Earth Ancients

• Shows how plants can help us communicate with the spirit world, the dead, and the divine for advice, insight, and direct answers to questions

• Explains how to work with specific plant spirits, such as the nightshade family, foxglove, and fly agaric, for divination and trancework

• Shares exercises for plant spirit journeying and how to incorporate plant spirit work into dream work, scrying, and runes

Poison plants have been used by oracles, seers, and shamans to reach out to the spirit world for insight and guidance since antiquity. In this practical guide, Coby Michael demonstrates how the timeless wisdom of the poison path benefits modern practitioners of divination.

Michael explores the divinatory ritual use of baneful plants and fungi, profiling important poisonous plant emissaries that appear throughout history, such as the nightshade family, foxglove, and fly agaric. He shows how these entheogenic plants can help us access altered states of consciousness to communicate with the dead and the divine and how plant spirit medicine can be combined with trancework for profound results.

Michael also links the poison path to other divinatory methods, including dream work, scrying, cartomancy, and runes. He shares exercises for underworld journeying as well as specific plant formulas and practices for meditation, channeling, ceremony, and connecting directly with plant allies, showing how to safely and effectively incorporate poison plants into your divination practice for better guidance and a stronger connection to the spirit world.

https://www.occultherbalist.com/

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/earth-ancients--2790919/support.

Praveen Mohan is an explorer of ancient megalithic sites and appeared on History Channel's Ancient Aliens TV show in September 2016. He has traveled to several countries documenting his findings on YouTube, and his videos have received tens of millions of views. His content has also appeared on TV shows, magazines and other media. Praveen has researched several historic mysteries including ancient Mounds in Ohio, Ellora Caves in India and Machu Picchu in Peru. He has also discovered Out of Place Artifacts which prove the existence of ancient European and even African presence in India. Praveen initially started posting his findings about Coral Castle on YouTube in early 2015. His videos on the uniqueness of Edward Leedskalnin's telescope, revolving gate and sundial received high ratings and his subscribers encouraged him to write a book about Coral Castle. Praveen Mohan is also scheduled to appear on BBC in December 2016.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCe3OmUXohXrXnNZSRl5Z9kA
https://www.facebook.com/praveenmohanfans

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/earth-ancients--2790919/support.

Kayleigh During is no ordinary history buff. What started as a coping mechanism during a difficult health journey has blossomed into a thriving YouTube channel with over 240,000 subscribers. Today, she pulls back the curtain on the person behind "History with Kayleigh," revealing the profound journey that led her to become a respected voice in ancient history education.

From her earliest childhood memories of discovering Stonehenge in her mother's encyclopedia to her current status as a female creator in a predominantly male space, Kayleigh's story is one of passion, resilience, and determination. She articulates a fascinating perspective on humanity's shift from communal societies to competitive ones during the late Stone Age and early Bronze Age – a transition she characterizes with disarming simplicity as the moment when "it's shiny, it's mine" became our collective mindset.

The conversation takes a sobering turn as Kayleigh candidly discusses the dark side of internet fame. Despite creating educational content about ancient civilizations, megalithic structures, and archaeological discoveries, she regularly faces harassment, sexualization, and boundary violations from a subset of male viewers who seem unable to see past her gender. Her experience reveals the troubling reality many female content creators navigate daily – from implementing extra safety measures while traveling to developing mental health strategies for processing online abuse.

Yet through it all, Kayleigh maintains an inspiring outlook. She's transformed her passion into a career that freed her from disability payments, built meaningful connections with her audience, and created a platform where complex historical concepts become accessible to everyone. Her methods for staying grounded – from nature walks to mindful breathing – offer valuable insights for anyone facing challenges in our hyperconnected world.

Whether you're fascinated by ancient history, curious about the realities of content creation, or simply interested in a remarkable human story, this episode offers a thoughtful exploration of what it means to share your passion with the world while protecting your humanity. Subscribe now and discover more conversations that explore the fascinating people behind the public personas.

https://www.youtube.com/@HistoryWithKayleigh

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/earth-ancients--2790919/support.

“Dixon Chibanda’s beautiful and heroic book will inspire everyone who reads it.”
— Johann Hari

2025 BookPal OWL Award Winner • As featured on CBS Sunday Morning and NPR’s Here and Now

A simple, human solution for loneliness and depression

When Dr. Dixon Chibanda lost a patient to suicide, he began a soul-searching journey that eventually led to a mental healthcare revolution. As one of only six psychiatrists in all of Zimbabwe, a country traumatized by decades of conflict, Chibanda quickly realized that millions there were suffering from mental illness with no hope of receiving care. He saw that the only way to narrow this care gap was to leverage existing resources in the community, and one such resource was the compassion and understanding of grandmothers. With fourteen of these wise elders as partners, Chibanda pioneered the Friendship Bench program, a community-driven initiative addressing loneliness, depression, substance abuse, and suicide by fostering intergenerational connectedness. Since then, more than 500,000 people worldwide have sat on a park bench to share their personal stories with an empathetic grandmother.

A primer on how human connection forms the bedrock of our resilience, The Friendship Bench gives readers the tools to facilitate transformative healing by reaching out to those who are struggling and isolated from the world around them. It’s a case study of how interventions supported by robust scientific evidence can be made accessible for all. Ultimately, it’s a celebration of the collective wisdom and knowledge of those rooted in their communities and their profound ability to foster belonging, purpose, and healing.

Dixon Chibanda, MD, is a professor of psychiatry at the University of Zimbabwe and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. The director of the African Mental Health Research Initiative (AMARI), he has written about his work for The Guardian and LA Times and spoken to audiences at the World Economic Forum, the Aspen Ideas Festival, and the TEDWomen conference.

https://www.friendshipbench.org/

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/earth-ancients--2790919/support.

Mythical Ireland embodies the search for a soul among Ireland's ancient ruins, and is an attempt to retrieve something of deeper import from 5,000-year-old megalithic monuments and their associated myths. The book represents a fascinating and engaging journey through time, landscape and the human spirit. Dealing with archaeology, interpretive mythography, cosmology and cosmogony, the book attempts to grapple with a core meaning, something beyond the functional interpretations of academia.

In this revised and expanded edition, Anthony Murphy delves further into the many enthralling aspects of this journey. Just how much knowledge did locals have of the secrets of Newgrange before it was excavated? Who is the Cailleach, the ancient hag goddess whose image is ubiquitous in the ancient landscape? What happened to make Ireland’s Stonehenge disappear from the landscape? Who were the first kings of Tara? What were the indigenous Irish myths about the Milky Way? Did someone try to steal the Tara Brooch? Why are there myths in Ireland about flooded towns and cities?

Lavishly illustrated with exquisite photographs of the Irish landscape and ancient monuments, Mythical Ireland represents a personal and yet universal journey, a quest to reimagine the shrines as empowering and transformative sacred places. Murphy invokes the druids and poets of the Boyne and thus the sídhe of the ancient texts are reawakened for a modern and turbulent world.

I'm an author and journalist living in Drogheda, Ireland. I've been writing since I was about five, and even in my early years I was banging away on my father's old typewriter. I'm interested in many things, but my books are primarily inspired by the ancient myths and monuments of the Boyne Valley, where the world-famous stone age monuments of Newgrange, Knowth and Dowth are located, only a few miles from where I live.

www.mythicalireland.com

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/earth-ancients--2790919/support.