Material Wealth
Blog by Valerie When I was growing up, I watched my father hoard food, books, even household cleaning items. I remember the pain I felt when he told me the story of realising as a young teenager that he’d read…
Category Culture
With Dignity and Respect for All
Blog by Valerie Earlier in my ancestral healing journey when I set boundaries, I would tell ancestors who couldn’t support me and my core values to go. I had heard a few people advise to only work with healed ancestors,…
My initiation into adulthood was evil
Long Blog by Lukas I suffered brutal bullying in high school. I also acted as a perpetrator. And a bystander. Sitting on all sides of this equation is perhaps the hardest role of all. There are many anecdotes I could…
Is it worth decolonizing my Filipino spirituality and mentality?
Blog by Ellis Bien Ilas “The Filipinos of today are the happiest people I know. Why revisit the past and why does it matter now?” She told me with an unsure smile. I only just met her for the first…
Tattoos & Tradition
Blog by Valerie This blog idea came to me a while ago when I read an article about the revival of Deq, a traditional tattooing technique in Kurdish and some other Arabic and Northern African cultures. I had always been…
Birth as Ceremony
Blog by Valerie, following recent presentations with breastfeeding and pregnancy groups We do ceremonies at important moments in our lives, such as weddings, graduations, and funerals. Ceremonies support us to gain knowledge, purify our spirits, and honour life. They can…
What is Indigenous spirituality?
Blog by Valerie A friend brought this question to me, and I thought it a good one to take on. For some, being ‘spiritual’ is like the U.S. Supreme Court decision about porn – ‘I know it when I see…
Initiation
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…
Identity politics
At the heart of the Earth Ethos Indigenous Science Dialogues earlier this year was the issue of identity politics. The dialogue of that name was with my friend Shannon Field, a Walbunja woman of the Yuin nation, a traditional owner…
The power of communal dreaming
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…