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Accidental Gods

Accidental Gods

By: Accidental Gods
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Another World is still Possible. The old system was never fit for purpose and now it has gone- and it's never coming back. We have the power of gods to destroy our home. But we also have the chance to become something we cannot yet imagine, and by doing so, lay the foundations for a future we would be proud to leave to the generations yet unborn. What happens if we commit to a world based on generative values: compassion, courage, integrity? What happens if we let go of the race for meaningless money and commit instead to the things that matter: clean air, clean water, clean soil - and clean, clear, courageous connections between all parts of ourselves (so we have to do the inner work of healing individually and collectively), between ourselves and each other (so we have to do the outer work of relearning how to build generative communities) and between ourselves and the Web of Life (so we have to reclaim our birthright as conscious nodes in the web of life)? We can do this - and every week on Accidental Gods we speak with the people who are living this world into being. We have all the answers, we just (so far) lack the visions and collective will to weave them into a future that works. We can make this happen. We will. Join us. Accidental Gods is a podcast and membership program devoted to exploring the ways we can create a future that we would be proud to leave to the generations yet to come. If we're going to emerge into a just, equitable - and above all regenerative - future, we need to get to know the people who are already living, working, thinking and believing at the leading edge of inter-becoming transformation. Accidental Gods exists to bring these voices to the world so that we can work together to lay the foundations of a world we'd be proud to leave to the generations that come after us. We have the choice now - we can choose to transform…or we can face the chaos of a failing system. Our Choice. Our Chance. Our Future. Find the membership and the podcast pages here: https://accidentalgods.life Find Manda's Thrutopian novel, Any Human Power here: https://mandascott.co.uk Find Manda on BlueSky @mandascott.bsky.social On LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/mandascottauthor/ On FaceBook https://www.facebook.com/MandaScottAuthor©AccidentalGods 2020 Biological Sciences Science Spirituality
Episodes
  • The Art of the Sacred with Sylvie Barbier of Second Renaissance and Life Itself

    The Art of the Sacred with Sylvie Barbier of Second Renaissance and Life Itself
    Jun 24 2026
    "We are a collective of artists making art to bring forth the second renaissance.We are alchemists. We create a new world through our work.We are the bridge between the dying past and the future unborn.Art is an expression of our consciousness and humanity, this is our path of transformation. Life as an art.…Our work is to create a space to be with all of it. To be with the joy, the darkness, the hope, the sadness, the unknown.Our work is to inquire about what would a world that works for everyone look like?"Thus begins the Manifesto on Art in the Second Renaissance, and this week we speak with its author, Sylvie Barbier, a French-Taiwanese performance artist whose work is some of the most powerfully raw, wild and beautiful I have ever seen. As well as being an artist and mother, she's an entrepreneur and educator and one of the two co-founders of Life Itself, which is designed to build a wiser future through culture, space and community. The Life Itself website says, 'We are pragmatic utopians, committed to practical action for a radically wiser, weller world. We create conscious coliving hubs, start businesses, do research and engage in activism to pioneer a wiser culture and plant the seeds of a second renaissance.' The Second Renaissance is an initiative of Life Itself which acknowledges that we live in a moment of potential crisis and collective rebirth and offers a home to the growing community of people who are working to make this rebirth happen. Sylvie is an artist of extraordinary scope and depth and so the role of art in that rebirth is the focus of this episode, but we ranged far and deep into the nature of healing our shadows so that we can heal the ancestral and descendant lines, so that we can become the ancestors our descendants are proud of; we explored the nature of ritual in building new beginnings and helping endings; as we did with the Brother from nearby Plum Village, we explored the nature of life and death and how we can meet our own deaths with grace and joy and hope. Above all, we explored how we can fall in love with living - with life itself - so that we might lay strong foundations for real transformation. And before we leap into our conversation, I want to remind you that there's an Accidental Gods online Gathering 'Walking the Path of the Inner Warrior' on Sunday 28th June - which is this coming Sunday if you're listening on or near launch day - 4pm - 8pm, on Zoom - we'll be exploring many of the ideas that we talk about in this episode, but anchoring them in your own life's experience. This follows on from our Gathering on Falling in Love with life, which, as Sylvie says in the podcast, is the key to working with our shadows. You don't have to have done that - if you're new to our work, we'll make sure you have secure grounding, but if you have been to other Gatherings, we'll build on the work we've already done this year. So - hope to see you there and then, and now, enjoy.... LinksSylvie's websiteLife ItselfSecond RenaissanceSecond Renaissance Manifesto—About Accidental Gods—We offer three strands all rooted in the same soil, drawing from the same river: Accidental Gods, Dreaming Awake and the Thrutopia Writing Masterclass Our next Open Gathering offered as part of our Accidental Gods Programme is 'WALKING THE PATH OF THE INNER WARRIOR' which will run on Sunday 28th June 2026 from 16:00 - 20:00 GMT - details are here. You don't have to be a member of Accidental Gods to come along - but if you are, all Gatherings are half price.If you'd like to join us at Accidental Gods, this is the membership where we endeavour to help you to connect fully with the living web of life. If you'd like to train more deeply in the contemporary shamanic work at Dreaming Awake, you'll find us here. If you'd like to explore the recordings from our last Thrutopia Writing Masterclass, the details are hereManda and Louise both offer one-to-one Mentoring Calls. Manda is writing a book just now, but if you'd like to contact Louise, details are here.
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    1 hr and 12 mins
  • Mothering the Future we'd be proud to leave behind - with author and activist Zineb Mouhyi

    Mothering the Future we'd be proud to leave behind - with author and activist Zineb Mouhyi
    Jun 17 2026

    "I have come to believe something that sounds simple and is anything but: if Mothering were the axis around which we revolved, we would liberate the world. By Mothering I do not mean the biological act of giving birth, or the domestic role that has been used to confine us. I mean the practice – available to all people, in all bodies – of tending to life with full presence: protecting it, nourishing it, teaching it to know itself, trusting it."

    These are the words of our guest this week, mother, writer, scholar and activist: Zineb Mouhyi in her forthcoming book series, on 'Mothering Liberation'. She defines mothering as the everyday politics - available to all people in all bodies - of tending to life and making every child ours. The book series will be made of three books. The first on mothering ourselves, the second on mothering our children, and the third on mothering the world.

    Zineb has been an advocate for social change through education, notably through the charitable organizations she co-founded — YouthxYouth & the Weaving Lab — and through her PhD research on the role of education in the Palestinian liberation struggle. I've been privileged to read the early chapters of her books as she is writing them (a courageous act in its own right) and can safely say that this is one of those life-changing works that could move us all to the collective tipping point we need. At a time when the world feels increasingly unstable, making a commitment to the flourishing of all life is central to the way forward. Enjoy!

    Links

    Zineb's website
    Zineb on LinkedIn
    Episode #141 of Accidental Gods

    —About Accidental Gods—

    We offer three strands all rooted in the same soil, drawing from the same river: Accidental Gods, Dreaming Awake and the Thrutopia Writing Masterclass

    Our next Open Gathering offered as part of our Accidental Gods Programme is 'WALKING THE PATH OF THE INNER WARRIOR' which will run on Sunday 28th June 2026 from 16:00 - 20:00 GMT - details are here. You don't have to be a member of Accidental Gods to come along - but if you are, all Gatherings are half price.

    If you'd like to join us at Accidental Gods, this is the membership where we endeavour to help you to connect fully with the living web of life.
    If you'd like to train more deeply in the contemporary shamanic work at Dreaming Awake, you'll find us here.
    If you'd like to explore the recordings from our last Thrutopia Writing Masterclass, the details are here

    Manda and Louise both offer one-to-one Mentoring Calls. Manda is fully booked just now, but if you'd like to contact Louise, details are here.
    Show More Show Less
    1 hr and 15 mins
  • Grown Up Politics: A Chance for Change - Round Table with Neal Lawson of Compass and Rupert Read of the Climate Majority Project

    Grown Up Politics: A Chance for Change - Round Table with Neal Lawson of Compass and Rupert Read of the Climate Majority Project
    Jun 10 2026

    We're at a pivotal moment in world geopolitics. Increasingly the masks and the gloves are both off - but it's not a binary choice any more between two sets of suits in slightly different coloured ties: now we have the right showing its true colours - and a chance for the progressive majority in this country to find its feet and lead us towards a genuinely thoughtful, emotionally literate, high-bandwidth politics that ditches the toxic tribalism and instead lays the ground for a future that could actually work.

    We're joined this week by Neal Lawson, co-founder and Executive Director of the progressive pressure group, Compass; and Rupert Read, Co-Director of the Climate Majority Project. Neal is a member of the Labour Party, and Rupert of the Green party and we came together to discuss the forthcoming by-election in Makerfield, where Andy Burnham, Mayor of Greater Manchester is standing as a candidate, with a view to standing for leadership of the Labour Party if he wins. His main challenger is the Reform party led by Nigel Farage. The Greens are newly invigorated after their recent win in the Gorton and Denton by-election in Manchester, so there has been a lot of conversation in progressive circles as to whether the Greens should step away to give Burnham a clear run. This seemed a good moment to have a vigorous conversation - to explore the possibilities and potential and the routes forward should Burnham win.


    Compass
    The Climate Majority Project
    UK Government National Security Assessment on Global Biodiversity Loss and Ecosystem Collapse
    Andy Burnham in the Observer committing to PR
    Jamie Driscoll's post in The Canary - There's Nothing Pragmatic About Centrism
    The Fraud by Paul Holden

    —About Accidental Gods—

    We offer three strands all rooted in the same soil, drawing from the same river: Accidental Gods, Dreaming Awake and the Thrutopia Writing Masterclass

    Our next Open Gathering offered as part of our Accidental Gods Programme is 'WALKING THE PATH OF THE INNER WARRIOR' which will run on Sunday 28th June 2026 from 16:00 - 20:00 GMT - details are here. You don't have to be a member of Accidental Gods to come along - but if you are, all Gatherings are half price.

    If you'd like to join us at Accidental Gods, this is the membership where we endeavour to help you to connect fully with the living web of life.
    If you'd like to train more deeply in the contemporary shamanic work at Dreaming Awake, you'll find us here.
    If you'd like to explore the recordings from our last Thrutopia Writing Masterclass, the details are here

    Manda and Louise both offer one-to-one Mentoring Calls. Manda is fully booked just now, but if you'd like to contact Louise, details are here.
    Show More Show Less
    1 hr
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