Indigenous Wisdom For the Edges of Western Spirituality with Randy Woodley

In this conversation with Victoria Loorz, Randy Woodley shares stories from his Cherokee lineage, his mother’s deep communion with plants and animals, and his decades of land based ministry at Eloheh Farm. Together they explore why many today stand on the "inside and outside edges" of the Christian story, the collapse of institutional religion, and how Creator often works through seasons of chaos. Woodley describes this era as a time of composting, where old systems break down so more relational and grounded ways of being can emerge. He invites listeners to let go of rigid categories and doctrines and return to what he calls our original human vocation: co-sustaining the community of creation through simple acts of love, reciprocity, and right relationship, where meals become communion, tending becomes prayer, and all beings are kin.

Rev. Dr. Randy Woodley, Ph.D., is a farmer, activist scholar, speaker, teacher, and Indigenous wisdom keeper whose work spans spirituality, justice, culture, racial diversity, regenerative farming, and our relationship with the Earth. 

Connect with Randy: 

• Book: Becoming Rooted: One Hundred Days of Reconnecting with Sacred Earth
• Book: How Western Christian Got It Wrong (Forthcoming)
• Substack: @rwoodley7
• Personal Website: randywoodley.com
• Eloheh Website: eloheh.org

Mentioned in the episode:

• Documentary: The Year The Earth Changed

Connect with the Center:

• Website: wildspirituality.earth
• Victoria's Website: victorialoorz.com
• Email: hello@wildspirituality.earth
• Linktree: linktr.ee/ctrforwildspirituality
• Instagram: @center_for_wild_spirituality

Timestamps:

• 00:00 – Introduction
• 06:35 – Interview Starts
• 08:14 – The Land Who Raised Randy
• 10:08 – Academy Experience
• 11:53 – Eloheh
• 12:50 – Bridging Across the Edges
• 15:09 – Widespread Abandonment of Institutionalized Western Religion
• 19:05 – Replacing the Programs with Relationship
• 23:56 – Co-Sustainers
• 27:06 – Finding New Language
• 31:15 – Becoming Rooted
• 35:33 – Repairing the Separations
• 37:57 – Seeds Are Our Treasure
• 39:29 – The War on Indigenous Lands
• 41:58 – Create Human Rights for the Earth
• 43:40 – Sacred Clowns
• 46:14 – Sacred Invitation