Blog by Lukas Valerie recently asked me why space exploration so captivated me as a child and still evokes strong emotion for me today. I’ve realised it’s got something to do with the safety of collective achievement. Through the eyes of a child, perhaps nothing feels safer and more secure than seeing adults working together … Continue reading The power of communal dreaming
Denial literally means “saying no” to something, but we tend to think of it in a negative way. We say things like, “He’s in denial” when someone’s not accepting a truth. Here’s a concerning example of Reagan talking about Native Americans: We’ve done everything we can [stop residential schooling & child removals] to meet their … Continue reading The power of denial
Blog by Valerie Building on some previous posts about power objects and healing unjust power dynamics, I realised it would be wise to define power and related terms. Energy is defined in physics as the ability to do work, and spiritually I have been taught that work is worship. The ways we work/worship result in beautifully … Continue reading Power, Force & Corruption
Blog by Valerie I am delighted to hear from people having success working with ancestral altars and have been asked to write more generally about altar and shrine practices. I will also talk about power objects. Starting with etymology, “altar” is from a Latin word for “on high” (like altitude) and refers to honouring and worshipping … Continue reading Altars, Shrines & Power Objects
Blog by Valerie Through a Shipibo elder of the Amazon I learned that about 90% of the thought-loops that circulate our minds are not based in ego, but in ancestral trauma. I learned through Dakota Earth Cloud Walker that ancestry is defined in three ways: blood lineage, ancestry of place, and personal karma. Personal karma … Continue reading Healing Unjust Power Dynamics
Blog by Valerie ‘We are cycles of time’ stuck in my head after reading a Chinese astrological perspective on the lunar new year before bed. I couldn’t sleep, and my seven month old has been struggling before bed recently too, getting a burst of energy after indicating she’s sleepy. Though neither of us knows quite … Continue reading Mothering amidst intergenerational trauma
Blog by Valerie Often the term ‘sorcery’ is used negatively, but any manifestation of a spirited, emotive thought or prayer can be considered sorcery. As Shaman Chiron Armand says: “[T]he word sorcery implies control one wields or seeks to wield over life, spirits, or other incarnate beings. That one might be capable of wielding force … Continue reading Unconscious Sorcery
Blog by Valerie – a final chapter shared from the book that was just written Being authentic, centred and grounded means having awareness of our core values and doing our best to en-live-en them through our life choices and forms of expression. Embodiment is a recognition of the universality of our connection with all of … Continue reading Embodiment
Blog by Valerie – hope you enjoy another book chapter! Initiations are rites of passage ceremonies marking existential life transitions. An important one across Indigenous and Western cultures is the transition from spiritual child into spiritual adult. Abagusii scientist Mircea Eliade describes it thus: To gain the right to be admitted among adults the adolescent … Continue reading Initiation
Here is another chapter from the book I am writing. I hope you enjoy! Blog by Valerie As Diné (Navajo) historian and lawman Wally Brown says: You can never conquer fear, it’s always going to be there…Walking in beauty involves encountering fears, physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually, and getting beyond them, so we can have … Continue reading Discernment
Earth Ethos 