Accidental Gods

If what our culture most urgently needs is for a critical mass of us to grow into adults and then elders, how can we help our young people to step beyond the artificial boundaries of our old, rigid system into a world where they are fully connected to all parts of themselves, each other and the web of life. How, in effect, can we create an educational system that is fit for purpose in the emerging...

We are living through the death of democracy and the onset of Techno-Feudalism.  But this is not a time when linear systems can hold and feudalism was nothing if not linear. So how can we be part of a transformative process that will let us lay the foundations for a future we'd be proud to leave behind? Usually, on Accidental Gods, we talk to guests who seem to exemplify some aspect of the generat...

What happens when people with chronic, unstable diabetes eat food grown in local, regenerative farms? Erin Martin talks to the Accidental Gods podcast about the dramatic and spectacular 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 diabetic patients in some of the poorest communities....

How can we bring wisdom to those with power and power to those with wisdom?  If we were to step into elder hood and bring the best of ourselves to the table, could we create governance structures that would help to heal our cultural divides, create equity and guide is wisely through the coming crisis? Jenny Grettve believes we can and has set up a global council to make this happen.  Jenny is a go...

This podcast is predicated on the belief that if we all work together, we can still lay the foundations for a future we'd be proud to leave as our legacy.  And it's becoming increasingly obvious that this is now urgent; that we need to let go of the assumptions we'd made about career paths or future constructs and give ourselves wholeheartedly to the process of making it through. Five years ago wh...

Is it possible that 2024 might have been the year of 'Peak polarisation' around the world and that from hereon in humanity might grow less divided, not more; that we might use technology and social media wisely to bring the best of ourselves to the table, becoming the best we can be in service to life?  Audrey Tang certainly thinks so in this wide-deep, mind-expanding conversation, we explore ever...

Druidry 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...

Traditionally, we have offered a meditation for the solstice - and these are available in the links below. This meditation aims to offer a long-wide-deep perspective on our place as conscious nodes in the web of life - the journey that brought us here and the places humanity may go.  Please give yourself plenty of time both to experience the journey and to reflect afterwards. If it helps to write...

This is the fifth year of our traditional Winter Solstice podcast gathering in which Nathalie Nahai of 'In Conversation with Nathalie Nahai, Della Duncan of The Upstream Podcast and I sit around our virtual dark-nights fire to reflect on the podcasting year just gone and explore what has changed for us since the last time we three met in one place.  By any measure, this year has been pretty turbul...

It's that time of year - when all we really want is to curl up and reflect, go inside, become the potential that will arise in the unfolding spring.  If you want things to listen to or watch or read as you head into the long-nights, then these are (some of) the things that have caught my attention this year. Enjoy! Books: Non-Fiction Hospicing Modernity by Vanessa Machada de Oliviera https://uk.bo...

Clearly we're at an inflection point in the history of humanity.  Our experiment with a notional democracy is failing and either we find something that actually works, or we sink into autocracy. And given that the current global flavour of autocracy is in deep denial of the climate and ecological catastrophe that's currently underway, then that's a pretty fast road to extinction: you can't deny yo...

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...

We're teetering on the brink of ecosystem and cultural collapse.  How do we adapt and transform to the changing realities? This week sees the launch of a new book: Transformative Adaptation: Another world is still just possible. The main editors and contributors are friend of the podcast, author, activist and co-founder of the Climate Majority Project, Rupert Read and -  new to the podcast - Morga...

We are not going back.  But how do we go forward now in a world where the old norms are under assault by people who move fast and break everything? How do we find a place of balance and compassion - for ourselves, each other and the More than Human world - so that we can move forward in a way that isn’t just a replaying of the old binaries? Our world changed irrevocably with the results of the US...

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)? This is the question of now. It would be hard to discuss anything else, but my guest this week is uniquely placed to address these questions.  As you'll hear, John Izzo was once an ordained Minister in a Presbyterian Church....

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.  A significant number of us now see what has been obvious to a minority for some time: that the system is not broken - it is doing what it was always designed to do: which is to maintain power in the...

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. Today, we're talking to Elliot Riley. Elliot is an educator, permaculture designer and practitioner working to...

How does an understanding of what makes dogs tick, help us to understand ourselves and our place in the world? What does it take to feel safe - as a human, or as a dog (or cat, or horse, or... anything)? And how can we help ourselves and each other find regulation in a VUCA world (Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous)? Andrew Hale is a Certified Animal Behaviourist who specialises in working...

How can we achieve total systemic change? And are there politicians anywhere who are ready to make it happen (in a way that supports the continuation of complex life on this planet, not the scorched-earth destruction of the right)? The short answer is that yes, there are people deeply embedded in politics who know how dire things are and that we need urgent change. One of these is Natale Bennett,...

We know we need to shift from our Trauma Culture to a resilient, connected Initiation Culture where we can open our heart-minds to the Web of Life, ask 'What do you Want of Me?' and respond to the answers in realtime, with flexibility, authenticity and a grounded awareness of our place in the huge complex system of the More than Human World. Knowing this, and being able to do it are two different...

Our two guests this week are deeply embedded in the creation of Tiny Homes as a way for us meet the needs of all within the bounds of the living planet. Both are living absolutely at that sharp, bright edge of inter-becoming from which our more flourishing future will emerge.   Rachel Butler is the founder of Tiny House Community Bristol, Chair of Bristol Community Land Trust and is a member of Br...

How do we move beyond our myopic focus on carbon/CO2 as the index of our harms to the world?  What can we do to heal the whole biosphere?  And what role is played by water-as-verb, forest-as-verb, ocean-as-verb? This week's guest is an environmental journalist and author who has answers to all of these questions - and more.  Judith Schwartz is an author who tells stories to explore and illuminate...

How do we build the local futures we all know we need?  What does it actually take to become a good enough ancestor? Or even the best ancestor we can be?  Our guest this week, Helena Norberg-Hodge, has given her life to exploring the answers, and helping birth them into being.  Helena Norberg-Hodge is one of the Elders of our culture. She's a linguist, author and filmmaker, and the founder and dir...

Here is an Autumn Equinox Meditation to help set you up for the shift from the long days to the long nights. For those in the Southern Hemisphere, there's a Spring Equinox Meditation here.

This is our regular September bonus episode - a brief look at where we're at - how I (Manda) see things just now as we head deeper into the moment of transformation.