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.

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.
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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.

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