The Holy Wild with Victoria Loorz

In this conversation, Victoria Loorz connects with speaker, writer, and mentor Mac Macartney, founder of Embercombe, a UK educational charity and 50-acre retreat and rewilding site dedicated to the flourishing future of all species. In Victoria’s words, Mac is one of our generation’s true elders. He speaks from decades of lived apprenticeship, shaped by not fitting the dominant culture, by failure that became a gift, and by a lifelong search for home. His voice carries the embodied wisdom of someone who has moved through exile, betrayal, and the seduction of power, and chosen integrity.
Mac reflects on decades of learning and on the unlearning required to remember the value of the miracle we were born into. He speaks of decency over brilliance, of integrity in the face of power, and of offering one’s gifts for the sake of future generations. At its heart, this is a conversation about integrity, about remaining in the field as long as one is able, and about creating places where there is no hiding truth.

Connect with Mac:
Website: macmacartney.com
Talk Video: The Children's Fire
Mentioned in the episode:
Organization: The Earth Elders theearthelders.org
Connect with the Center:
Website: wildspirituality.earth
Victoria's Website: victorialoorz.com
Email: [email protected]
Linktree: linktr.ee/ctrforwildspirituality
Instagram: @center_for_wild_spirituality
Timestamps:
00:00 – Introduction
05:15 – Interview Begins
12:09 – Embercombe
18:57 – Finding the Teachings We Need
24:30 – Letting the Gurus Go
26:58 – The Cycles of Human Becoming
29:53 – Born Into Cosmic Ceremony
32:14 – The Grief of Worldview Shifts
34:48 – Visited by Earth Elders
40:22 – A Benediction for Being Human
44:11 – Wild Invitation
46:12 – Credits

In this conversation, Victoria Loorz is joined by Barnaby Steel, artist and co-founder of Marshmallow Laser Feast, an experiential art collective devoted to awakening the senses and expanding perception through multisensory exhibits. Together, they explore how art, science, and imagination engage the illusion of separation, and how even controversial technologies like AI might be held in ways that deepen relationship rather than fragment it. In a time when technology often distracts and numbs, the conversation asks a different question: what if our tools could help us remember how to sense, feel, and belong in relationship?
Barnaby reflects on the roots of his creative life, shaped by deep observation, risk, and a willingness to let go. He shares stories about the collaborative experiences created when artists work with advanced technologies to translate scientific insight into lived experiences that extend our senses beyond their usual limits and inviting a felt experience of interconnection with breath, trees, sound, and the human body. Weaving themes of perception, ritual, grief, and awe, the episode considers immersive art as a modern rite of passage, not as an escape from the world, but as a return to it with softened defenses and renewed devotion to relationship.

Connect with Barnaby:
Website: marshmallowlaserfeast.com
Instagram: @marshmallowlaserfeast
LinkedIn: @marshmallowlaserfeast
Newsletter Signup: mailchi.mp/marshmallowlaserfeast/newsletter-signup
Mentioned in the episode:
Book: Existence, A Story by David Hinton
Video: Richard Feynman's story of "What's the name of a bird?"
White Mirror - The Sensory Wellness Agency Website: whitemirror.studio
Video: Samuel Barber - Adagio for Strings
Connect with the Center:
Website: wildspirituality.earth
Victoria's Website: victorialoorz.com
Email: [email protected]
Linktree: linktr.ee/ctrforwildspirituality
Instagram: @center_for_wild_spirituality
Timestamps:
00:00 — Introduction
06:57 — Interview Begins
08:24 — The Land That Raised Barnaby
11:17 — Existence Tissue
15:19 — Marshmallow Laser Feast
23:01 — Physical Reality Is Spiritual Reality
32:51 — How Experience Shifts Us
37:34 — Caring for Self Is Caring for All
41:40 — Virtual Reality & Expanding Empathy
45:56 — Changing Perception
49:26 — Patterns of Consciousness
53:19 — Falling in Love
57:11 — A Wild Invitation
58:58 — Credits

In this conversation, Victoria Loorz is joined by Rachel Fleming, climate scientist, former Environment Agency policy advisor, writer, educator, and part of the Animate Earth founding circle. Together they explore modern animism, the remembering of the “common wild tongue,” and what it means to rebuild intimacy with a living, intelligent world. Rachel shares her journey bridging climate science, holistic ecology, and spiritual practice, reflecting on the limits of purely technical or policy-based responses to ecological collapse. Through stories of place, trees, and faithful return, the conversation traces the long human exile from belonging and the quiet emergence of a different way of being human rooted in listening, love, and relationship. Weaving themes of grief, beauty, ancestral memory, and hope, this episode invites listeners to remember that transformation rarely begins with grand solutions, but with simple, devoted acts of attention that restore our capacity to speak with and listen to the living world.

Connect with Rachel:
Website: animate-earth.org
Substack: The Common Wild Tongue
Mentioned in the episode:
Stephan Harding pioneering Holistic Science
Colin Campbell: colincampbell.co.za
Monica Gagliano: monicagagliano.com
Anna Breytenbach: animalspirit.org
Oxford Real Farming Conference: orfc.org.uk
Nathanial Hughs & The School of Intuitive Herbalism: schoolofintuitiveherbalism.weedsintheheart.org.uk
Patrick MacManaway-The Land Whisperer: patrickmacmanaway.com
Dr. Lyla June Johnson: lylajune.com
Connect with the Center:
Website: wildspirituality.earth
Victoria's Website: victorialoorz.com
Email: [email protected]
Linktree: linktr.ee/ctrforwildspirituality
Instagram: @center_for_wild_spirituality
Timestamps:
07:26 – Interview begins with invocation
10:18 – The mountain that raised Rachel
14:37 – How Rachel comes to this work through science
19:57 – Holistic science
21:33 – Animate Earth
25:59 – The common wild tongue
31:10 – Bridging “woo”
35:09 – It is actually simple
38:20 – Evolution is a spiral
42:49 – The importance of subtle work
44:48 – Needed medicine
47:19 – Interconnection goes so deep
48:42 – The heart field
51:55 – Neighbor ash tree
55:38 – Rachel’s work
57:54 – Invitation to advocacy
59:53 – Credits

In this conversation, Debra Rienstra, PhD, author of Refugia Faith and professor of English at Calvin University, joins Victoria Loorz to explore refugia, a biological term for small pockets of life that survive widespread environmental stress and become sources of regeneration after collapse. Debra invites us to imagine these protected pockets are also in our communities as forms of sanctuary amid increasingly uninhabitable social, spiritual, and ecological conditions. Together, they reflect on how small gatherings rooted in love for the land can counter paralysis in the face of global crisis and rewild our sense of vocation and voice. They explore the spiritual risk of loving places we may not own or keep, while naming how restoration begins through intimate, connected acts of care that allow life to persist and return.

Connect with Debra:
Website: debrarienstra.com
Book: Refugia Faith: Seeking Hidden Shelters, Ordinary Wonders, and the Healing of the Earth
Newsletter: refugianewsletter.substack.com
Upcoming Book: Refugia Church (January 2027)
Mentioned in the episode:
Book: Great Tide Rising: Towards Clarity and Moral Courage in a time of Planetary Change by Kathleen Dean Moore
Organization: blackchurchfoodsecurity.net
Book: Here Comes the Sun: A Last Chance for the Climate and a Fresh Chance for Civilization by Bill McKibben
Encyclical Letter Laudato Si' of the Holy Father Francis on Care For Our Common Home
Encyclical Letter Fratelli Tutti of the Holy Father Francis on Fraternity and Social Friendship
Connect with the Center:
Website: wildspirituality.earth
Victoria's Website: victorialoorz.com
Email: [email protected]
Linktree: linktr.ee/ctrforwildspirituality
Instagram: @center_for_wild_spirituality
Timestamps:
00:00 — Introduction
03:48 — Refugia
08:58 — Finding My Small Work
11:44 — Deciding the Work Based on Context
14:33 — Examples of Human Refugia
20:21 — From Passivity to Citizenship
24:21 — Loving Places That Are Only Yours for a Time
29:36 — Choosing to Belong
31:59 — Grieving Reality Together
34:18 — Mitigation and Adaptation
40:02 — A Kalo Farmer in Relationship With the Land
43:04 — The Book of Nature & Pantheism Paranoia
46:30 — The Wild Edge
50:03 — Wild Invitation
53:24 — Credits

In this conversation, author of Earth and Soul: Reconnecting Amid Climate Chaos, speaker, retreat leader and longtime spiritual formation guide Leah Rampy joins Victoria Loorz to explore spirituality as a lived relationship to the natural world—where trees are kin, not symbols, and reciprocity replaces extraction. Leah reflects on her journey from corporate life into a decolonizing spirituality & leadership rooted in ecological belonging, sharing stories of black walnut trees, Wild Church as a practice of community and communion, and the slow unlayering of protective armor. Together, they reflect on how awe and grief must be held together, how the deepest forms of communion exceed language, and how remembering ourselves as part of a living, interwoven world can restore wholeness in a time of collective unraveling.

Connect with Leah:
Website: leahmoranrampy.com
Book: Earth and Soul
Book: Discovering the Spiritual Wisdom of Trees
Mentioned in the episode:
Shalem Institute
Connect with the Center:
Website: wildspirituality.earth
Victoria's Website: victorialoorz.com
Email: [email protected]
Linktree: linktr.ee/ctrforwildspirituality
Instagram: @center_for_wild_spirituality
Timestamps:
00:00 — Introduction
02:57 — Interview begins
04:36 — Leah’s background
07:30 — A calling to educate
11:38 — The power of storytelling
13:20 — The black walnut tree
17:05 — Decolonizing the soul
20:33 — Communication in community
23:26 — Seeking to know how we cause harm
27:05 — Bearing witness
28:39 — Church of the Wild: Two Rivers
33:59 — Love beyond words
35:08 — Communion
37:26 — Trees as ancient teachers of life
41:34 — Giving and receiving
46:33 — A wandering invitation
48:38 — Credits