Sounds of SAND

Researcher, author, and PhD candidate Chiara Baldini has spent two decades tracing the roots of ecstatic culture in Europe — from the rituals of Dionysus all the way back to Bronze Age Crete and the ancient Minoans, a civilization that thrived for over a thousand years before classical Greece. In this conversation, Chiara makes a compelling case that the Minoans may have been the only advanced civilization of their era not built on domination — their palaces functioning as community spaces rather than elite residencies, their frescoes showing priestesses, dolphins, and bull-jumping athletes rather than kings and conquest. She explores what their art, architecture, and animist relationship to nature might offer us now — not as a culture to imitate, but as proof that patriarchy is not inevitable, and that a radically different set of values has thrived before.

Chiara Baldini is a scholar, author, speaker and freelance curator from Florence (Italy). She investigates the evolution of the ecstatic cult in the West, particularly in Minoan Crete, ancient Greece, and Rome, contributing to anthologies, psychedelic conferences, and festivals. She was a member of the Boom Festival team since 2010 and the curator of Boom’s cultural area Liminal Village from 2014 to 2023. She has co-curated the anthology “Psychedelic Mysteries of the Feminine.” She is currently a PhD candidate at the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS). She lives in Portugal and she expresses her deep love for music by playing as DJ Clandestina.

Topics

00:00 Welcome

02:02 Reconnecting with Chiara and Recent Life Changes

03:31 Dionysus and Ecstatic Traditions

06:38 Going Back to the Minoans

10:07 Bronze Age Patriarchy and War

18:02 Minoan Palaces and Community Life

21:18 Frescoes Dolphins and Priestesses

26:34 Seal Rings and Undeciphered Script

32:18 Bull Jumping and Gender Fluidity

37:20 Why Minoans Matter Today

44:31 Modern Crete LARPing and Animism

49:30 Courses, Books and Closing

Resources & Links

Chiara Baldini

Website & contact

Instagram: @iamalwayschiara

Academia

Facebook

Soundcloud

Psychedelic Mysteries of the Feminine (co-edited with Maria Papaspyrou and David Luke) — available via Inner Traditions

Dionysus: Rave, Ritual and Revolution — online course (advaya)

Minoan Crete course — online course (advaya)

Power Without Patriarchy: Minoan Crete — online course (Morbid Anatomy)

Dionysus course — Morbid Anatomy

Psychedelic Mysteries of the Feminine (co-edited with Maria Papaspyrou and David Luke) — available via Inner Traditions

Chiara's earlier SAND talk (2019)

Books mentioned

The Chalice and the Blade — Riane Eisler — the foundational text on dominator vs. partnership societies, essential context for this conversation

Key figures discussed

Arthur Evans — Wikipedia — British archaeologist who excavated Knossos beginning in 1900, named the Minoan civilization, and controversially reconstructed the palace

The Prince of the Lilies fresco — the contested Knossos fresco Chiara discusses as an example of Evans projecting masculine elite identity onto ambiguous fragments

Knossos Palace, Crete — the largest Bronze Age archaeological site on Crete, centerpiece of Minoan culture

Institutions mentioned

CIIS — California Institute of Integral Studies — where Chiara is completing her PhD in Philosophy, Cosmology and Consciousness

Boom Festival — transformational arts festival where Chiara curated the Liminal Village cultural area for over a decade

Connect with more talks and films from the SAND film Series The Eternal Song

Support the mission of SAND and the production of this podcast by becoming a SAND Member

Recorded live at a SAND Community Gathering (March 2026).

Something is cracking open in the spiritual and wellness world; and it has been for a while. Have wisdom traditions containing genuine gifts been composted into a product that only serves the very forces those traditions were born to resist?

It is no news that some powerful spiritual leaders with devoted followers have, for a long time, abused that power for dominance and, in many cases, for sexual exploitation. The Epstein files are not an interruption to the pattern; they are the pattern, made suddenly impossible to scroll past.

We want to reflect on the conditions—not just the men, not just the crimes, but the architecture of silence that held it all in place. What kind of spiritual culture produces that silence? What kind of spiritual culture makes it possible to look at harm and call it a lesson in perception? What has gone awry with our approach to spirituality when the latter can be used as a cover for abuse? How come much of the therapeutic and spiritual communities remain silent in the face of crimes witnessed by the entire world?

To explore these and related issues, this discussion brought together mytho-poetic spiritual teacher Bayo Akomolafe Ph.D., writer & podcaster Matthew Remsiki, author & playwright V, spiritual teacher & psychologist Tara Brach and author & physician Gabor Maté in a wide-ranging discussion that will also invite audience participation.

The intention is to leave participants encouraged to find the spiritual inner strength needed to pursue truth without losing discrimination in the process, without giving away their power; to discuss compassionately, without judgment but with clarity, what the Epstein revelations can tell us about who we are, about our culture, and about the nature of how we construct reality; to move beyond a so-called equanimity and “non-attachment” that is indistinguishable from numbness and passivity in the face of harm, in the face of evil.

Topics:



00:00 Welcome and Intentions

01:30 Opening Prayer and Invocation

08:38 Ashe and Grace in the Fire

12:26 Guided Breath and Heart Presence

16:14 Moderator Sets the Context

18:44 Pat on Accountability and Betrayal

23:00 Bayo on Rage and Virtue

28:52 Tara on Cult Silence and Bystanders

35:46 V on Sacrifice and Reporting Systems

44:53 Matthew on Critique and Accountability Research

50:40 Key Question Abusive Teachers

52:50 Residential School Aftermath

54:51 Prep School Indoctrination

56:25 Deep Truth From Flaws

58:12 Tourettes And Moral Switch

01:01:01 Charisma And Inner Circles

01:04:34 Privilege Patriarchy Power

01:08:03 Architecture Of Silence

01:13:12 Anger Grief And Courage

01:18:08 Indigenous Survival And Trickster

01:22:56 Speaking Out And Fugitivity

01:27:09 Spirituality’s Inward Turn

01:32:52 Accountability And Healing

01:35:53 Closing

Links:

Gabor Maté – https://drgabormate.com/

Bayo Akomolafe – https://www.bayoakomolafe.net/

Pat McCabe – https://www.patmccabe.net/

Tara Brach – https://www.tarabrach.com

V (formerly Eve Ensler) – https://www.eveensler.org

Matthew Remski – https://matthewremski.com/

Watch the full video of this conversation – https://scienceandnonduality.com/event/the-architecture-of-silence-in-spiritual-culture/

Support the work of SAND and the production of this podcast by becoming a SAND Member

Recorded live at SAND's Wisdom of the Ancestors event for the launch of the film series The Eternal Song, four powerful voices converge to address colonization, extractivism, and ecological injustice — and what it takes to move toward healing. Moderated by Rae Abileah, social change strategist, Jewish faith leader, and co-creator of the global Climate Ribbon art ritual.

Abby Reyes, author of Truth Demands and Director of Community Resilience at UC Irvine, shares her harrowing personal story of the 1999 murders of her partner and colleagues near U'wa territory in Colombia, and a landmark recent Inter-American Court victory for Indigenous collective rights. Osprey Orielle Lake, founder of WECAN International and author of The Story Is in Our Bones, brings a worldview-shifting lens to the climate crisis as a justice and relational emergency. And Casey Camp-Horinek, elder, actress, and Hereditary Drumkeeper of the Ponca Nation, grounds the conversation in Indigenous sovereignty and the Rights of Nature. Together they call for community-rooted action, mutual aid, and what they name "post-traumatic growth."

Topics:

00:00 Host Welcome and Land Acknowledgment

03:12 Session Theme and Intentions

04:48 Meet the Panelists

08:10 Why We Are Here

18:59 Indigenous Rights and Knowledge

25:14 Casey on Nature and Purification

34:29 Abby Story and Legal Victory

43:56 Meaningful Action and Getting Started

50:32 Community Practice and Post Traumatic Growth

57:58 Closing Reflections and Thanks

Resources

Rae Abileah

CreateWell — Website

Beautiful Trouble Bio

Abby Reyes

Website

Truth Demands — Penguin Random House

UC Irvine Community Resilience

Osprey Orielle Lake

WECAN International

The Story Is in Our Bones — New Society Publishers

Casey Camp-Horinek

Movement Rights Bio

SAND Feature

Connect with more talks from The Wisdom of the Ancestors in the SAND film Series The Eternal Song

Support the mission of SAND and the production of this podcast by becoming a SAND Member

Patty Krawec is Ojibwe Anishinaabe, a retired social worker, and author of Becoming Kin and her new book Bad Indians Book Club. In this conversation she explores kinship beyond blood, land as ancestor, and why reading together — slowly, in community — might be one of the most quietly radical things we can do right now.

Topics

00:00 Introduction

00:56 Meeting Patty Krawec

02:00 Land Lineage Roots

04:17 Becoming Kin Origins

06:43 Bad Indians Book Club

10:12 Reindigenizing The Future

14:55 Reclaiming The Word

20:28 Reading Together Power

25:06 Attention In The Feed

25:27 Relearning Deep Reading

26:10 Notebook Trick for Focus

26:54 Building a Genre Mosaic

29:00 Indigenous Horror and Futures

31:53 Read Widely Use Libraries

32:18 Curated Lists and Book Browsing

34:26 Bookstore Serendipity

36:30 AI Pushes Us Offline

38:18 Books as Time Alchemy

41:58 Ghost the System Together

44:10 Deep Time Reading Lineage

47:14 New Projects and Ojibwe Stories

49:59 Thanks and Farewell

Resources

a thousand worlds

Medicine for the Resistance

Why We Are Both Oppressed and Oppressor: Patty Krawec



Becoming Kin

Bad Indians Book Club






The Eternal Song



Support the mission of SAND and the production of this podcast by becoming a SAND Member

Recorded from a live SAND Gathering (February 2026). From Los Angeles to Minneapolis, communities are turning toward one another in a time of uncertainty, remembering that care begins close to home. Beyond public action, quieter networks of support are taking root: block-by-block relationships grounded in land, lineage, and love.

This gathering explores how spiritual practice, trauma-aware care, and neighborhood organizing are being woven together as living traditions. We ask what it looks like to shift our energy from reactive mobilization toward steady, proactive organizing that can sustain us for the long haul. Drawing from Indigenous memory, Black freedom traditions, diasporic Jewish practices of care, and contemporary grassroots work, we reflect on how mutual care—feeding one another, tending grief, protecting children, honoring the dead—can be reclaimed as daily sacred practice.

This is a conversation about blending spiritual practice and movement practice; about thinking smaller, closer, and more relational; and about learning from quiet, resilient forms of organizing that move people from isolation into coordinated courage.

This conversation invites attunement: How do we stay grounded in grief without collapsing? How do we strengthen relationships across differences? How do small, steady acts of care help communities move from fear toward shared courage?

This is an invitation to listen to the wisdom already alive in our histories, our bodies, and our neighborhoods.

Topics

00:00 Welcome and Context

02:33 Grounding Breath Practice

03:22 Why We Gather Now

05:19 Meet the Speakers

07:36 Lyila June on Collapse

09:12 Chaco Canyon Lesson

12:36 Kaira Jewel on Flow

16:39 Rejoicing and Ancestors

20:04 Rabbi Jessica in Minneapolis

24:54 Sacred Geography and Duty

29:59 Lyla June on Forgiveness

36:22 Liberation for Everyone

37:32 Grace and Sobriety Story

39:06 Jewish Wisdom and Mutual Care

41:27 Feasting Fuels Mutual Aid

45:53 Spirituality Is Not Neutral

49:11 Sacred Criticism and Fierce Love

53:49 Mycelium and Small Acts

59:51 Resources and Community Questions

01:03:30 Heart Practice for Overwhelm

01:06:17 Reweaving Interdependence

01:08:46 Warrior Love Closing

01:14:31 Final Announcements and Farewell

Decolonial Mental Health Practice: Clinical and Ethical Insights from Palestine with Dr. Samah Jabr (March 1, 8, 15 & 22, 2026 • 9:00 – 11:00am PST online with SAND)

Please consider donating to Rabbi Jessica’s GoFundMe campaign in support of students at Roosevelt High School in Minneapolis. The students are using creative arts to process the trauma of recent encounters involving ICE and U.S. Border Patrol.

In collaboration with local artists, they are developing an art installation intended to uplift and inspire both the school community and their neighbors, while continuing to advocate for justice and safety for all. This project offers a meaningful way to strengthen community bonds and foster collective healing.

Support the mission of SAND and the production of this podcast by becoming a SAND Member