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In this personal conversation, co-host LaNell Haydon steps from behind the mic to share her own spiritual journey from a questioning child in a working-class home to a world traveler, writer, and advocate for the sacred life within all beings.

LaNell reflects on how her early encounters with animal suffering and cultural conditioning opened her to a lifelong search for truth and oneness. Her stories of traveling across continents, from Europe, South America, to Africa, reveal how each encounter with the human and more-than-human world became a mirror for divine consciousness.

Through animals, she discovered what she calls “the divine inseparable from matter itself,” a revelation that transformed activism into reverence. Together with co-host Bernice Marie-Daly, LaNell explores what it means to awaken to the sacred in all of creation, to see through the eyes of every creature, and to remember that caring for the Earth and one another is not a task, but a way of being.

This episode is an intimate reflection on divine consciousness, service, and the living wholeness that connects us all. When we truly see, we see God everywhere.

*NOTE OF CORRECTION: In this episode, LaNell refers to a Bull that she knew on a farmed animal sanctuary, named Justice. Justice was a steer. The distinction being he was raised for the meat production industry, not for breeding.

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LaNell Haydon is a contemplative, spiritual and fiction writer, and a co-host of this podcast, From Stardust to Us, whose work explores inner transformation and collective healing. Her journey has taken her from the creative literary world in Los Angeles to animal sanctuaries in South Africa and Peru.

In the mid-1980s, with little more than a shoestring budget and a prayer, LaNell set out to see the world, arriving in Leningrad during the Soviet era before making her way through Europe. In 1989, she witnessed history as the Berlin Wall fell and traveled onward into the Eastern Bloc, absorbing cultures and perspectives that deepened her understanding of our shared humanity.

Travel soon became a form of service for her, volunteering at animal sanctuaries in Colorado, South America, and Africa. LaNell worked hands-on with rescued animals and came to recognize the unique intelligence and spirit within all beings. Later journeys to Kenya, India, and Scotland added to her understanding of the sacred.

In recent years, LaNell experienced a profound sense of oneness that revealed the divine as inseparable from matter itself. Through her forthcoming novel, her YouTube channel, and her blog, she reflects on our divine entanglement with all life. For LaNell, caring for animals, the Earth, and one another is a spiritual act of reverence for divine creation.

www.lanellhaydon.com

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Today, we are honored to welcome Angela Manno, an internationally recognized artist whose work bridges the worlds of science, spirituality, and ecology. Angela’s artistic journey has taken her from being commissioned by NASA to commemorate the return of U.S. space flight after the Challenger accident, to being invited by the Vatican to create a program for Laudato Si’ Week, Pope Francis’ landmark call to care for our common home.

Angela Manno is an award-winning artist based in New York City. She is a graduate of Bard College and studied art at the San Francisco Art Institute, Parsons School of Design, and l’Ecole des Arts in France. She trained with master iconographer Vladislav Andrejev in the ancient liturgical art of Byzantine-Russian iconography.

Angela Manno’s art has been featured in numerous solo and group exhibitions including the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, D.C, the Smithsonian Institution, the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, and other museums around the world. Her works reside in many private collections throughout the Americas, the Middle East, Europe, and Southeast Asia and in distinguished public collections including NASA and the Smithsonian Institution’s National Air & Space Museum.

Angela’s exhibition, Conscious Evolution: The World at One, toured internationally, inspiring more than a quarter of a million people, and her current series, Contemporary Icons of Threatened and Endangered Species, brings the ancient practice of iconography into one of the most urgent realities of our time: the biodiversity crisis.

Through her luminous icons, Angela elevates endangered species to their rightful place: the community of being--offering us an invitation to reverence, re-enchantment, and hope.

Preorder her Sacred Biodiversity Cards and Guidebook here.

https://angelamanno.com

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It’s been almost two years since our last conversation with John Roedel, an episode that quickly became one of our most listened-to.

This time, John returns to share the working title of his forthcoming book of poems and blessings, Anointing this Threshold. Keep an eye out for this beautiful new collection.

We also dive into his recent Substack post, Bloodlust Celibacy, where John confronts something haunting at the heart of America. What begins with an unexpected visit to a friend’s basement filled with guns unfolds into a reckoning with our nation’s addiction to violence and a culture where weapons are not only owned but celebrated.

Join us as we discover what has developed for John in his career and life in this heartfelt conversation.

John Roedel is a comic who unexpectedly gained notability as a writer and poet through his heartfelt Facebook conversations that went viral and became an Amazon best-selling book titled, Hey God. Hey John.

He is the author of eight books—Hey God. Hey John, Any Given Someday, Untied: The Poetry of What Comes Next, Remedy, Upon Departure, Fitting In is For Sardines, WonderAche, and his latest work, “And Now…A Word From Your Ghosts.”

Offering a sincere and very relatable look at his faith crisis, mental health, personal struggles, perception of our world, and even his fashion sense, John’s writing has been shared millions of times across social media and lauded by fans and readers worldwide. He teaches at universities and retreat centers across the US/Europe, blending his trademark comedy with creative exercises, journaling, dialogue, and introspection to help people fearlessly embrace and share their personal stories.

Find out more about John Roedel’s writing and writing retreats at www.johnroedel.com.

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John Deuel describes himself as a mystic pilgrim, spiritual director, and supervisor, roles he stepped into after closing out a 36-year career in high tech. In this conversation, John shares his journey from Catholic roots into the vocation of spiritual direction, the call of compassion at the heart of his work, and a “Merton moment” of oneness that continues to shape his path. We also explore how not to fear AI, and what it means to bring a contemplative spirit into a rapidly changing world.

Find out more about John Deuel's work at https://lvxfrms.org

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In this episode, we welcome Laura Lee and Paul Robear, Co-Directors of the Cuyamungue Institute, for a conversation that explores the deep intelligence of the body, the soul’s journey through collective darkness, and the call of a benevolent universe. As stewards of the embodied meditative practice of Ritual Postures, Paul and Laura Lee share insights from their global work with ancestral wisdom, ecstatic trance, and the quantum nature of consciousness. Together, we examine how body, spirit, and intuition converge to guide us home to who we truly are.

ABOUT PAUL & LAURA LEE ROBEAR

Paul & Laura Lee Robear are the Co-Directors of the Cuyamungue Institute, a 501-c-3 non-profit educational research institute founded by the late anthropologist Dr. Felicitas D Goodman in 1979. Under their leadership, the Institute has flourished as the world headquarters and international hub for the embodied meditative practice of Ritual Postures encoded in ancient art. They host weekly on-line experiential events, in-person workshops around the world, speak at academic conferences, and collaborate with researchers, artists, and cross-cultural wisdom keepers on various projects. As teachers, speakers, authors and changemakers, they share the story and age-old "access codes" to our collective legacy of ancestral and self-knowledge, made relevant for today's unprecedented challenges.

They continue to question and unravel the stories we as a culture tell ourselves about who we truly are. This is a quest that began with founding a multi-media company featuring Paul's book and video publishing and Laura's hosting of a popular nationally-syndicated radio talk show interviewing over 3,000 leading edge, mutli-disciplinary researchers.

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In this episode of From Stardust to Us, we speak with Tony Zelle, an Earth lawyer, author, and visionary, about the emergence of Earth Law: a transformative legal philosophy rooted in gratitude, reverence, and justice for the entire Earth community. Tony invites us to reimagine our legal systems through the lens of ecological interdependence, Indigenous wisdom, and spiritual presence. Together, we explore the limitations of current environmental law, the promise of the Rights of Nature, and the possibility of a new ecological social contract that honors both the human and more-than-human world.

To find out about his upcoming course, Earth Law for All, sponsored by Deeptime Network please visit www.dtnetwork.org.

Find out more about Tony Zelle’s legal work at www.earthlawpractice.com

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Anthony Robert Zelle, Esq.

Tony is an Earth lawyer. While serving as Chair and President of the Earth Law Center, following 30 years in private practice trying cases and arguing appeals, he served as lead editor and author of the only comprehensive book on the subject: Earth Law: Emerging Ecocentric Law-A Guide for Practitioners. Developed for law school curricula, and now part of developing LLM programs internationally, the book has also become the primary reference source for practitioners.

The focus of Tony's current work is developing Earth law in practice and creating revenue-generating opportunities for Earth lawyers.

Learn more about Tony’s journey from a recent Boston College Law School Magazine profile, Voice for the Earth.

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In Part 2 of our conversation with writer and contemplative guide Leslye Colvin, we continue exploring the long arc of colonization, the myth of “unprecedented times,” and the intergenerational trauma many of us carry. Leslye reflects on the enduring power of Jesus’s words and what they ask of us in an age of cruelty, division, and longing for healing. This episode is an invitation into sacred space, collective remembrance, and the courage it takes to live in solidarity with those on the margins.

Leslye Colvin is a writer, contemplative activist, spiritual companion, and retreat facilitator. She is a native of Alabama, the ancestral lands of the Muskogee.

Inspired by the tradition of Catholic social teaching, she is passionate about encouraging diversity of thought especially as it relates to those often marginalized within the community. Leslye has extensive experience in promoting the mission and expanding outreach of a variety of sectors including faith-based nonprofits.

She has been published and interviewed by national and international media on the flawed construct of race. Through her research, she reveals contemplative writer Thomas Merton as anti-racist. Her blog, Leslye’s Labyrinth, features writing that transcends her African-American Catholic heart.

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In Part 1 of our conversation with writer, spiritual companion, and contemplative activist Leslye Colvin, we explore the roots of her faith, her family’s journey toward Catholicism, her reflection on Jesus's words, "Father forgive them for they know not what they do," and the long arc of colonization. This is a rich and reflective dialogue on belonging, courage, and the power of presence.

Leslye Colvin is a writer, contemplative activist, spiritual companion, and retreat facilitator. She is a native of Alabama, the ancestral lands of the Muskogee.

Inspired by the tradition of Catholic social teaching, she is passionate about encouraging diversity of thought especially as it relates to those often marginalized within the community. Leslye has extensive experience in promoting the mission and expanding outreach of a variety of sectors including faith-based nonprofits.

She has been published and interviewed by national and international media on the flawed construct of race. Through her research, she reveals contemplative writer Thomas Merton as anti-racist. Her blog, Leslye’s Labyrinth, features writing that transcends her African-American Catholic heart.

With thanks and gratitude for all of our listeners.