David Lorimer's  guest today is Professor Frédérique Apffel-Marglin, who is Professor Emerita, Department of Anthropology at Smith College. She founded the Sachamama Center for Biocultural Regeneration in the Peruvian High Amazon in 2009 where she works with indigenous communities as well as several High Schools in the province, regenerating the most sustainable and climate reducing pre-Columbian anthropogenic soil known as Terra Preta do Indio (black earth of the Indians). Her more recent books are: Subversive Spiritualities: How Rituals Enact the World (2011); Sacred Soil: Biochar and the Regeneration of the Earth with Robert Tindall and David Shearer, (2017); Contemporary Voices from Anima Mundi edited with Stefano Varese, (2020). Her latest book is written with Randy Chung Gonzales who has worked in SCBR for decades: Initiated by the Spirits: Healing Ills of Modernity through Shamanism, Psychedelics and the Power of the Sacred (2022).  

Imaginal Inspirations is hosted by David Lorimer, Programme Director of the Scientific and Medical Network and Chair of the Galileo Commission, an academic movement dedicated to expanding the evidence base of a science of consciousness. Imaginal cells are responsible for the metamorphosis of the caterpillar into a butterfly, which is the Greek symbol for the soul. These cells are dormant in the caterpillar but at a critical point of development they create the new form and structure which becomes the butterfly.

scientificandmedical.net 

galileocommission.org

beyondthebrain.org

Works and links mentioned:

https://asociacionsachamama.org/

https://sophia.smith.edu/anthro/Marglin.html

Books by Frédérique Apffel-Marglin

https://uk.bookshop.org/search?keywords=Fr%C3%A9d%C3%A9rique+Apffel-Marglin

The Death of Nature Carolyn Merchant

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Death-Nature-Ecology-Scientific-Revolution/dp/0062505955

https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/cosmogenesis-an-unveiling-of-the-expanding-universe-brian-thomas-swimme/7534509?ean=9781640096172

Production: Martin Redfern

Artwork: Amber Haas

Music: Life is a River, by Magnus Moone