How to Be

Human

There was a time when people would gather and celebrate rites of passage. The turning of the wheel. The returning of the light. The sacred harvest. The cry of a hawk. The return of the herds. We would oil the feet of an expectant mother. Braid the hair with feathers for a girl's first blood. Nourish the woman who had just given birth. Celebrate a boy’s quest to manhood with fire and dance. Create adornments for a dreamer's first sight. Grieve at the pyre of an elder's passing.

Our Ancestors lived in cyclic understanding of nature's rhythms and their own. This created a sense of belonging in person and place.

As human beings, we long for this connection to people, land, and spirits outside of ourselves. Modern-day society’s emphasis on productivity and the glorification of independence has created what I believe to be not only the sickened heart of people but of earth. This sickened heart is rooted in loneliness and displacement.

We live with these feelings of deep-seeded homesickness and dissociation that we can’t figure out the origin of. My deep and humble understanding is that these feelings are our souls asking us to remember how to live in the right relationship not only with each other but with the unifying mother, earth itself. To find our way back to the intricate web of oneness we’ve severed.

This is our call home. To remember the old ways.

This is our invitation to reclaim, how to be human

Together within this 8-week container, we will reweave our understanding of what it means to be connected to Land, Ancestors, Dreaming/Rites of passage, Community, and Self.

It will be not only a journey of reclamation for you as an individual but also an opportunity to learn and weave together your own personal teaching style and show up as space holders for your communities.

Meetings will be Fridays, August 9th through September 27th, 6-9 pm at Ethos or 7 Lakes State Park, including drum making with Strong Heart Drum Medicine on September 21st and a camping trip with Uncivilized Vitality the weekend of September 14th.

Themes you can expect

Land

How to cultivate relationships with plants, some common herbal allies in our area, how to honor the stories of the land, and indigenous stewards. Myth and lore surrounding the seasons and rhythmic living.
Ancestors

Coming home to your lineage, establishing rituals and ceremonies based on your bloodline, cultivating a relationship with your healed ancestors, and asking for messages and guidance.
Dreaming/Rites of Passage

Dream messages (Manda Scott's theory and work in the Boudica series), power animals, incorporating rites of passage as powerful footholds back into our lives.
Community

The sacredness and art of holding space, clarifying your purpose and the work you’d like to do. Creating and facilitating circles in your own communities. Service verse ego.
Self

Getting to know your own cycles, shadow work, rewriting stories, connection to your higher source, refining intuition.