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.
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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