rewilding the soul
Below I offer a short list of ways that I have found to be extremely effective in enlivening the wild within. As we replace the old, domesticated conditioning of modern civilization with the life-giving ways of our indigenous souls, we create space for the higher destiny of humanity to emerge.
Elemental Infusion: Get out and soak up the sunshine with as much of your naked body as possible. Walk, plant, or dance your bare feet upon the living earth. Climb a tree and sway with it in the wind. Move and breathe amidst the waves of a lake, or ocean. Stare into the flames of a campfire, until its beauty makes you sing. Sleep and dream under the flowering branches of an elderberry tree. Let the creek carry you down its serpentine stream. Feel the warm, summer rain dance upon your skin. Bury your body in the sand. Lay out under the stars and drink their light into your bones. Sit atop the mountain, beneath the moon, and feel the whole Universe flow into your being. Infuse your soul with every element of this wild earth, in this way becoming whole, and holy.
Feeling and Expressing All Seasons: The most vital and vibrant people that I know are able to express what they are feeling in healthy, authentic, life-giving ways. Their authenticity may rock the boat for those who are uncomfortable with honest expression, but that is no fault of the person whose inner truth is open and flowing.
One of the best ways to allow your pure, wild heart to open and flow is to get out into the wild heart of nature and let yourself be fully expressed: screaming, laughing, singing, crying, praying, shaking, sobbing, wailing, or just speaking out loud what needs to be said. An unsuspecting passerby may turn and run the other way, but the trees and stones will welcome the courageous expression of your soul. The earth is nourished by this energy (like compost for the garden). And its release will heal you.
If we we allow our thoughts and feelings to become chronically pent up inside of us, we will inevitably make ourselves sick. It is an unnatural, domesticated behavior. One that has become a mainstay for most civilized people. And it is reflecting itself in the large scale patterns (and resulting effects) of our species.
If we wish to see harmony and balance upon our planet, then we must seek ways to find harmony and balance within ourselves. We must allow ourselves to move with all of the seasons and cycles of our human soul, and therefore find true peace.
Foraging Wild Food: Most people within our society eat food from every
corner of the world, except their own. This has its own strange beauty
to it, in my opinion, as we are inherently bound with and in service to
whatever gives us life, whether we know it or not. All of the lands and
hands, animals and plants that provide us with our daily life-giving
nourishment are ours to protect and uplift in every way that we possibly
can. We know this in our bones, even if we have forgotten it at as a
culture. And though it may be beneficial for us to become more aware of
our planetary interconnectedness, the current food systems that support
this modern world are extremely destructive. Along with this, they do
not give our connection-oriented species any real sense of connection.
Such abstraction is damaging to the wild heart of our human soul. This
is why hunting and gathering food and medicine from the wild landscape
is so deeply healing for just about everyone who has ever experienced
it. The connection to the source of the food is tangible and immediate.
You feel the entire ecosystem pulsing all around you as you harvest
some aspect of its vital being with your bare hands. Such primordial
moments are impossible to forget. They fill you in a way that no food
store-bought food ever could.
Food is not only nutrition. It is
also information. Wild foods are capable of making us more fit for our
immediate environment by informing our biology with their locally
adapted genetics. Anyone who has ever lived exclusively off of their
wild landscape for an extended period of time knows exactly what kind of
transformation will take place as their body becomes used to such high
levels of vital information. This transition is not always entirely
pleasant, as the domesticated consciousness begins to be detoxified from
every level of your being. Thankfully, the breakthrough will inevitably
arrive, and you will emerge feeling more powerful and clear. But be
forewarned, any attempt to revert to a domesticated diet will often be
far worse than what you went through to leave it behind!
Flowing with Wild Water: Just as eating the wild foods will inform and optimize your being, so too will drinking the wild water. Sadly, in most places, this can be extremely hazardous to those who try to partake of their local flows (lakes, rivers, streams, etc). But there are still so many pure sources to draw from, namely springs… (even here you must do your research and practice caution, as with anything harvested from the wild these days). If you can find a healthy spring bubbling up in your local area, you are truly blessed. After solely consuming this water for only a short period of time, your entire body will be hydrated by the same liquid that hydrates the earth beneath your feet. Your blood and veins will mirror the rivers and valleys that flow water through your landscape. Every wild animal and plant in your area will share this element in common with you. In this way, your soul is linked by the life blood of the land.
(In a world fueled so heavily by bottled water, soda, and sports drinks, this is truly a unique and amazing experience)
Along with the powerful connection that you will feel with your place, there is also the immense benefit of consuming water that is alive with life force energy. One of the quickest ways that you can improve your health is to switch from drinking the joyless, pipe-driven tap water of your town or city, and to begin drinking the fresh, free-flowing water from your wild earth. Here again, the switch may cause some initial detox, but it will ultimately lead to a large leap in your energy levels and overall quality of life.
Engaging and Creating with the Elements: So few people step off of the well-worn trails that thread throughout their wild places. Instead, they travel across the natural landscape like tourists, unable to get off of the bus and actually participate in the flow of life unfolding all around them. This is because most simply do not know how. Yet there are so many ways…no matter what environment you may live in. Here are a few ideas to stir the cauldron of you creativity:
Learn how to make a basket from the supple branches of a willow tree. Wildcraft medicinal tea from nettle leaf, pine needle, or roasted dandelion root. Create fire-by-friction with a hand-drill made of cottonwood and a mullein stalk. Craft musical flutes and tubular containers from the elderberry. Build a cozy little shelter from the discarded materials of your forest canopy, and get comfortable resting within its raw embrace. Wade into the waters of a nearby creek and collect some native clay from along the bank: molding it into a vessel, and hardening it by the fire.
Whatever you do, let that it actively unite your head, your hands, and your heart in some meaningful way. Let yourself be woven into the tapestry of your ecosystem, as you make and create meaningful beauty from the land. In time, you will come to realize that your human presence and participation is actually necessary and desired. So long as you move in a way that brings balance: taking what you need from the areas of over-abundance, and giving what you can to areas that need help flourishing.
Ancestor Tracking: Discovering your ancestral origins is one of the most powerful steps you can take toward remembering your deep-rooted belonging to this earth. Even if those ancestors were all buried on the other side of the world. These days, so many people grow up without any clue as to where their lineage originated. This is actually a very destabilizing feeling. Though no one usually realizes it until they actually get a taste of their ancestral story. In some cultures, this discovery is an essential part of their personal evolution. In Ghana, they have a specific concept for this, called Sankofa. It means, “to go back and fetch it,” and refers to the journey of tracking back through your lineage in order to bring forward all that is worthy and good: remembering the knowledge, wisdom, power and virtue of your people. For those fortunate enough to have such a thread to follow, the hunt can often be a long one…but the rewards are great. So much healing and power is available to us when we learn to see ourselves as an unbroken river of life that extends all the way back to some original earthen source-point. And if you can afford to do so, making a pilgrimage to that source-point may be one of the most important journeys you ever take.
All that being said, no one truly needs a physical trail in order to follow the story of their ancestors. Because that story is written deep within their own blood and bones. Every single one of us has direct and immediate access to our lineage. Through our DNA. All that it takes for us to receive the answers that we seek is to ask the question.
Awakening the Dreamer: The Dreamtime is only accessible by way of the soul. It is a wild, honest, untamable realm. To speak fluently the language of this place, we must be able to feel. We must be able to live from our intuitive heart. We must be wiling to journey deep into the Mystery, giving life to the inner mystic: the inner dreamer who wishes to awaken and create lucidly within the world.
Every single one of us has this presence potentiating within us: waiting to be set free so that we can begin to realize and express our spiritual potential as conduits of consciousness. Co-creating this experience with others who are also awake within the dreaming.
The Dreamtime is a place of great meaning and power for many (if not every) intact, indigenous culture. There are some who even understand for themselves that the dream is more real than their physical, waking life. There are villages of people who wake early in the morning to gather around the fire and share the stories of the night with one another, putting together the puzzle that the dream is communicating with them collectively. Letting the symbols and impressions speak to them of some greater truth.
We can begin to give life to the dreamer within, by giving space for the dreams to be heard. Taking time to write, draw, paint, speak, share or express them in some way so that they can be remembered. But if the dreams are powerful enough, not only can we give them life….we can bring them to life. Finding a way to follow through and stir to life the gift of their vision: planting the maple tree for the grandchildren, getting a dog, dancing by the lake under a full moon, calling the friend, singing a song to honor the ancestors. Whatever comes through, trust that this actualization will vibrate unimaginable magic into being.
All of this, and whatever else feels right for us, will energize the dreaming, and let the inner dreamer know that we are listening. In time, the connection will become so vibrant and clear, that we will find ourselves truly following our dreams.
Full Wilderness Immersion: There is nothing in this modern world that can mimic or replace what is gained by living out on the land for extended periods of time: each day being steeped in the harmonic rhythms of nature; each night cozying up around a fire, sleeping out beneath the stars. Learning to feel as though there is no real need to return anywhere. Existing here as we were always meant to…fully at home upon the earth.
Whether you go out with others, or alone, it does not matter in the end. So long as the civilized world is left far behind. Though going out alone can be the most challenging (and therefore rewarding) for many people. The relative quiet and stillness that emerges within the self is often very confronting (especially for those who are used to the constant buzz of a town or city). But those who can truly relax and open themselves to the living, breathing world all around them will access a pathway woven in the wild, divine magic that is our birthright. This way has the power to sew our being into the luminous tapestry of mountain, forest, lake, river, earth, sea, and sky: merging our soul with the heart of this great Mystery that is Life, and everything beyond.
Bringing it Back to the Village: Reconnecting ourselves to nature and the earth is an enormous step in the remembering of our true belonging as human beings within this existence. Along the way, in this process, the level of connection that we have with our self will also increase dramatically. Though it takes place in an organic, almost passive way. This is because so much of this journey inherently leads us to spend long periods of time tracking and reflecting upon our life, just as we are tracking and reflecting upon the life all around us. A very large portion of the emptiness that our modern world instills in us can be filled by this inner and outer union. But not all of it. The final healing requires us to reunite with humanity and bring what we have learned back into the heart of our communities.
In many cases, we may actually need to create a whole new community: one that is willing to meet us where we are at, and continue with us in the direction that we are going. In fact, this is one of the greatest acts of service that one could offer in this time. While the old structures and belief systems are failing and falling apart before our very eyes, people need to be shown a path that can bring them together within a better future. What better place to gather than the only common ground that we will ever truly share as a species?
Simplicity here is key. Beginning wherever you are at, and calling in your people from that place. Maybe this means forming a group that goes out to track wild animals and identify herbal medicines. Or perhaps you go on a hunting trip with like-minded friends, practicing various survival techniques and feeding yourselves from the land. It could be something as easy as planting a garden with your family, and observing the changes in weather every day throughout the year: attuning yourselves to the larger scale patterns playing out across your bioregion. Whichever direction your inspiration takes you, let love and connection be the guiding principles in your return to belonging.
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This series of writings was born from the observation that the vast majority of humanity is no longer intimately connected to the web of life and light that is nature. We have lost our indigenous connection to the earth, and are no longer native to our own planet. It is not hard to see how this core disconnection has led to every single malady of the modern world, including the modern world itself. Until we remember how to exist as a native-to-the-earth species, the annihilation of all that we know and love is inevitable.