Ceremonial opening of the summit, designed by Sol Lee Rosie.

Ceremonial Sacred Earth Activism team: Jonathan Weekes, Kate Dineen, Crow Mackinnon, Jon Nash & Marieluise Niehus.

Born in Scotland, Manda trained as a veterinary surgeon, but is now an award-winning novelist and host of the international chart-topping Accidental Gods podcast.

Best known for the Boudica: Dreaming series, her latest novel, Any Human Power, ditches historical fiction in favour of a contemporary Thrutopian narrative that explores the potential for a future we'd be proud to leave as our legacy. Described as a myth-political thriller, Any Human Power lays out routes to a paradigm shift that would lift us into the realm of good ancestors, laying the ground for a future we’d be proud to leave to the generations that follow us. She believes that the way forward now is for everyone to bring the best of themselves to the table – which means growing into adulthood: finding what’s ours to do and doing it with all our heart.

Talk: Bringing her unique combination of shamanic and creative writing experience, Manda will explore the ways we can open inner doors to possibility and then, with the foundations they offer, bring the sense of potential to the outer world. Stories matter – detailing the inner and outer narratives that define our lives is one of the core foundations to weaving – and sharing – new stories of our conscious evolution and co-creation with the Web of Life.

Website: Accidental Gods

Vey, also known as Lady Wye, is an environmental water activist and ceremonialist . She is a key player in the ‘Save the Wye’ movement.

Vey sprung forth from an arts degree and tumbled down the rocky slopes of film and media work in the corporate and charitable sectors, before converging with like minded souls in the environmental movement and leaping off the falls of theatre performance. She has plunged deep into personal development training, and bumped off the banks of motherhood. She is now feeling her way through the meanderings of spiritual nature connection, in the fields of living sustainably, hoping she’ll bring something positive to the ocean of life.

Talk: Vey will talk about her journey as a water activist, and how she has found herself lifted and carried on a spiritual journey, embodying the River, first as an activist ‘character’ known as ‘Lady Wye’, and now in a ceremonial role. 

She will convey how a vociferous and very creative campaign has led to a torrent of interest in the plight of the Wye, and how, together with arts activist, and Wye Goddess puppet creator, Kim Kaos, they are finding ways to publicly affirm our sacred relationship with water in places where decisions are being made about the health of the River Wye; such as Councils, Courts and Corporate AGMs.  They are also galvanising River Guardians to stand up for nature by giving them ceremonial opportunities to feel the reciprocal love.

Website: Save the Wye

Annie Spencer is a UK elder, ceremonialist and shamanic teacher, Rites of Passage and wilderness facilitator, storyteller, wisdom-keeper and sacred activist.

Annie has been running groups and offering training for nearly 40 years. Her background in both psychology and earth-based spiritual traditions means she is skilled at moving between both worlds. Annie was introduced to the spiritual ways of the First Peoples of North America in the early 1980s  These teachings immediately resonated with her and their practice has been a part of her life ever since.  She was apprenticed in a North American tradition and has studied Mayan teachings from Guatemala for over 15 years. 

Having said that, Annie does not forget the traditions of her own land, hoping instead to enliven and strengthen them with the teachings she brings from other ancient ways. A much loved storyteller, she brings the old myths of Britain alive and enthrals us with tales from across the world as she creates magical spaces for change to happen.  As a teacher, Annie opens pathways for others, illuminating their life’s journeys. Her primary interest is the renewal of ancient ceremonial forms to create a path of beauty upon Grandmother Earth.

Interview: Annie Spencer will talk to Christa, co-foudner of Sacred Earth Activism, about the central role ceremony plays in co-creating with Spirit. She will talk about the ways in which ceremony opens us up to Spirit and helps our dreaming align with the dreams the Earth holds for us. She will explain how ceremonial work helps us to put the earth first through repeated ceremonies of gratitude and honouring nature, touch on the importance of ceremonial rites of passage as a doorway for young people, and give us insights into how ceremony can be incorporated within the change movement.

Website: Hartwell

Jack is the founder of Towards Green Environment CBO, a non-profit, youth led environmental organization, bringing education and direct action to his fellow Kenyans through a variety of programs, including the planting and care of over 12,000 trees.

Jack 'Mazingira' Omondi has been actively working for the environment and to educate his fellow Kenyans about climate change since he was a student in Primary School, when he was given the nickname 'Mazingira', which means 'Environment in Swahili by his teacher. Since that time, he has been working tirelessly both to educate and to be an example to those around him as the effects of climate change take an increasing toll on his community, country and continent. He is the founder of 'Towards Green Environment', a Community Based Organization that works for change.

Talk / Interview: Jack will, in an interview with Crow Mackinnon, talk about his remarkable journey as a young activist, including his relate his 'Grow a Tree' program with Kenyan youth and other stories of his profound and exceptional environmental and ecological actions on the ground.

Website: Towards a Green Environment / Abundant Earth Foundation

John Lockley is a fully initiated and ordained Sangoma (African Shaman) in two lineages from South Africa, the Xhosa and Swazi nations. He is an author, a Zen meditation practitioner, holds an honours degree in Psychology, wisdom keeper and international shamanic teacher.

His Xhosa apprenticeship took 10 years and he was foreseen in a dream by his teacher, MaMngewvu, a senior Xhosa sangoma from the same tribe as Nelson Mandela, who invited him to be her apprentice. He was one of the first white men in recent times after Apartheid to be awarded the title of ‘Ligqira Linkulu’ by his Xhosa elders, meaning senior Sangoma. He has pioneered the bridge between modern western Psychology and traditional South African healing. His Xhosa name given by his teacher is ‘Ucingolweendaba’ meaning ‘the messenger or bridge between cultures’. John holds an honours degree in Clinical Psychology.  He is also a Zen meditation practitioner with over 30 years of experience. He took Buddhist precepts with Zen Master Su Bong from South Korea in 1992.

For the last 16 years he has been facilitating ‘Ubuntu’ (Humanity) and Way of the Leopard retreats worldwide, teaching people how they can reconnect to their Ancestors, Spirit and the Earth. A passion of John’s is teaching people indigenous African medicine to help them reconnect to the earth. He facilitates this through his ‘Dreams & Tracking’ retreats in the Kalahari Desert every year, and ‘Leopard Warrior trails’ in South Africa.  John offers private divination and healing sessions online and monthly ceremonies. His book ‘Leopard Warrior’ and audio Teachings ‘Way of the Leopard’ are both produced by Sounds True and available for purchase in most leading book stores.

Talk: John, was born into a divided world with three wars touching his family, the South African civil war known as Apartheid, Northern Ireland and Zimbabwe (previously known as Rhodesia). As a young man he was made intimately aware of war when he was conscripted as a medic in the South African military. His first assignment was working with special forces soldiers who had returned from the front lines in Angola.

John's presentation will touch on his personal experience of war and how he was called to find humanity amidst the chaos of his youth. He found this through his Zen meditation and sangoma apprenticeship after Apartheid fell in the early 1990's. Join us as we discuss an important topic affecting our global community'.

Website: John Lockley

Drea Burbank, MD, is an unusually creative, spiritual and highly successful entrepreneur. She is a MD-technologist and founder and CEO of Savimbo — a US startup that generates fair-trade carbon, biodiversity, and water credits to the international market from indigenous groups and small farmers.

Her nonprofit helps with land-rights, literacy, and living conditions. Drea’s work is underpinned by her spiritual life, she sees herself as being addicted to yoga and a complete climate nerd.

Talk: Drea will talk about how Indigenous spiritual, earth-centred paradigms can be successfully translated to the industrialized world.  She will introduce a case study on Rights of Nature and its application in the Indigenous-led biodiversity unit of Savimbo.

Website: Savimbo

John Perkins is the author of 10 books and an internationally acclaimed activist, who founded, amongst others, the Pachamama Alliance and received the Lennon/Ono Peace Prize.

John’s 10 books on global intrigue and economics, shamanism, and transformation including Touching the Jaguar, Shapeshifting and the classic Confessions of an Economic Hit Man have been on the New York Times bestseller list for more than 70 weeks, sold over 2 million copies and are published in 37 languages.

As chief economist at a major consulting firm, he advised the World Bank, United Nations, Fortune 500 corporations, US and other governments. John has been initiated as a shaman in Amazonian and Andean Indigenous cultures. He has lectured at Harvard, Oxford, and more than 50 other universities, as well as at economic forums and shamanic gatherings around the world. He is a founder and board member of the non-profit organizations, the Pachamama Alliance and Dream Change, and received the Lennon/Ono Peace Prize.

Talk: John Perkins will talk about his transition from economic hit man to shaman and then writer and activist, who is committed to creating an Ecological Civilization. How did he accomplish this? What are the lessons for the rest of us?  John answers these questions and discusses the role of perception in changing the reality of the emerging world. He teaches a technique that each of us can use to materialize our personal dreams and, at the same time, facilitate facilitate the transition from a degenerative Death Economy to a regenerative Life Economy. 

Website: John Perkins

Chay Godfree is the founder, inspiring visionary and tireless activist behind the ‘Crops not Shops’ movement.

Crops not Shops offers a radical solution to many of the world’s current issues, such as food security, Earth restoration, community self-sufficiency, child education, and spiritual connection to one another. This rapidly-growing, hands-on movement is dedicated to bringing a new system of sharing and love into today’s challenging world through its land, food and community-based sacred activism. Its approach is based on the philosophy that ‘all life is sacred’ and takes the next seven generations into account in all of its activities.

So far, the movement has created four communities in the UK that live self-sufficiently. These communities grow and distribute food to people in need. They open buildings in urban areas for homeless people, guerrilla plant neglected areas, offer community gatherings and provide land- and food-based education for children.

Talk: Chay will talk about the vision behind and journey of Crops not Shops, a radical grassroots growing movement connecting the people back to the earth in tribe, in community. He says ‘It's such a potent time to be alive and we need now more than ever to get back on the land - We need community owned, community shared, community supported for a more together future.’

Website: Crops not Shops

Christine Clarke has a profound connection to the sacred landscape of Thornborough Henges, serving as English Heritage’s Lead Volunteer for the site and co-leading the Thornborough Drummers, who play a central role in seasonal ceremonies at the henges.

Christine has a lifelong passion for sacred sites and their preservation. With the Thornborough Drummers, she led the historic ‘Thornborough Reunited’ procession, linking the three henges for the first time in over 1,500 years. As English Heritage’s Lead Volunteer for Thornborough Henges, Christine ensures that the sacred significance of the site remains central to its management and leads a dedicated team working to protect it. She also contributed extensively to The Old Stones, a comprehensive guide to over 1,000 prehistoric sites in Britain and Ireland by the Megalithic Portal, which aims to inspire connection with and preservation of ancient sites.

Talk: Over the last two years, significant progress has been made in protecting Thornborough Henges and making them publicly accessible. A key focus has been recognising the sacred use of the henges and surrounding landscape—both during the Neolithic period, when the henges were constructed, and today, as an Active Sacred Site. This talk will explore how these efforts have unfolded and their connection to the Sacred Lands Charter.

Jonathan Weekes, co-founder of Sacred Earth Activism, is a campaigner, ceremonialist, and sacred activist who has shared his work all around the UK, helping people connect with the land through ceremony and sacred practice.

Drawing on his background in contemporary Druidic and shamanic practices, Jonathan works to bring ceremony and soul into actions and campaigns. He has supported movements such as Extinction Rebellion UK, the anti-fracking movement, and Stonehenge supporters, helping to ground efforts for change in a sense of spiritual relationship, connection, and purpose, and has spoken at conferences and gatherings about the importance of sacred activism in our efforts for change.

Talk: Jonathan is currently part of a team within Sacred Earth Activism developing the Sacred Lands Charter, which advocates for the official recognition and protection of sacred landscapes. In this talk, Jonathan will share the aims and progress of this campaign, and speak about how you can get involved.

Websites: Spiritual Rewilding Heron Drums

Todd Smith is the founder of the aviation pressure group Safe Landing. A former commercial pilot, he rose to prominence after joining Extinction Rebellion, becoming one of their spokespeople, and campaigning against the damage the aviation industry is inflicting on the planet.

Growing up on a council estate in Essex, Todd achieved his dream job of becoming an Airline Pilot, against all the odds. After 3 years “living the dream”, little did he know, life had other plans in store for him as he later experienced climate change and mass tourism first hand on a trip to Peru. The sense of conflict gradually grew in him until he no longer felt able to return flying. Having worked in the climate movement for the past 5 years as a spokesperson for Extinction Rebellion, Todd also met other climate concerned aviation workers and co-founded a community working on aviation issues called Safe Landing. In more recent years, Todd has concluded that the inner activist is fundamental and often turns to the wisdom traditions to try and navigate safely through the storm. 

Talk / Interview: Given the psychological challenges of emotionally confronting climate and ecological collapse, the tendency for most to not, ‘look up’ plagues our society and seems to be a major block to ‘right action’. My intention is to share my heartfelt experience of the moment when I finally looked up and how life continues to teach me to dance in the face of it, eyes & heart wide open. Leaning into our collective moment has not been an easy path but in my experience; it’s led to a more resilient, and, dare I say it - joyful way of being.  

Website: Safe Landing

Jojo Mehta co-founded Stop Ecocide International in 2017, alongside barrister and legal pioneer the late Polly Higgins, to support the establishment of ecocide as a crime at the International Criminal Court.

As CEO and key spokesperson, she has overseen the remarkable growth of the movement while coordinating between legal developments, diplomatic traction and public narrative.

She is Chair of the charitable Stop Ecocide Foundation and convenor of the Independent Expert Panel for the Legal Definition of Ecocide chaired by Philippe Sands KC and Dior Fall Sow. The resulting definition, launched in June 2021, has catalysed legislative developments, recommendations and resolutions at national, regional and international levels.

Talk Jojo will talk about the Ecocide Law movement. When we damage Mother Earth, there are consequences. Ecocide law provides a transformative tool to reflect this in societal systems, preventing the worst environmental destruction, establishing accountability and encouraging a respectful, sustainable relationship with nature.

Website: Stop Ecocide International

Crow is the Director of Shamanic Voyages, a non-profit organization that offers travel programs and retreats to locations where shamanism is still relevant in the culture, as well as offering other educational programs.

He is also active with a number of other organizations including Sacred Earth Activism, the Shamans Directory, the Pachamama Alliance and the Wabinaki Alliance among others. He has had long experience working with shamans in the Andes and the Peruvian Amazon, has Completed advanced training with the Foundation for Shamanic Studies and is a Harner Shamanic Counselor

Interview / Talk: John will discuss several aspects of how collaboration with other individuals and groups can improve our impact and extend our influence. By comparing the competitive model with the collaborative, he will show how building trust and cooperation among activists and others not only can improve our effectiveness, but also our opportunities to learn from others.

Website: Shamanic Voyages

Paco Yunkar is the son of a shaman of the Achuar tribe in the Ecuadorian Amazon, a university student of international relations and an indigenous activist and Earth protector.

Paco follows the path of his father who not only passed the power on to him, but also taught him about the tribal worldview, in which the respect and care for nature is paramount.  He is currently focused on conserving and protecting Nature, aiming, together with his father, to plant a million plants of different species by the end of 2025.

Talk: Paco will talk about the Achuar tribe, his life in the rainforest as the son of a shaman, and his work as an Earth protector and activist.

Paco says “The oil and mining companies want to destroy, contaminate our rivers and our forests, but I am always fighting for Mother Earth, I have been threatened by large extractive companies, but I am not afraid, the Amazon is my home so I continue to stand tall to continue taking care of our forests”. Description and Bio

Link

Christa is the co-founder of Sacred Earth Activism, the founder of Bridging the Worlds and the co-founder of Women Weaving Change. She is a psychologist, therapist, shamanic teacher, bestselling author and long-standing activist.

Besides of working in the field of psychology and psychotherapy, Christa apprenticed to Indigenous shamans in South America and has worked with teachers worldwide. She is the author of three books, combining the ancient shamanic with the contemporary therapeutic. Her books include the groundbreaking ‘Shamanism and Spirituality in Therapeutic Practice’ and the bestselling ‘Shamanism: Awaken and Develop the Shamanic Force Within’. Christa speaks and writes widely on both subjects.

She also set up ‘Bridging the Worlds’ and is a co-founder of ‘Women Weaving Change’, which trains Modern Medicine Women. She is a member of TreeSisters, works with Extinction Rebellion at a community level and is involved in the wider Women’s movement. All her work and activism are focused on contributing to the expansion of consciousness required to assist in creating an overall paradigm shift.

Talk and community sharing: Christa will talk about the concept of dreaming and and visioning the Emerging World and how to align our own individual dream with the Earth Dream, taking action with the aim to contribute to manifest it within the web of change. She will offer a ‘dreaming / visioning’ exercise and space for participants to share and discuss.

Websites: Christa Mackinnon Women Weaving Change

'Kate is a UK teacher, ceremonialist, Shamanic healer, Rites of Passage ritualist, sacred activist, Nusta Paqo, Warrior Sage wisdom-keeper and Accelerated Evolution coach'

 Trained and initiated by Q'ero masters, Kate has taken her teacher, Dona Maria Apaza's advice and transposed the gifts of indigenous wisdom onto the local lands of her birth. The Andean induction into the world of living energy transposes gracefully onto the sacred isles of the UK. Kate has spent many years exploring our Pagan history and applying an embodied understanding of natural spirituality in the context of our ancestor's spiritual outlook: their experience of the 'otherworld', and of the more than human world. Through her research she is learning about how concepts such as animism, reciprocity, spirit, creation stories ring true across time and space. Kate is currently developing a training 'Shaman, Dreamer, Witch' which gives participants tools to engage with the stories of our ancestors and connect with our native roots as we dream a new world into being. 

 In her talk about River Blessings Kate will describe her journey with spiritual practice and sacred activism; what led her to River Blessings; how to hold ceremony for a wide range of people in different settings. Kate will describe who participates and what makes this different to other types of sacred activism; how she sees River Blessings influencing the wider ecological movement; what is the message of the rivers at the moment; the potential for personal growth through engaging with rivers in a ceremonial way and how this benefits the greater good; the role of River Blessings in co-creating the emerging world; and how River Blessings could develop into the future.

Website: Kate Dineen