What if ...?

Listening recently to a regular Youtuber and astrologer Steve Judd he posed a question, "What if you could eliminate one type of prejudice, what would it be?"

One of his clients replied, "Let's get rid of 'Identity Politics'. You're either a human being or you are not. Everything else is power grabbing socially engineered claptrap."

Interesting response. I like the sentiment. Although I could possible go one step further and suggest, 'you're either a living being or not'. All life is to be honoured and respected, not only human life.

Life is beautiful. All we need do is look around. That might seem contradictory in a world full of pain and suffering. And yet in all that is bleak and dark their is a seed of hope and light. That's what stops the toxic stuff from overwhelming us. The tide always turns.

Becoming Indigenous

You are indigenous. It is your birth right. You belong even if you don't always feel that way. For some us it is difficult to remember this and to know how our ancestors stayed in relationship to the elements, seasons, land and old ones who have gone before. In the creeping homogeneity that culture serves up there is a place in our hearts that asks of us not to forget who we really are and where we come from. 

Becoming Indigenous is first and foremost a call. A deeply resonant invitation that like birdsong at dawn, speaks beauty to your soul. You will know if this programme is for you by many, often non-rational, signs that will keep returning to tap you on the shoulder and whisper in your ear … now is the time, this is for you, do it.

Becoming Indigenous is an immersion in the traditional ways of ritual, ceremony and divination which all peoples have used and some of us have forgotten. The purpose of these traditional ways is to connect us to place and people, namely our ancestors – the old ones. In doing so we become more whole, more rounded, more kind and generous human beings.

The programme is intentionally personal and experiential. We are like modern day explorers relearning and remembering how to weave ourselves into the web of life. This is not to decry the contribution, value and usefulness of technology and science. We are not advocating a rejection or rebuttal of the life many of us lead in cities and towns around the world. What we are suggesting is there is so much more to being human than is currently on offer through social norms, conventional education and institutional religion.

Becoming Indigenous should serve to expand our notion of life and humanness and draw us into the magic, wonder and mystery to be found beyond the frontiers of our intellectual rational knowing. There is so much more to us than our thoughts. We have a huge creative potential, vast intuitive capacities and deep wells of emotion to expand ourselves into. We have dreams and archetypes and stories that embrace us if only we took that time to notice.

If you are seeking to be among people who have not let go of the old ways and wish to sit in circle with them and share in their practices, stories and rituals – then this is a caravan for you, hook up your camel and join us. We make no gestures towards outcomes or destinations for we know not where we will end up ourselves. What we offer is deep companionship, rich conversation, meaningful exchange and dedicated experienced co-travellers as guides.

What will be revealed is also not in our power to predict or control. However, we have gallant, brave and wise elders available to send a ray of light into dark corners, to sing out melodies and tunes that catch our tears and provide stories to nourish us along the road. You do not travel alone.

Over the coming days, as you notice the sun dipping below the horizon, or the raven dropping a feather from its wing, or the salmon leaping above the glistening river, or the wind sending out an unexpected wave through the long grass remember that life is trying to tell you something and that something may just be ‘don’t forget us, we have something to say’. Our hearts know this to be true. That is why we seek to belong and to be connected to our land and our people. That is why we are becoming indigenous.

For more information click on Becoming Indigenous Programme Schumacher College (September 2017 - July 2018). 

Immersion

Painting: Immersion by Ornella Imber

What lies beneath the beneath,
Flowing in the river I cannot see?
From which well did I spring?
I wish I could return there now,
To that place again
And dress it with garlands of flowers.
How do I begin to say thank you
For the life I was given?
Sacrifices made which I know not,
Without which I could not be here.
A blackbirds song will never sound so sweet
unless some recompense is lain down.
It is not magic that I am here,
That anyone of us is here.
Like starlight glistening in a darkened sky,
Our lives are meant to shine.
From the midst of forgotten dreams
A measure of honey is offered to those gone before.
The old one I cannot see,
Their tears fall upon me like bejewelled rain drops.
A reminder of our unceasing unbroken connection.
I will not let go.
My grip is assured, even when storms of doubt rage.
For I am hewn from granite rock.