Accidental Gods

22/01/2025

What happens when people with chronic, unstable diabetes eat food grown in local, regenerative farms?
Erin Martin shares the dramatic improvements in health her group FreshRx Oklahoma saw when they instigated a ‘Food as Medicine’ programme, offering real food with good nutrient density to diabetic patients in some of the poorest communities.

An Oklahoman on track to be a lawyer, Erin’s first job in a retirement community inspired her to pursue a degree in gerontology instead. During her Masters program at USC, Erin ran a team of advocates serving over 700 low income older adults in the Southern California area. She was troubled by how little support people get as they age. So Erin founded Conscious Aging Solutions, a company dedicated to helping older adults navigate health and social systems so they can age successfully. As Erin’s work focused on strategies for longevity, she found that food—access to quality food—had an enormous impact on our life spans.

As her interest in food grew, she became certified in Regenerative Soil Advocacy. Erin moved back home to Tulsa during the pandemic to find that the supply chain disruptions had only intensified what was already a food system problem in the city. Lack of access to nutritious foods was contributing to poor health outcomes and high mortality rates for Tulsans, especially those with chronic conditions.
In 2021, Erin co-founded a prescription produce program called FreshRx Oklahoma. The program’s success has launched her onto the national stage.
Now Erin champions food as medicine to promote the longevity of underserved communities, decrease food insecurity, support the environment, revitalize the agricultural economy, and decrease system-wide health care costs.

Recorded on the day of the US Presidential Inauguration, we talk about the shift from a sickness service to a health service and how food can help us move towards a more regenerative system. Most particularly, we talk about the truly spectacular health improvement indices in the diabetic patients who benefit from the FreshRxOK programme.

https://accidentalgods.life/heartfood-healing-our-communities-with-food-grown-on-regenerative-farms-with-erin-martin/

What happens when people with chronic, unstable diabetes eat food grown in local, regenerative farms? Erin Martin shares the dramatic improvements in health her group FreshRxOK saw in Oklahoma when they instigated a 'Food as Medicine' programme, offering real food with good nutrient density to diabe...

13/01/2025

This’ll be amazing

06/01/2025

Just before the break, I had a lovely conversation with Eva - on the Shadows Run . She's much, much younger than I am and so we were able to explore things from the perspective of those just starting out on life. Which was heartbreakingly powerful.

Enjoy!

Podcast Episode · The Shadows Run Podcast · 01/05/2025 · 50m

25/12/2024

is the indigenous spirituality of the islands of Britain, but how does is live in the contemporary world?

What are the values and practices that make it so suited to the inflexion point of the moment?

Why – and how – does it mesh so well with other, more spiritual traditions? And how does the practice of Will, the honing of intent, create the magic we need to see in our world?

This week’s guest, Philip Carr-Gomm, has spent his life studying, and writing about all of these things.

He’s a prolific author, having written or contributed to over two dozen books, mostly exploring Druidry, but more recently he has written The Gift of Night: A six step programme for better sleep, and Seek Teachings Everywhere: Combining Druid Spirituality with Other Traditions. He is co-creator of two sets of Celtic and has written the text for two sets.
He is host of the magnificent ‘Tea with a Druid’ which is part of his active, pro-active YouTube channel.

On his website, he says, “Something magical happens when the worlds of psychology and spirituality are brought together. Every discipline in psychology helps to reveal the extraordinary nature of the human being, but add the insights of the Perennial Wisdom Tradition – the ancient knowledge and esoteric teachings passed down through the ages – and we enter awe-inspiring territory that has the power to transform us.”

And this feels perfectly aligned with the , and with the times. So as we settle in the long-nights of winter in the northern hemisphere and the long-days in the south, we offer the wisdom of the grove and the mountain and the river.

20/12/2024

it is indeed...

Carl Sagan returned his borrowed stardust to the cosmos on this day in 1996, having spent his life on wonder. At the link, this year's finest proofs of magic: https://www.themarginalian.org/2024/12/17/best-books-2024/

20/12/2024

Hey People,

I had the absolute honour to be invited onto the Future Learning Design Podcast hosted by Tim Logan.

Other panelists were

Ginie Servant-Miklos, Assistant Professorship in Behavioural Sciences at the Erasmus School of Social and Behavioural Sciences in Rotterdam and founder and Chair of the Board of the ⁠⁠FairFight Foundation.(and if you haven't read her book 'Pedagogies of Collapse, you need to - it's free for download as a pdf on the Bloomsbury website),

Raïsa Mirza who is Head of Social Impact Initiatives & Lighthouse Changemaker Hub and Systems Transformation teacher at UWC Atlantic College, Wales

Will Richardson who is co-founder of The Big Questions Institute which was created to help educators use "fearless inquiry" to make sense of this complex moment and an uncertain future.

Do check this out. It was a magnificent, mind-blowing, eye-opening conversation in so many ways.

Podcast Episode · Future Learning Design Podcast · 20/12/2024 · 1h 4m

11/12/2024

We’re excited to announce Manda Scott as a speaker at our upcoming online summit, Co-Creating the Emerging World: Answering the Call to Sacred Action.

An award-winning novelist and host of the chart-topping Accidental Gods podcast, Manda is best known for her Boudica: Dreaming series. Her latest novel, Any Human Power, presents a contemporary Thrutopian narrative exploring how we can craft a future to be proud of.

In her talk, Thrutopian Thinking for Good Ancestors, Manda will explore how inner work and outer narratives shape stories that connect us with the Web of Life, offering pathways for conscious evolution.

This clip is from a past talk where Manda shared her insights with us - full video on our yt channel

Don’t miss this opportunity—register for the summit via https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/co-creating-the-emerging-world-answering-the-call-to-sacred-action-tickets-1104400384279

04/12/2024

How do we become the change we need to see in the world? What are the actual, practical steps to grounding, connecting and resonating with the world?

We're on the brink of cataclysmic change. Knowing this, we have choices: we can either fold into despair, terror, rage…whatever rises up in us as we watch the whole biosphere hurtle towards irrevocable tipping points.

Or we can become the change we need to see in the world: each of us.

We know this, but there's been a gap between what we know and how we behave, between where our better selves might push us and the behaviours that are locked into the core of our being, our firmware, if you like. But now - this minute now - we're hitting the buffers where the old paradigm is so obviously not fit for purpose that we need something new. The core questions are what? And how?

And this is where we're going with the podcast just now - Dan McTiernan is a certified Transpersonal Psychology Coach, embodied meditation teacher and breathwork instructor. With is wife Johanna, he's the co-founder of embodied coaching organisation, Earthbound. He hosts the Being Earthbound podcast which is absolutely on my must-listen list, as is the Substack blog from which it arises.
He's a facilitator on Alef Trust’s Nurturing the Fields of Change programme and is the project leader for the Embodied Permaculture Project - an international 2-year action research project exploring the impacts of holistic wellbeing on outer ecological change work. The first 9 weeks of this programme are about to be released as a self-study course - link below.

He is currently working with Alef Trust and the A Team Foundation to deliver an innovative project supporting farmers and growers in the UK with a programme of embodied wellbeing known as Calmer Farmer which will be launched in January 2025.

As you'll hear, Dan is working at the leading edge of the change we need to embody. He has straightforward practices that any of us can do to help us with grounding, attunement, opening and integration so that we can be the nodes in the web of life. This is key people: we need to stop trying to think our way out of this with our head minds. It doesn't work. It's not going to work. We need to come into our physical bodies, find that truly calming place of peace - and then find connections we can trust with the wider web. This is what we're here for. And Dan has routes to get there.

https://accidentalgods.life/avoiding-burn-out-fall-out-drop-out-and-freak-out-with-dan-mctiernan/

Our guest today shares straightforward practices that any of us can do to help us with grounding, attunement, opening and integration so that we can be the nodes in the web of life. This is key: we need to stop trying to think our way out of this with our head minds. It doesn't work. It's not going....

27/11/2024

This is so beautiful - was just sent to me and filled my morning with tears. But so worth it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FwYvZOef1c0

Imagine a world where deserts bloom into lush gardens at the touch of human hands. What if our presence on Earth could spark life, not diminish it? Dive into...

22/11/2024

Today is Publication Day for this amazing book - I contributed a *tiny* bit - most of the work was done by Rupert Read, Morgan Philips and, of course Maddy Harland and the amazing team at Magazine who publish books as Permanent Publications.

This is how we change the world - but letting go of our old beliefs and stepping into the possibility of change...

https://shop.permaculture.co.uk/products/transformative-adaptation

Transformative Adaptation (TrAd) works with, not against nature. It reduces emissions while guarding us against those impacts. This helps transform our civilisation to be in readiness and in the direction that it needs to be. This book sets out TrAd as a theory & practice. To be ahead of the curve,....

22/11/2024

Had a really soul-full, thoughtful, heart-full conversation with Tess Callahan on at the Well podcast - which is absolutely one of my all-time favourites.

We explore the ways we can connect with ourselves, each other and the web of life - and how we can bring this to our writing...

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/writers-at-the-well/id1774329187?i=1000677703326

Podcast Episode · Writers at the Well · 11/21/2024 · 1h 7m

13/11/2024

There are many responses to the US election - acknowledging that the 'democratic' system we've known is over and then building ideas of what needs to come next is at the heart of things now.

And above all - we all need to work out what kind of future we want to leave behind - particularly those of us over 50... who are on the downhill slope toward the next big adventure. What future do we who are notionally elders want to leave as our legacy?

This is the most important question of our lives. It would be hard to discuss anything else, but my guest this week is uniquely placed to address it. As you’ll hear, Dr. John Izzo was once an ordained Minister in a Presbyterian Church. Now, he’s a bestselling author, speaker, and thought leader focused on social responsibility. He’s a Board Member of the Elders Action Network and the Elders Climate Action group and one of the co-hosts of a podcast called The Way Forward Regenerative Podcast which is expressly aimed at people over 50 who want to explore what it means to be an elder.

I met John on that podcast back in the summer and was so impressed with his approach to things. John is a deeply thoughtful, deeply spiritual person who takes his time to look at things from all angles. He’s dedicated his entire career to helping individuals and organisations discover purpose and foster meaningful change. He is absolutely committed to exploring the role of elders in creating a regenerative future. And we need this now, more than ever.
Originally we had scheduled this week’s guest for a recording on the 4th of November. Clearly this wasn’t going to be as constructive as a conversation held in the wake of the election, whatever the outcome. And so we rescheduled and spoke together on Thursday 7th, which gave us time to process the results and speak more directly to a future that is unknowable, but not entirely unpredictable. How do we feel? What world do we want to create? How best can we bring alive a flame of hope from the ashes of the old system? These are the questions we bring to the table – a starting point, not an end point and no doubt this conversation will continue for the rest of our lives. This is our truth for now.

https://accidentalgods.life/being-the-best-ancestors-we-can-with-dr-john-izzo-of-the-elders-action-network/

How do we all respond to the seismic events of the US election? Specifically, how do those of us over 50 respond? (and how would the younger generations like us to respond)?

08/11/2024

We are at an inflexion point - it is now obvious to (almost) all of us that the current system is not fit for purpose - it is never going to give us a route to a future we'd be proud to leave behind.

In the utter devastation of the old, is the possibility of something different. So how do we go about it?

Thoughts here:

It occurs to me that we are now at an inflection point in the WEIRD (Western, Educated, Industrial, Rich and - notionally - Democratic) culture that has been so successful in destroying the ecosphere. So where do we go from here?

06/11/2024

Today is a day of mourning. But we have to create hope for the generations that come after us. We know that, even before the US election results, young people are facing a world where the only certainty is uncertainty, where the only known is the unknown. So what can be done to offer them the best grounding possible to move into the transition?
If you’re over 40, the world you grew up believing in no longer exists. The younger generation approaches the polycrisis with open eyes, striving to find and nurture resilience, to listen to the whispers of synchronicity and let it lead them – and us – to a world that works for all life.
In this week's episode of the hashtag hashtag , we’re talking to Elliot Riley. Elliot is an educator, permaculture designer and practitioner working to bring wellbeing, reforestation and perennial food production into schools.
Elliot graduated during the pandemic. When he left school, he was planning to join the paratroops, but after what he describes as a ‘Thunderbolt moment’, he shifted tack and, despite not having the grades, was able to get a place to study history at the New College of Humanities. One pandemic and a degree later, he realised that mainstream education struggles to equip us for the challenges of a changing world. After two years upstream, studying Trauma-Informed Education and permaculture in the Dominican Republic, Elliot returned to his hometown, where he now works at The Saint Leonard’s Academy, leading a wellbeing programme called Future Growth, which supports students whilst transforming the community’s waste into a regenerative food forest. Through an initiative called OFFSET, Elliot’s working to spread the mission further.
https://accidentalgods.life/turning-waste-into-wellbeing.../

Young people are facing a world where the only certainty is uncertainty. where the only known is the unknown. So what can we do to offer them the best grounding to move forward into the transition to come?

31/10/2024

This looks fun!

🦇** HALLOWEEN GIVEAWAY **🦇

Surprise! To celebrate the witchiest time of the year, we are giving away a signed copy of both The Wheel and The Witch’s Survival Guide to one magickal winner 💫

To enter this Samhain giveaway, all you have to do is:

🌕 follow and September Publishing

🍂 like this post

🫖 comment below the post tagging two (or more) witchy friends - each comment is a separate entry

🧡 get an extra entry by sharing the post to your IG story and tagging us so we can see it!

Enter by 8 pm on Sunday 3rd November (winner announced on Monday 4th Nov). Open to entrants worldwide. Good luck!

31/10/2024

Yay for September Publishing and
This'll be a fascinating ride/read....

31/10/2024

Hello all - I have the astonishing and heart-warming honour of speaking at the Animate Earth memorial to the late Stephan Harding on Sunday November 10th - details here:

________

Please join us for a celebration of the wonderful book Animate Earth, written by our late mentor and advisor Stephan Harding who passed away this September.

It was Stephan’s pioneering and courageous work on the edge of science – a new holistic science that brings our subjective experience and felt relations with the natural world alongside the study of ecological processes – that so inspired the work that we now continue in his name. His insights, from a scientific perspective, were foundational in our understanding of contemporary animism, the experience that all life is intelligent, working, evolving and communicating together in a great collaboration.

With Manda Scott, Rupert Sheldrake, David Abram, Helena Norberg-Hodge, Tom Rivett-Carnac, Colin Campbell & Angharad Wynne

Annual Confluence 2024
10 November 4-8pm
Bookings via

10 November