Restoring Animism & Embodying the Sacred

Blessed full moon and welcome into this chapter of shifting light.
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The image above is of some of the flower petals released last week from our summer solstice ceremony, carrying the skins needed shedding in order to be truly new for what wants to be born in us next.

It's the paradox of rebirth, and the beauty of my way of practicing healing evolution, that shedding happens naturally at fullness. The skin of the seed must crack in order to let in water, nutrients, light. But it is a generative shedding, like taking off one's clothes to go into a sauna or medicine lodge and let the heat do its alchemy to cleanse and call forth your essence. At least that's how I imagine it!

And there is a tenderness in the aftermath of the shed, as new, raw parts touch light and begin to form something, at first, wordless...

Do you feel the shift, the quiet re-orientation as the fullness of the light turns inward and downward, being magnetized by gravity, our bodies, and also our attention?

What if emptiness is not absence, but more ease at touching what's essential? Less static above a more reliable kind of fullness?

Here's a lovely quote from Ana Otero about this season we're entering:

"In many mystical traditions, Cancer is associated with the Great Mother, the Cosmic Womb, and the waters from which creation emerges. It is the sign of belonging, nourishment, memory, ancestry, and the soul's deepest roots. During this season we are invited to return to the inner sanctuary of the heart and listen to what is seeking to be nurtured within us. The Solstice reminds us that true growth does not occur through constant striving, but through the sacred rhythms of receiving, holding, and allowing life to unfold according to its divine timing.

This is also a season of incarnation. The mysteries of Cancer teach that every vision, prayer, revelation, and blessing must eventually enter the womb of the soul if it is to become embodied within the world."

A lot is percolating in the stillness for me right now.

I am listening for how the Sanctuary wants to grow next, while dropping the very identity within myself with which I began it.

Inside, we are beginning the alchemy within the cocoon, and something new will emerge on the other side.

It is pretty neat to get to bring together in one container the visceral intimacy of body-centered transformation with age-old mysticism and the magic of myth.

If you'd like to be a part of what's cooking, reach out to me to inquire.
 
Video: Restoring Animism and Embodying the Sacred

In this interview, I sit with Rachel Blackman, fellow animist, somatic practitioner, and devotee to the work of grounding the sacred in the body, for a rich conversation about how animism can completely change one's life, from the inside out.
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It's so important as we collectively awaken (a.k.a. reground in our original knowing) to hear stories of metamorphosis from those who have experienced the alchemy of "dying before you die," and perhaps even more importantly, to experience the radiant energy that is transmitted on the other side of saying "yes" to being remade.