This was originally written on January 9. On Jan 25, Shaunga did an impromptu script reading of this piece on Instagram Live, as part of our series: The Truth About What Art Can Do (in times of genocide). You can watch the INSTAGRAM LIVE VIDEO HERE.
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I’m taking a moment in today’s Live Memoir to share my thoughts about the escalation of forest fires we’ve seen around the globe in the last several years.
I’m speaking from my position as a Planetary Altar Carrier, an Artistic Energy Healer/Energetic Surgeon & Quantum Whisperer.
IE I am someone who stays in regular conversation with the Ancestral world, including our primordial Ancestors like Water, Fire, Air, Earth, Ether and the Star Gates (aka the Nine Directions).
I’ve been speaking to the Trees for many years about the forest fires, and asking for their insight about what is going on from an energetic perspective.
IE, if we can understand the root energetic cause of anything, we can learn more about how to address the concern.
Every single time, their answer is very simple. The root energetic cause of this global concern is about the extreme lack of ceremony, widespread across our human species.
The escalation of forest fires can be traced directly to the way that colonial violence and negligence has forcibly taken Indigenous fire stewardship away from Indigenous Fire Keepers, and then funnelled into capitalist industries.
Zooming out to a wider lens: this is about how we as a species have been forcibly displaced and disconnected from our Earth Honouring traditions and our Ancestors who lived in reverence to the natural world and cosmos.
Everyone has a story, somewhere in their lineage, of how Fire was banned from Ceremony, and then how Ceremony was banned from the Village as a whole.
When I sit in communion with the rage of forest fires – it is indeed rage, but I want to be clear that what I get from our communication is not about revenge.
It’s not like, you humans are not in right relationship, and now we’re mad and we’re gonna rage and burn everything down.
I remember people had a similar reaction when news came out about Whales who were attacking boats. They’re getting back at the humans, as they should!
At the time I remember Whale Whisperer Michaela Harrison reminded us – it’s not about revenge.
(Michaela just released a meditation called “Love Wins” where we can hear her singing to the whales, and they are singing back! From what I understand, if you download the song from Bandcamp, the artist gets some money. You can also find the song on all streaming platforms. Read more about Michaela on her website.)
We often associate the rage of nature with revenge because we are indoctrinated into punitive, carceral culture.
But, nature doesn’t respond to life like that.
(Though I do believe there is a larger “Spirit” of revenge moving through the Universe that we are all impacted by.)
When I talk to the trees and the fire, it’s not about revenge. It feels more like chaotic, heartbroken despair.
It reminds me of a beautiful, brilliant kid with boundless energy – otherworldly in nature. He has so much to express, so much enthusiasm for life, and so many Ancestors that sing through him.
Yet he’s forced to sit still and be quiet all day in a tiny corner. He’s forced into a normative lifestyle that doesn’t suit him. He’s not given the tools or support he needs to succeed.
He doesn’t know what to do with the boundless energy inside of him, so eventually he starts tearing down the walls.
It feels the way I feel when I’m in a creative space that doesn’t honour the Ancestors.
I get cranky and irritated. I get frustrated and exhausted. I don’t know what to do with myself. If I’m in these environments all the time, I feel bitter, resentful and ranty all the time. My body is constantly buzzing, I can’t sleep well, my nervous system is shot.
I’ll tell you something about me: I’ve never lost my temper.
Nobody has ever seen me express the true nature of my anger. When I’m angry, I’ll get cranky and irritated, or it’ll manifest as complete silence, because I suppress it.
I was sitting with my Dad as an Ancestor a few years ago, and he told me that he wants to thank me.
He said: I acknowledge your sacrifice. Growing up, you were angry and you never took your anger out on anyone. You felt rage, and you swallowed it. You chose to hurt yourself rather than hurt others. In those circumstances, those were your only two choices.
If I were to express how I really feel when I’m in environments that don’t honour the Ancestors, I’d be a forest fire.
I’d be wild and out of control, raging through homes and cities, tearing down walls and I wouldn’t be able to stop myself.
Now, thankfully – I have more than just those two options.
I know how I feel when I’m in creative environments where the Ancestors are honoured.
When we invite them in and give gratitude to their presence.
When we say their names.
When we ask them for their stories and their wisdom.
When we include them.
When we extend ourselves to speak in their langauge, no matter how awkward, including the language of offerings, of song, of dance.
When we receive what they give to us, and build the capacity to maintain it.
When we reciprocate.
When we offer them our love, our grief and our dedication.
When I’m in these spaces, my nervous system instantly settles.
I feel peace in my soul, my body and my mind. I am not so cranky anymore. In fact, I actually have a pretty cool personality. I can speak openly and express myself and listen with curiosity. I’m in a good mood. I can relax, joke around and enjoy myself in the company of others.
And, I’m happy.
I’m over the moon grateful that I get the opportunity to sit in ceremony like this.
I’m over the moon grateful that I get the chance to know the people I am blessed to know.
I am happy to be a part of humanity.
I am blessed to be alive and given the chance to honour all of life, every day. The seen and unseen. The great mystery.
I feel at home in the Universe.
When I talk to fire, I feel such immense, dear grief weeping beneath its rage.
What I want to do is hold that kid tearing down the walls. Just hold him and let him weep and scream in my arms. I want to tell him: I see you, and you are worthy.
I’ll take him to the water, where the trees gather around the shoreline, so he can send his voice to the sand, the rocks, the animals and the waves. His voice, filled with generations of Ancestors with generations of stories that need to be told.
He’ll send his voice to nature until he creates an entire album worth of music, dedicated to life.
He’ll give that album back to the water, the shoreline, the sand, the rocks, the animals and the trees.
And, his nervous system will settle. He’ll be happy again. Happy to be part of humanity. Blessed to have a home in the Universe and be exactly who he is.
When I talk to fire, I don’t feel revenge. I feel a broken heart aching and asking for help.
I feel the trees doing everything they can to help the fire. Putting their own bodies on the line. Everything they know of how to live and die in ceremony, they give back to fire. I see you, you are worthy.
The trees will always do what they can, it’s humans who can do more to help.
How can we help? It’s simple. If the problem is a widespread lack of ceremony – what we can do is come back home to ceremony, in every chance we get.
We can answer the call of Spirit – whenever and wherever that is for you at any given moment.
Often in times of crisis, we think the best move is to put away our creativity.
This is no time for creativity! It’s time to sit down and get serious and do the practical thing.
I want to remind each of us, this is really, really not the time for that.
We need creativity now more than ever. Our Ancestral Fire is made of PURE creativity.
What we need is to come home to ancestral practices of creation and RE-MEMBER who we really are as artistic energy healers.
When our creativity is done in collaboration with the Ancestors, and given back to the Earth…
It settles her nervous system.
She’s less irritated and cranky.
She has what she needs to express herself.
Peace lands in her body, mind and spirit.
She feels at home in the Universe.
Do not under-estimate the power and necessity of artistic energy healers in times of escalating climate crisis.
Come back home to your Creative Fire. Honour your Ancestral Fire.
The dear beloved Jeida K. Storey said this on one of her youtube videos a while back, and I repeat it to myself often:
You don’t need to know how at every turn. You just need to say yes.
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“When We Lived & Died in the Thriving Village” is a 4-month Ancestral Think Tank and Artist Retreat for Spirit-Centered, Liberation-Focused Creators, Oracles, Visionaries, Writers, Entrepreneurs, Artists in Craft & Artists in Life.
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