The Passing Through Podcast

Is a zombie just a mindless reanimated corpse cursed with an insatiable hunger for warm brains? Or are their pained groans an attempt to tell us something real about consumption, imperial extraction, plantation capitalism and the loss of bodily autonomy under oppressive settler-colonial regimes? Modern audiences may have forgotten this, but zombies, in their proper cultural context, didn’t eat flesh. In the original Haitian folklore from which the zombie arises, the monster is metaphor for the horrors of transatlantic chattel slavery. Signaling the ultimate, tragic horror of resurrecting a body—removing it from its final resting place—and condemning it to a frightful fate of forced labor for all eternity. Enslaved not just in life but also in death; a total denial of freedom.

Everything that has come to be understood as monstrous to the modern mind arose alongside—and in relationship to—Western colonial expansion and Enlightenment thought. Today, much of what’s perceived of as frightening isn’t merely biological, but rather culturally constructed. These constructs haunt us. They lurk and linger in the shadowy recesses of our synapses; whispering words from the dark alleys we’d rather not walk down. They invite us to sit with deep discomfort, existential dread, grief, numbness, hopelessness and despair, the terror of unmitigated malice. The monstrous is unboundaried, unpredictable, illogical, illegible, incorrigible, inexorable. French Philosopher and author Michele Foucault had this to say about monsters:

“The monster is the fundamental figure around which bodies of power and domains of knowledge are disturbed and reorganized.”

We do not invent monsters out of thin air; we construct them out of what our culture refuses to face. Let’s take a good look at some monsters.

Mary-Jane Rubenstein is a philosopher of religion and science, and the author of numerous books, including Pantheologies: Gods, Worlds, Monsters. In this episode, we discuss her work on pantheology, the idea that the world itself is divine. We talk about how certain ideas and bodies become monstrous.

Not only is the title of this book absolutely wicked, it’s one of those books I couldn’t put down and couldn’t stop thinking about once I did. It weaves together medieval heresies, Ancient Greek Gods and philosophies, general relativity, quantum mechanics, nonlinear biologies like Gaia Theory, multiverse and indigenous cosmologies, ecofeminism, animal and vegetal studies, and more.

You can find Mary-Jane and learn more about this book and her work at https://www.maryjanerubenstein.com.

Listen to this episode with caution. The themes are more explicit than usual; they concern the Cornell 7 rape allegations and the larger societal forces which enable sexual violence and harm. There are two corrections I wanted to make since recording the audio. First, that not every one of the students had to write an essay as punishment. It appears only some students did. Additionally, I mentioned that women are were responsible for most of the labor in the world, and I want to clarify that my point was about UNPAID labor. This episode digs into how we talk about women under modernity, and how we think of men and masculinity. I explore how our thoughts and perceptions contribute to forces that literally govern bodies. These are racial forces, gendered forces, political forces, cultural forces that run so deep they pierce the marrow of our bones. Swell and pulse in the throbbing reproductive organs of men. I also ask what's happening when we describe other people as monsters. Does this language and framing reproduce the very systems they seek to dismantle? Perhaps it's a learned tactic of the oppressor; a linguistic tool purposed to dehumanize and explain problems away in isolated, reductionist terms which lend themselves to carceral systems and punitive thinking. What does accountability look like when we have to sit with the monster instead of locking it in a room with other monsters?

I'm leaving Spotify, and I've setup a Patreon. This is the last and only episode of this show you should see listed here. If you want to find this podcast, search for it wherever you listen to podcasts, or check it out at www.thepassingthroughpodcast.com. You can find it on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Castbox, Pocket Casts, Podcast Addict, iHeartRadio, and most other places you listen to podcasts. This episode is sponsored by SWILK. It's what bones crave!

I'm back after a bit of time away. Join me for a chat about what I've been up to, where I was, and what's next for the podcast. I also talk about some of the things I've been reading, and share a few thoughts on the state of the world. This episode is brought to you by Defecation Desecration.

I'm leaving for a little while for a brief adventure. I'll be back again in about a month. Enjoy the down time!

When you think of plant medicine, one of the first things you think of is probably ayahuasca. An Intensely psychedelic kaleidoscopic weekend of hallucination and vomiting hopefully accompanied by profound shifts in consciousness. You may know someone who’s attended an ayahuasca ceremony, you may have even attended one or more yourself, but you probably haven’t heard the stories of someone who’s studied with indigenous Shipibo people of the Peruvian Amazon.

This week’s guest spent 5 years in the jungle, embedded in an animist culture, undergoing plant dietas while learning medicine songs called icaros as she deepened her understanding of both plant intelligences and the ancient practice of Amazonian Curanderismo.

Skye has also spent three years apprenticing with Chinese medicine, she’s a Grief Ritualist, a facilitator in Experiential Deep Ecology. Skye currently co-facilitates Josh’s yearlong study group The Mythic Body, and leads her own events focused on reclaiming animist perception, developing mythic imagination and helping people reconnect to the living, breathing, more-than-human world all around us. She leads various study groups on Practical Animism and Grief work, as Nature Connection Mentor, Folk Herbalist, Plant Medicine Ritualist, Naturalist and as someone who spends a lot of time outdoors, in ritual or in focused practice on the land.

Honestly, I can’t think of a more fitting guest than Skye. This is one of my favorite conversations on this show and I hope you enjoy it too.

Skye’s Website

Blogs

Curanderismo

Plant Dieta

Icaros

Psychedelic-Assisted Psychotherapy

Skye's Upcoming Events

Skye’s Upcoming Workshop on Plant Intelligence

References

Robert Johnson’s Inner Work

Stephen Harrod Buhner’s Plant Intelligence And The Imaginal Realm

Josh Schrei’s The Emerald Podcast — Animism Is Normative Consciousness

Previous Episodes

John Seed

Francis Weller

Josh Schrei

Bayo Akomolafe

On July 12, Funkadelic's Maggot Brain turned fifty-five.

Mommy, what's a funkadelic?

Join me for a very quick reflection on this enormously influential psychedelic funk rock album. Frontman George Clinton and guitarist Eddie Hazel are musical heroes, and to commemorate this special anniversary George Clinton landed the mothership in New Orleans at the Essence Festival.

If you too share visions of one nation under a groove, then sit down, tune in, free your mind, and your ass will follow.

Links

https://funkadelic.bandcamp.com/album/maggot-brain

https://funkadelic.bandcamp.com/album/funkadelic

https://funkadelic.bandcamp.com/track/biological-speculation

https://funkadelic.bandcamp.com/track/i-bet-you

https://funkadelic.bandcamp.com/track/good-thoughts-bad-thoughts

https://georgeclinton.com

This week John Seed is Passing Through. A pioneering environmentalist, musician, activist and writer, John has played a formative role in shaping Deep Ecology globally. Beginning back in 1979 he began putting his life on the line to defend rainforests and would later found and direct The Rainforest Information Center to continue this important work.

Since then he’s initiated projects protecting rainforests in South America, Asia and the Pacific, providing sustainable development and working with indigenous inhabitants to protect their forests.

During his more than 40 year career John has worked alongside prominent figures such as Vandana Shiva, Starhawk, the late Ram Dass and Joanna Macy to name a few. In 1988 John, writing with Joanna Macy, Arne Naess and Pat Fleming, published their seminal deep ecology book Thinking Like A Mountain. In collaboration with Joanna Macy he created a ceremony aimed at reconnection called The Council of All Beings, which we’ll talk about in our conversation.

I speak with John about a landmark court case involving the Los Cedros rainforest in Ecuador. In a groundbreaking move for legal and environmental history, the MOTH (More Than Human) Life Collective is submitting a petition to Ecuador’s copyright office to recognize the Los Cedros cloud-forest as the co-creator of a song titled "Song of the Cedars,” composed in collaboration with musician Cosmo Sheldrake, writer Robert Macfarlane, field mycologist Giuliana Furci, and legal scholar César Rodríguez-Garavito. It will be the first legal attempt to recognize an ecosystem’s moral authorship in the co-creation of a work of art. This case aims to disrupt traditional anthropocentric copyright frameworks by granting creative rights to a non-human natural entity. This is the first known attempt in any jurisdiction to establish the 'moral authorship' of an ecosystem as a co-creator in a work.

John is an absolute legend who’s dedicated his life to protecting animals, endangered species and rainforests, while writing, lecturing, facilitating workshops and campaigning & petitioning governments all over the world to protect ecologies.

It was a true honor to speak with John, and if you want to learn more about him and his work you can find him at johnseed.net, or https://www.rainforestinformationcentre.org/.

John’s Links

https://linktr.ee/gaiaseed

Los Cedros

https://www.instagram.com/p/DZ9eKB8mlyu/?img_index=1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HH_timp2S3E

Thinking Like A Mountain

https://bookshop.org/p/books/thinking-like-a-mountain-towards-a-council-of-all-beings-arne-naess/304b0d83848eb74e?ean=9781897408001

There's a heatwave passing through, and we're passing through it. At least here in Europe. I was delighted to ramble through part of it with the lovely Dan Burgess.

Earthling, father, partner, and brother, Dan is a regenerative practitioner, creative strategist, action researcher, co-designer, un/learning guide, facilitator, activist, writer, speaker, podcaster and DJ working at the intersections of ecology, culture, and transformation.

Dan is creator and host of The Spaceship Earth Podcast, as well as many other environmental projects like We Are Avon, Becoming Crew, and Famous For Five Miles. He's an inspiring person in this space, and he's doing good work.

In our conversation we talk about weathering the storm, the importance of reconnecting with the land, of creativity and art as vehicles for feeling, the importance of community - both human and more-than-human.

Dan speaks about pilgrimage, threshold moments and possible ways for us to step out from our stuckness.

This was one of my favorite conversations, and I think you'll enjoy it, too. If you want to find out more about Dan and his beautiful and encouraging work, check out his links below:

https://www.danburgess.earth/

https://www.instagram.com/dan__burgess

https://www.thespaceship.earth