Join us in this episode, for a thought provoking conversation and with Rev. Angie Buchanan! Angie is a Founder and the Spiritual Director of Earth Traditions Church(since 2008), and of Gaia's Womb(for 26 years), an interfaith spirituality group that has been producing women's spiritual retreats since 1998. and a Certified Death Midwife; having developed a program that provides hands-on, intensive training for compassionate end-of-life care, and information about ecologically sensitive funerals.

She is a life-long Pagan animist with over 40 years of experience as a speaker, officiant, and ritualist. She served on the Board of Trustees for the Parliament of World Religions from 2002 – 2010. As a Certified Death Midwife; she developed a program that provides hands-on, intensive training for compassionate end-of-life care, and information about ecologically sensitive funerals.

Angle believes She is a life-long Pagan animist that the Earth is a living sentient being. Mother Nature as the force of always giving birth to itself with the Elements, the cycle & seasons. Angie talks about her Influence with Nora Cedarwind Young and the death positive movement. Nora died in 2014 but expressed that Angie continue her work. Angie then became certified to teach.

Angie believes that Death is the Final rite of passage and a very much overlooked and neglected rite of passage deserving of as much dignity as any other significant rite of passage. We live in a Death Denying culture and most of us die alone too without prior Death planning. She sees her work as a sacred calling. Death Midwifery also deals with sacred death from an emotional, spiritual and practical place.She believes that Death has been taken from us by industry (medical, funeral ,academia industries). She encourages families and loved ones to spend time with the beloved dead that have recently just passed on. Angie explains that we have over-medicalized and over-industrialized Death so that it has become an incredibly toxic and unsustainable industry.

Angie, as a Death Midwife, is reclaiming the caring for the Dead and their loved ones and family. Our culture doesn't give us the tools to grieve or mourn- 3 days of workplace bereavement leave doesn't cut it. Other cultures and countries continue to do forms of mourning. Angie’s Death Midwifery practices include a strong consideration for Eco-Friendly body disposition options. She tells us about how embalming fluid (Formaldehyde) is one of the most dangerous carcinogens known. It leaches into soil & ground water, etc. Angie says that there are many options and resources for Eco-Friendly natural burials, green cemeteries, green burials and water and earth cremation processes that are available and are carbon neutral. Burials and body disposition do not have to be toxic.

It's Angie's hope that she opens up new ideas and alternative traditions around Death and Dying to the public and to be open to talking about these for ourselves and our loved ones. More about Angie at: www.deathmidwife.org and www.earthtraditions.org

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Join us for some Witchy fun and compelling dialogue with 4 Witches! Madame Pamita, Monica Crosson, Mael Brigde and myself discuss our Animal Familiars. Witches have a long history of partnering with Familiars for spellwork and magic throughout the ages. Here, we chat about how we met our Familiars, what makes our relationship with our Familiars special to us, explore who they are and how we have formed trusted magical partnerships with our Familiars. So, let’s Introduce the magical 4 Women on this show:

Madame Pamita is a Ukrainian-American witch, teacher, author, candle maker, spellcaster, and tarot reader. She is the author of The Witch's Guide to Animal Familiars (January 2025), Baba Yaga’s Book of Witchcraft, The Book of Candle Magic, Magical Tarot and co-author of Cancer Witch. She is also the proprietress of the online spiritual apothecary, the Parlour of Wonders and lives in Santa Monica, California. You can find her online at the: www.parlourofwonders.com
Madame Pamita’s Familiar is the Cat: Glinda

Monica Crosson has been a practicing Witch, Master Gardener and Educator for over thirty years and is a member of Evergreen Coven. She is the author of A Year in the Enchanted Garden, The Magickal Family, and Wild Magical Soul and is a regular contributor to the Llewellyn annuals as well as Enchanted Living Magazine and she lives north of Seattle, WA in the forests. Her website is:www.authormonicacrosson.com Monica’s Familiar is the Cat: Zelda

Mael Brigde is a devotee of Brigit and founder of Daughters of the Flame (Imbolc 1993). She is the author of Sun Among Stars: A Brigit of Ireland Devotional and was a featured performer at the 2024 Brigid of Faughart Festival in Dundalk, Ireland. Mael lives in Vancouver, Canada. Her reviews, blogs, classes, etc. can be found on Linktree at https://linktr.ee/maelbrigde# Mael’s Familiars are the wild Birds (Starlings) in her backyard

Bridget Engels is the Host/Creator/Producer of The Oracle of Luna Podcast, Author of The Oracle of Luna: Meditations with the Moon Goddess Volumes 1, 2, & 3 , Narrator/Producer of the Audiobook versions her 3 books, Ritualist and Founder of the Circle of Luna. As a Priestess, Bridget has led many public rituals, events and ceremonies that provide spiritual connection with the Divine Feminine, Goddess archetypes and the Moon. Her websites are: https://circleofluna.wixsite.com/bridget-engels AND
https://circleofluna.wixsite.com/the-oracle-of-luna-p
Bridget’s Familiar is the cat: Romeo

Tune in and be enlightened!

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NEW! Join us in this episode, for a spellbinding conversation with Alice Markham-Cantor! Alice is the Author of: “The Once and Future Witch Hunt-A Descendant’s Reckoning from Salem to the Present” and the Film Co-Producer of ​​”A Witch Story”, an award-winning documentary film about Salem and her research. Alice is a descendant of Martha Carrier, one of the Women accused and hanged at Salem. Her work has been published in New York Magazine, Scientific American, The Nation, and elsewhere. She serves on the working committee of the International Network Against Accusations of Witch Hunting and Associated Harmful Practices, and spoke at the first and second Feminist Conferences on the Witch Hunts hosted by the Campaña por la Memoria de las Brujas in Spain. She is from Brooklyn, New York.

We begin by delving into why the Salem Witch Hunts took place and the build up of the socio/economic/political circumstances and unrest leading to the Salem Witch trials. There is unease and lack of leadership in Massachusetts Colony at that time. The Puritans were also at war with Algonquin native American Indian tribes which was a stressful issue too. Puritans had the viewpoint that the Native Americans were allied with the devil. There was no governor or local Magistrates at that time either. There was also friction between Salem Town and Salem Village. Samuel Paris became the new Salem Village minister in 1689. Like a wildfire all the circumstances have been escalating and then the flame is lit. In this case; the flame is Samuel Paris’ 2 girls living in his household that started having “fits”. Tituba was a slave in that house and she was one of the first accused of being a Witch also.

This unrest and suspicion made Salem Villagers feel like the devil was out to get them. They needed a scapegoat and at that time period Women were thought of as spiritually weaker and more likely seduced by the devil and thus likely to be Witches. Especially the women who diverge from Puritan behavioral norms and therefore are more vulnerable to attack. All these factors contributed to the Salem Witch Hunts.

Alice tells us that Witch Hunts are not a thing of the past. Currently, we see this with the Republicans party in the USA attacking illegal and undocumented immigrants. Alice believes it's exactly mirroring what happened with the Puritans using fear and hysteria to create the Salem Witch Hunts. Alice explains that over 20,000 people have been killed in Witch Hunts over the last decade worldwide. It is common to happen in places that are experiencing economic upheaval.

Alice leaves us with her discovery that one of the reasons why Martha Carrier (her ancestor) was killed in Salem was that the 19 people who were hanged in Salem were those that refused to confess to Witchcraft because they did not identify as Witches. Alice thinks that ultimately the Salem Witch Trials are a lesson in fear. And the lesson of Salem Village is how fear works and how accusation works. Martha Carrier was extremely clear to her accusers in the Salem Witch Trials that she was not a Witch. Alice believes this is an important thing to remember as we participate in the season of Halloween and Samhain. Tune in and be enlightened!

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