Unshod with D. Firth Griffith – Details, episodes & analysis

In this fourth episode of The Cunning Farmer, Todd Elliott and I tromp-on through Chapter 4 (The Moon, Mistress of Magic) of his pivotal book, The Cunning Farmer: Agrarian Magical Practices, Mythology, and Folklore, discussing Lunar magic, Moon phases and Mansions, and how to integrate the Lunar Calendar into your agricultural practices.

Learn more about our new podcast: The Language of Irish Mythology Podcast.

Join the Unshod Substack (for free) and commune with us! 

Purchase The Cunning Farmer HERE.

Learn more about Daniel’s work HERE.

Books Mentioned:

The Complete Picatrix

777 & Other Qabalistic Writings of Aleister Crowley

Mansions of the Moon

On the Heavenly Spheres

Todd's Moon Signs Substack

A guide to restoring the ancient relationship between farming and magic

• Explores how to reconnect with nature and use practical, nature-based magic for gardening and farming, fertility, and abundance
• Examines Moon work, plant magic, forest deities, Earth energies, weather magic, the cosmology of ritual, and how to work with land spirits
• Discusses folk magic traditions of North America and Western Europe, including the grimoire tradition, Western esotericism, alchemy, Kabbalah, and shamanism as well as Taoist principles and Reiki

Magic and farming, in the minds of ancient people, were not separate realms of life, but both were woven inextricably into the way people lived. Through libations, prayers, hymns, dances, sacrifices, and rituals, ancient farmers connected to the sacred forces, the gods, nature spirits, and ancestors to make the crops grow, keep the herds healthy, the weather favorable, and release energies of fertility. These rural farmer priests and priestesses of the ancient past are the spiritual ancestors of today’s cunning farmers.

This book explores folk magic traditions of North America and Western Europe, including the grimoire tradition and the practices of witches and cunning folk for increased fertility. Todd draws on Western esotericism, Taoist principles, alchemy, Kabbalah, Reiki, and shamanism to show how to use practical, nature-based magic, just like our ancestors, for more abundant gardening and farming. He shows how to work with land spirits, including meeting the place spirit of your land—the genius loci. He also explores working with Earth and Moon energies, plant magic and forest deities, and ritual. Learn how to deepen your connection to elemental and celestial forces and explore the idea of rewilding the imagination to enhance your relationship with nature and the spirits that call it home.

In this third episode of The Cunning Farmer, Todd Elliott and I tromp-on through Chapter 3 (First Principles of a Magical Worldview) of his pivotal book, The Cunning Farmer: Agrarian Magical Practices, Mythology, and Folklore, diving first into the idea of a living layered cosmos and then progressing into the notions of Platonic and Hermetic systems of astrology as both a spiritual avenue and practical farming system. 

Pre-Order The Way of Salmon Moon HERE.

Join the Unshod Substack (for free) and commune with us! 

Purchase The Cunning Farmer HERE.

Learn more about Daniel’s work HERE.

In this episode of God Is Red, we walk through Chapter 5 of Taylor's book, Rediscovering Turtle Island. Taylor (Omaha / Cherokee) guides us through the sacred site of Pahuk—known to the Pawnee as an "animal lodge" and to neighboring nations as a holy hill. We trace how a place becomes a teacher: a river crossing near a mound that echoes an earthen-lodge, a spring tied to underworld passages, an oak savanna forming a threshold. The landscape isn’t backdrop; it’s scripture, sanctuary, and archive.

Learn more about Taylor's work HERE.

Purchase Rediscovering Turtle Island HERE.

Learn more about Daniel's work HERE.

In this 9th installment of the God is Red series, Taylor Keen (Omaha / Cherokee) takes us deep into his book, Rediscovering Turtle Island. We look straight at the American habit of loving the “passing Indian” while resisting Indigenous knowledge when it asks us to change how we farm, worship, and govern. The reckoning hurts. It also heals.

Learn more about Taylor's work HERE.

Purchase Rediscovering Turtle Island HERE.

Learn more about Daniel's work HERE.

In this yarn, Indie author Kyle McLindsey and Daniel pull back the curtain on how taste gets manufactured, how attention gets priced, and why so many “hot” reads feel the same.

If you care about indie publishing, authentic storytelling, and writing that resists the consensus, this is a conversation to sit with. Listen, share it with a friend who reads slowly, and tell us in a review where you draw your own line between voice and virality. Then subscribe because the algorithm told you to...

Learn more about Kyle's book HERE.

Visit our community HERE.

In this 8th installment of the God is Red series, Taylor Keen (Omaha / Cherokee) takes us deep into his book, Rediscovering Turtle Island. We discuss the idea of an Indigenous Atlantis, diving into the sacred and ancient migration myths about "an Island in the east," and finish the dialogue on a study of the American Founding Fathers.

Learn more about Taylor's work HERE.

Purchase Rediscovering Turtle Island HERE.

Learn more about Daniel's work HERE.

In this 7th installment of the God is Red series, Taylor Keen (Omaha / Cherokee) takes us deep into his book, Rediscovering Turtle Island. We discuss the idea of Indigenous civilization, Alexis De Tocqueville's view of the "pride of the native american," and why an Indigenous Cosmogenesis is so important for our world today--that the divine lives in all of us. 

Whether you're indigenous to the Land below your feet or not, these ancient stories offer profound perspective on what it means to live in right relationship with land, community, and Spirit. They remind us that mythology isn't just about preserving the past—it's about creating possibilities for a more beautiful future.

Learn more about Taylor's work HERE.

Purchase Rediscovering Turtle Island HERE.

Learn more about Daniel's work HERE.

In this 6th installment of the God is Red series, Taylor Keen (Omaha / Cherokee) takes us deep into the womb of Earth Mother to explore the ancient and living stories preserved in Picture Cave, a sacred site containing Siouan rock art dating back 1,000 years. The first half of the episode is a passionate storytelling that bridges millennia, where Taylor unveils the cosmology of his ancestors through vivid tales of First Man, First Woman, Morning Star, and the Thunder Twins.

As Taylor explains, these aren't distant myths but encoded memories that continue to resonate in the blood and spirit of indigenous peoples today. The conversation then unfurls into why ancient peoples sought to document oral traditions in rock...

Whether you're indigenous to the Land below your feet or not, these ancient stories offer profound perspective on what it means to live in right relationship with land, community, and Spirit. They remind us that mythology isn't just about preserving the past—it's about creating possibilities for a more beautiful future.

Learn more about Taylor's work HERE.

Learn more about Daniel's work HERE.

In this Unshod yarn, Veronica Stanwell of RootedHealing and Daniel explore the themes of community, intentional/slow living, and the importance of stories and ceremonies in our lives. We dialogue about the challenges of modernity, the impact of technology in our little and mammal lives, and the need to reclaim our roots.

Veronica shares her experiences living in community in the Southwest of the British Isle, while she also emphasizes the significance of slowing down and participating in embodied practices, from story to ceremony. 

The conversation centers on the interplay between storytelling and ceremony, and the potential for these embodied memberings to foster healing and transformation in such a modern, fast-paced world. 

Toward the end, we also get to explore the themes of interconnectivity and language, and the importance of reciprocal relationships with nature using our syllabaries. Touching on animism and ancient languages as a deepening to our connection to the land and our ancestors, while also reflecting on the limitations of modern language.

About Veronica: As a multidisciplinary healing + creative arts practitioner, Veronica weaves her love for embodied ecology, land lore, ceremony and song into intimate explorations for connection, healing and growth.  MSc studentship in Consciousness + Transpersonal Psychology with the Alef Trust, alongside work with Rooted Healing (as founder + director), are driven by her fascination with the fabric of life and our belonging within it.  Veronica's background in professional theatre continues to guide her work, carrying reverence for the power of story, music, expression, catharsis and playfulness. Her longing for a collective intimate relationship with life is apparent and contagious. She serves to remind you that we belong and that the mystery of life is worth falling in love with, again and again.

Learn more about RootedHealing HERE.

Learn more about Daniel's work HERE.

Taylor Keen returns for the fifth installment of the God is Red series to explore indigenous mythology, storytelling, and our cosmic origins carried in ancient rock art and cave paintings.

Episode website HERE.