Blog * Chiron Communications

Your actual, real-time Odyssey parallels this Summer’s ‘blockbuster’ film

June 7, 2026 by Steven McFadden Leave a Comment

My freely available epic, nonfiction saga Odyssey of the 8th Fire is drawing increased attention now, as film director Christopher Nolan prepares to release what he says will be one of this summer’s blockbuster films: The Odyssey, the classic tale attributed to Homer. That’s because the true 8th Fire adventure involves everyone.

Like Homer’s Odyssey, the nonfiction 8th Fire tale tells the story of a long, adventurous journey: an eight-month, 2,500 mile walk from the Eastern Door at the Atlantic Ocean toward the Western Gate at the Pacific.

Rather than one hero, the true 8^th Fire Odyssey involved many people from many of America’s cultural and spiritual traditions. The quest is not over. We are all still on the journey, step by step, paso a paso.

In their time and place the walkers felt that in many important ways they symbolically represented all of the people, and that they also were a part of a great transition that we are all going through, from one historic epoch to a new one.

As well as the true tale of the pilgrims’ travels on foot, Odyssey of the 8th Fire is the essential story of their meetings with dozens of traditional, learned elders of Turtle Island (North America). The elders gifted the walkers with messages to deliver to the people of the Americas for this era of transition.

Recently updated, Odyssey of the 8th Fire now includes a musical rendition of the poetic Invocation for this true-life odyssey – a call to the 8^th Generation Arising.

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New and improved: Classical Considerations

May 14, 2026 by Steven McFadden Leave a Comment

NEW AND IMPROVED – Not the classics themselves of course (as if), but rather Classical Considerations, one of my slender gift books — a Soul*Spark that explores the relevance of classical knowings to our present era through the considerations of Professor John H. Finley, Jr.

As of this month (May 2026) I finally got around to putting a new cover on this sustainable Soul*Spark, and reformatting it, too.

It’s a small treasure for contemplation or for gifting (80 pp), available in print, ebook, and audio formats.

Opas!

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Behold the Light: Farms, Photons, Futures

April 17, 2026 by Steven McFadden Leave a Comment

“Here is a concept from Iroquois cosmology which might explain many physical phenomena: Light has awareness, light has consciousness. Light has its own life.” — Doug George-Kanentiio, Akwesasne Mohawk

As we may clearly behold, in all ways light is both extrinsic and intrinsic to our lives.

BEHOLD THE LIGHT. Researchers have created an image of a single photon.

BEHOLD THE LIGHT. Researchers have now created an image of a single photon.

Especially consequential in one key circle of considerations, light is a prime factor for land, farms, farmers, and food. We human beings need and eat a lot of light.

Back in 1905, the same year that Albert Einstein proposed the Theory of Special Relativity (E=MC2), he also identified what he called a “light quantum,” a single unit of light.

Today we call these basic, natural units of light, photons. As has recently come into focus, researchers have developed a theory that, astonishingly, made it possible to create an image of a single photon.

The theory that made this image possible, reported in the journal Physical Review Letters, enables scientists to calculate and understand more about photonic properties — opening a range of possibilities across fields such as quantum computing, and photovoltaic devices.

As the atom is a fundamental unit of matter, so the photon is a fundamental unit of light. Yet photons display properties of both waves and particles. This quantum behavior of light is well established, with over 100 years of experiments showing that light can and does express in both particle and wave form.

Our understanding of this quantum nature has much further to go — the great contemporary adventure of exploring subtle realms previously regarded as purely mystical.

How do light and matter interact at the quantum level? That’s a question not just for theoreticians and technologists, but also for our ambassadors to the earth: the women and men who touch the earth on our behalf and grow the food we eat. Those who prepare the food with hands and tools also engage with light forces, consciously or unconsciously.

Thank you light workers

As has long been readily seen, various qualities of light are integral in nature as well as in technology. This is where the ideas explored in my book Deep Agroecology: Farms, Food, and Our Future come into focus. Through disciplines such as biodynamics, quantum agriculture, and real organics, pioneering farmers are gaining in their understanding and engagement with light forces. In this manner these pioneers enhance and enrich the land, our food, and our lives.

Some of these evolving approaches to working intelligently and skillfully with photon streams of light are considered in Chapter 4 of Deep Agroecology.

Biophotons—The sparks of light and life generated from within biological systems are called biophotons. They are used by and stored in all organisms, including the food we eat, the water we drink, the air we breathe, and our bodies—the physical temples in which our spirits dwell.

You can imagine the ongoing, invisible biophotonic dance between us and the rest of the world. Take a relaxed breath and there it is.

When our food is vibrant with high-quality life energy (biophotons), that energy is absorbed and becomes part of us, in addition to the material substances of vitamins and minerals. Recognition and engagement with this reality for farmers and diners makes a subtle but important difference.

In matters biophotonic, of course, quality as much as quantity is consequential.

The importance of biophotonic life force, usually spoken of as basic life force, has been known for centuries around the world. In China it is referenced as chi, in Japan as ki. The Sanskrit term is prana. The Huichol people of the Sierra Madre mountains in the western states of Mexico speak of it as kupuri. Other native peoples of the Americas as well as around the world know it by other names. In recent decades, especially since the wide acceptance of acupuncture and Reiki with their understandings of human energy systems, Western science has increasingly recognized the reality of the animating life force.

Light and Life—Fritz Albert Popp was among the first Western investigators to theorize that this light must come, at least in part, from the foods we eat. The more light a food is able to store and to convey, the more nutritious it is. Naturally grown fresh fruits and vegetables, for example, are rich in biophotons.

Biophotons elevate an organism—such as your physical body—to a higher oscillation (vibe). If you eat fresh, clean food grown on healthy, natural, biophoton-rich land, you are supporting your body at a higher, healthier vibe.

That’s how I see the light.

THANKS – and a bouquet of floral biophotons to M. Kelley Hunter of Helia Star for flipping the photon ON switch in her recent newsletter.

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Our Collective Odyssey: Song and Story for the Generations Arising

January 29, 2026 by Steven McFadden Leave a Comment

This blog post marks the 30^th anniversary of the suspended steps of the Sunbow 5 Walk for the Earth (aka Odyssey of the 8^th Fire). Those historic steps were pressed into shifting beach sands on February 2, 1996, several miles downcoast of North America’s anciently honored Western Gate on the shore of the Pacific Ocean.

For reasons related to our current moments in time, that long-ago multicultural, multifaith sunbow odyssey remains relevant, resonant, and incomplete.

Whirling Rainbow (sunbow)

The sunbow pilgrimage followed the path of the Sun from east to west—in ways similar to the celebrated Walk for Peace now underway from west to east. It serves as metaphor and example for all of us right now as we swiftly progress through turbulence into a new time. Choose it or not, we’re all on personal and collective pathways of change. We’ve been cast onto an uncertain cultural, economic, governmental, environmental, and spiritual journey – an odyssey of our individual and collective souls.

Where are we going? Visions will lead the way, as ever. With cold, dry, controlling visions authored by billionaire techno-bullies now predominating—and hope declining grievously among younger people—we need healthy visions. The true North American story of the 8^th Fire represents one such vision: a vision arising from the deepest roots of our land, a vision that embraces and honors all the healthy possibilities inherent in the different colors and faiths of people who have come to inhabit Turtle Island (North America). There are miles to go for all, and many more sparks to be struck.

To mark this 30^th anniversary of our long walk, I’ve added singing and orchestration to the Invocation for Odyssey of the 8^th Fire. With respect, I invite you to check out my venerable (2007) story-telling web site, and to listen. Epilogue coming later this year. < 8thFire.net >

Nota Bene: The heroic journey-odyssey theme is very much front and center culturally. Check out the trailer for Christopher Nolan’s new film, The Odyssey, set for release as a summer blockbuster, July, 2026.

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Musical Invocation: Odyssey of the 8th Fire

January 15, 2026 by Steven McFadden 2 Comments

ANTHEM FOR AN EMERGING ERA – This is my first song ever. I wrote the lyrics over 20 years ago as the Invocation for my epic, nonfiction saga of the Americas in transition: Odyssey of the 8th Fire < 8thFire.net > Then this week I logged on to Suno.com – an AI platform for music creation. I plugged in the lyrics, made some artistic choices, and voila: a soul-stirring anthem for some of the core ancestral teachings of the Americas — teachings acutely relevant to our present moments of history. My lyrics are printed below.

INVOCATION – Odyssey of the 8th Fire

A way ya, nyen tow
A way ya, nyen tow
A way ya, nyen tow
Ho way – Ya

Sing in me muses and prophets
Sing in me of the fires,
Seven times having burned

Sing of sparks
Struck by the steps
Of the sunbow pilgrims

Sing of trials, triumphs, and teachings
Sing of sacred places
and sacred ways

Sing in beauty
of all that may be revealed
for the eighth generation and beyond now arise

Sing in us of the sparks
And the 8th Fire arising

A way ya – ho!
A way ya – ho!

Meegwich Mishomis

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Marvelous Meme Museum Makes Memories

January 10, 2026 by Steven McFadden Leave a Comment

In recent years the web-birthed form of communication known as “memes” has become a creative outlet for me. By combining an image with a few words to create a meme, anyone can bring an idea into sharp focus. By now I’ve probably created several hundred memes over the last 8-10 years, relying on the talented photographers of Pixabay, and the design capabilities of Canva.

The memes in my digital museum bring to light some of the ideas in the books I’ve authored. Yet by now the memes are scattered across the Internet like individual digital snowflakes. I felt the memes, at least some of them, deserved to be gathered in one place. Thus, with a wink and a nod, I established and continue to develop Chiron’s Museum of Marvelous Memes – Now with 8 Online Galleries.

With a beguiling sample of the four memes posted below, I now cordially invite you to enter My Marvelous Meme Museum: Gallery I

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Podcast book review of Deep Agroecology (5 minutes)

November 2, 2025 by Steven McFadden Leave a Comment

Academia.com recently reviewed my book, Deep Agroecology: Farms, Food and Our Future. They rendered their review in a five-minute podcast. You can listen to it by clicking below on the start arrow for the MP3 recording.

Their AI-generated Abstract
Steven McFadden’s book Deep Agroecology: Farms, Food, and Our Future presents a blend of spiritual and scientific perspectives on agroecology.

The book argues for the inseparable connection between agroecology and the survival of the Earth, emphasizing a holistic approach that integrates the physical and spiritual realms within food systems.

Through a critical analysis of modern agricultural practices and historical contexts, McFadden advocates for a shift towards sustainable agroecological methods, which he posits as essential for addressing ecological crises and fostering an intentional relationship with nature.

The book suggests that by seeking deeper knowledge and connection with our food and farm sources, we don’t just eat better, we participate in much bigger, far more consequential healing deed as our life-sustaining Planet Earth passes through an era of tremendous challenge.

Click on the start arrow to listen to the brief podcast review:

This is a rendering of an AI poster for the book, also from Acdemia.com. In my view it is just kind of ok, but one statement is way off the mark. AI claims the book “advocates for the fusion of human and non-human life.” What? I never wrote that, never even thought it. Dangerously wrong “wishful thinking” on the part of AI.

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Half a Century Later: My Odyssey in Journalism

May 6, 2025 by Steven McFadden 3 Comments

A HALF CENTURY LATER – From the Sandia foothills of New Mexico, I send greetings to all, and a brief message about the art and craft of reporting. I’m a graduate of Boston University’s 1975 journalism program at what is now the College of Communication (COM). I’m still standing. Still writing. Still passionate. Still reporting on the Beauty Way paths integral to our land and our lives.

Fifty years ago as a student, I had the good fortune to be a small part of The News, a valiant student newspaper that in my era had been defunded and kicked off campus. The paper’s great offense? Reporting facts and opinions that embarrassed what we regarded as an increasingly authoritarian BU administration. In other words, putting the skills we were learning in the classroom to the test, and learning that they were often unwelcome.

Vibrant and cheeky, The News persevered through the late 70’s as I recall. Then soon enough – scorned by the admin and depleted of resources (yet possessed of unforsaken integrity) – The News faded away into the vast and ever-expanding morgue of yesterday’s stories. For me, though, the excitement and learning that came from having been part of that honorable student effort endures as a soul satisfaction, a pearl of great price.

This snippet of COM history comes to mind for me now in parallel as the current Administration in Washington intensifies its attacks on all forms of media that exercise their First Amendment Rights (and Responsibilities) by reporting facts or opinions that do not conform to government desires. The stakes are obviously far higher now in the present challenge, far more consequential. The attacks are real, immediate, and impacting every communications professional.

I expect that there’s much ongoing discussion and debate at journalism schools about all of this: the many systematic, focused efforts to muzzle or otherwise control the press. There better be discussion and a great many waves of wise courageous journalism, or we’re in for a long, hard season of thought control, domination, and abuse of power.

My COM professor for JO 101 was Jeremiah (Jerry) Murphy, an affable old-school writer for The Boston Globe. In various ways over that first semester in 1973 he asked us to ask ourselves, “Who am I as a professional? What do I stand for? How can I best fulfill my mission?” Damn good questions.

I’ve had five decades to engage. At age 76 my responses are known: I’m a maverick independent journalist; I stand the best I can for honesty, caring, sharing, and respect for all the people and all the creations in the Sacred Hoop of life; I best fulfill my mission by asking, listening, and reading carefully, then deliberating to sort out what I have found to be worthy, ennobling, and possessed of potential to endure in goodness for the next Seven Generations of our children, and more.

Thus now at graduation season 2025, as is the prerogative of elders, I hereby raise my medicine song into the ethers, extending my blessings to the COM community, to those who are studying and graduating, and to all working journalists. May your education, Jeremiah’s questions (and a thousand other meaningful ones), serve you in cultivating worthy insights and good work for yourself, your colleagues, your communities, and our world. We need you to be strong and true.

Good luck, Steven McFadden

HALF A CENTURY LATER PHOTO – While digging in the garage over Memorial Day 2025, looking for a family photo, I came upon this one. It shows some fellow staffers at The News (Boston University) late one night in 1975. It’s a photo that I took as a deadline was looming for the next edition. I was completing a photojournalism assignment for a group photo. Just about everyone else on staff had the same homework, and the group had already been assembled over and over again as the week went on. I think I was about the last person to implore folks to get together so I could complete the assignment. They were tired, fed up with posing yet again, and wanting to get it over with and go home. But they let me click the shutter and record their exasperation for posterity.

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Key talk about farms and food 2025 – English y Español

March 2, 2025 by Steven McFadden Leave a Comment

As of 2025 one of the classic books about the CSA movement—Farms of Tomorrow Revisited—has been translated and published in the Spanish language as Las Granjas del Mañana Revisitadas: Comunidad apoyada por Granjas, Granja apoyada por Comunidades.

Nearly 40 years ago I was the Organic Outlook columnist for a rural newspaper when I met a farmer setting down roots the next town over, Trauger Groh (1932-2016). Trauger and his colleagues Lincoln Geiger and Anthony Graham were founding one of the first CSAs in the nation: the Temple-Wilton Community Farm in New Hampshire.

Recognizing the importance of the seeds the first CSAs were planting, Trauger and teamed up to write Farms of Tomorrow in 1990, published by the Biodynamic Association.

Eight years later we returned to the subject and wrote Farms of Tomorrow Revisited (1998) to consider what farmers and communities were actually experiencing and learning. That’s the version of the book now translated as Las Granjas del Mañana Revisitadas by Martin Alonso of StayTrue Organics in Argentina.

Along with other CSA books, educational materials, and organizations, our books have helped to spark and to support well over 8,000 CSAs (est.) in the USA, and many thousands more worldwide.

Journalist Steven McFadden stands before a poster for Farms of Tomorrow, and also one for Farms of Tomorrow Revisited.

Whether in English or Spanish, the subtitles for our books express a main point of focus: “Community Supported Farms, and Farm Supported Communities.” The phrase reversal in the subtitle highlights an key point. In recent years CSA has often been promoted as a “marketing model,” whereas Trauger and I—along with many others—envisioned CSA as a “community model.” Consequently, in our writing we actively explored social, environmental, and spiritual dimensions of this emerging form.

Our explorations remain healthfully provocative now in 2025, and beyond, especially the explorations of “associative economy,” “parallel polis,” and the preservation of farmland via innovative trusts, that young farmers might be enabled to fulfill their vocations.

Note: In early February 2025 I participated in an online zoom conversation about CSA with the publisher of Las Granjas del Manana. The English-language recording of that zoom call is at this link; the Spanish-language recording is at this link.

In a review of the English-language version of our book, Resurgence Magazine commented “It is rare to come across any practical farming guide that sets out, from its inception, a set of principles that embrace social, spiritual and economic concerns on completely equal terms…The wisdom and clarity of philosophy are striking throughout.”

As Bill T. put it in an Amazon review: “The concepts of community supported agriculture (CSA) grab at the imagination: reconnect with the land and farmer, know exactly where your food is coming from…”

In yet another review published in the Journal of Applied Communications, Mickie Swisher wrote “For those who have little or no previous experience with community-based agriculture, this book brings together information and resources in one place. Even for those who think that community-based agriculture is either unimportant or unrealistic, Groh and McFadden’s book is worth reading. It will, at the least, stimulate thought. With luck, it will produce action.”

The actions now needed – actions that Las Granjas del Mañana Revisitadas can help stimulate – are the further development and networking of clean, healthy, just CSA farms in thousands more communities, both Spanish and English speaking, along with the many other languages of the world.