u/SibyllaAzarica

The green burial boom is here — a huge "human composting" site just opened outside D.C., bringing a fast-growing, eco-friendly death care option close to home.

Why it matters: Maryland legalized human composting two years ago, paving the way for Earth Funeral to open one of the world's largest facilities in Howard County — giving East Coast families access to a process that often required transporting loved ones across the country.

The big picture: Human composting — formally known as "natural organic reduction" — transforms corpses into nutrient-rich soil using natural materials, airflow and controlled decomposition.

• Born in Washington state about a decade ago, it's gaining traction as an alternative to burial and cremation.

In short: One of Australia's largest natural burial grounds has opened on the NSW far south coast. Since December 2025, six bodies have been interred at Walawaani Way, with 93 plots so far sold.

What's next? The Australian Cemetery and Cremetoria Association says the number of natural burials is rising, but remains small compared to cremation and traditional methods.

What kind of spirits do you prefer to work with, and to what end? What makes them ideal for your work compared to others?

When a 9,000 year-old grave of a shaman was discovered in Nazi Germany, the discovery was quickly politicized to support Nazi propaganda. But new analysis shows that initial narrative was all wrong.

(Link also has the transcript if you'd rather not listen.)

A 92-year-old man has begun a 40-mile (64km) static cycle to raise money for the hospice that cared for his "true love".

Ken Johnson's wife Kate spent her final days at St Richard's Hospice, in April last year, after being diagnosed with mesothelioma - a rare cancer that develops in the thin tissue lining the lungs or abdomen.

The pair, from Broadway in Worcestershire, met in 1951 while working in the Royal Air Force in Germany. Soon after they were married and remained so for 72 years.

"It may take him a few weeks doing a few miles each day, but this challenge will give him a sense of purpose by fundraising to help others and as a thank you for looking after Mum," their son Simon said.

Thought this was an interesting read.

If so, how?

• A recent study documents medicinal plants used by Indigenous communities in West Sikkim, linking traditional healing to the conservation of sacred groves and monastery forests.
• The sacred groves in this region are reservoirs of medicinal plants, sustained through cultural and spiritual traditions.
• Researchers recorded plant-based remedies with local healers, though experts caution that such practices are mostly social in nature and not easily reduced to scientific metrics.

The sacred groves of India’s Himalayan region are home to a vast repository of medicinal plants. These culturally safeguarded spaces function as informal conservation areas, preserving medicinally important species while reinforcing community-led stewardship of biodiversity. Yet, despite their importance, both the ecological base and the knowledge systems associated with these groves remain largely undocumented and are increasingly vulnerable to erosion.

A recent study by botanists at Sikkim’s SRM University documents 70 medicinal plant species used by Lepcha, Bhutia, Nepali, Limbu and Tibetan communities to treat 35 ailments. Conducted between July 2022 and June 2024, the study recorded the ethnomedicinal practices of Indigenous communities and traditional healers across West Sikkim.

Biswajit Bose, the corresponding author of the study and Associate Professor of Botany at the university, says the documentation shows how culturally protected forest patches such as sacred groves, Gumpa forests and monastery Gumpa forests function as community-led conservation units for medicinal plant diversity in West Sikkim district. The village commons that preserve these groves demonstrate how traditional knowledge systems operate as conservation reserves. He adds that the study also offers “a baseline dataset for future pharmacological research”.

https://india.mongabay.com/2026/03/sacred-groves-anchor-traditional-healing-study/

"I thought the ceremony, at my mother’s cottage, would pass without a hitch. I don’t think she’d have been impressed by what followed …

If you’re looking for sound, practical advice on what happens when an elderly parent dies – the so-called “sadmin” – then you shouldn’t come to me because all the bits that went OK, my sister did, and all the bits that went unaccountably awry were when I got involved. If, however, you are looking for advice on the ceremony of ash-scattering, then I have loads, all of it learned five to 10 minutes after it would have been good to know."

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/may/05/the-day-had-come-to-scatter-my-mums-ashes-what-could-possibly-go-wrong

I don't mean portal in the sci-fi sense (unless you think you have done, in which case go right ahead and share...) but rather encountering one of those natural pockets where you pass through and it feels like you're in another weird dimension or something - and whoever you're with at the time can usually feel it, too.

Being on drugs and thinking you've entered a portal doesn't count...

Most shamanic cultures believe these thresholds exist and you can inadvertently wander through them... some say you can intentionally find and enter them.

Anyway, if you know what I'm talking about, we'd love to hear the deets!