiful newsletter on Substack.This Imbolc also marks the opening ceremony of the final year-long programme, Deepen Your Roots. This is a profound, life-changing journey into your ecological body, bioregion, spirit, and the heart of your calling. Held in community, it offers space to explore your role in co-creating a more beautiful world. You can support the podcast and receive many gifts in return through our Patreon community, and explore our gatherings and courses at rootedhealing.org.Music in this episode is by Bonnie Medicine and The Children’s Forest. Get full access to Rooted Healing at rootedhealing.substack.com/subscribe

In this powerful conversation, Veronica sits with Zeena Ismail - a Palestinian somatic practitioner, trauma educator and writer - to explore what it means to belong, to heal and to stay rooted in the midst of ongoing displacement and collective trauma.Zeena’s work weaves politicised somatics with land-based practice and systemic literacy, inviting Arabs and diaspora communities into embodied repair through her six-month bilingual programme, Where Do We Begin. They explore the intersections of trauma, resistance and reclamation - how bodies hold the weight of occupation, and how safety, grief and aliveness can coexist.This episode invites us to look beyond ideology and into the body as a site of truth, where liberation and safety must include everyone.Rooted Healing’s year-long programme, Deepen Your Roots, is now enrolling for its third cohort. Acting as an incubation ground and compass toward a more beautiful world, Deepen Your Roots invites participants into a year of embodied exploration through place, body, spirit and calling - nourishing leadership and participation in the Great Turning.This cycle leans more deeply into participatory, relational learning, with co-created practice, small-group inquiry, ritual and embodied exploration, and a renewed effort to gather elders and living-tradition keepers whose presence anchors the work toward humility, continuity and intergenerational wisdom.  Learn more and join the next cohort at rootedhealing.org/deepen and use the code ROOTED10 for 10% off. .Support the show Get full access to Rooted Healing at rootedhealing.substack.com/subscribe

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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