Humble attempts at weaving community

My recent endeavours to connect people in person have been both successful & unsuccessful - preparing for the magic of summer solstice at Stonehenge - Tending the Earth

Hello beautiful beings, from Amesbury, England! Apparently this is the oldest continuously-inhabited settlement in England, and I write this from the sunny patio of a restaurant that is built with wooden beams that are hundreds of years old, from trees that were thousands of years old. And here I am, beaming my thoughts across to all you lovely beings who’ve subscribed to me, across the world. Modern technology is a trip sometimes.

I haven’t been able to write much lately, as we’ve been in a chapter of our trip that is really fast-moving, and sadly hasn’t provided a ton of opportunities for writing, reading, integrating, and our meditation practices. I’ve been reflecting on this lately - how we are trying to see and do so much in our limited time abroad (7 months sounds like a long time to be away from home, but we are experiencing so many different parts of each country we’re in, it sometimes feels like we’re moving at warp speed).

I’ve been thinking a lot on this trip about something I heard on the Medicine Stories podcast where Amber Magnolia-Hill invited us to “do things that your ancestors recognize” (or something along those words). The ancestors want to connect with us across the veil. They want to feel respected, and they want to support and guide us in our lives. They don’t feel connected to us when we’ve got our heads buried in our phones, dissociated from our surroundings. They come and join us when we’re gathered in circle around a fire, sharing food and stories with our communities. They’re there with us when we’re weaving a basket, or carving a wooden spoon, or mending our clothes instead of throwing them out. They’re certainly looking over our shoulders when we are cooking a recipe that has been handed down through generations, especially those recipes without measurements, and are crafted by feel and taste and colour changes and smells.

I try to create conditions for my ancestors to recognize what I do and who I am. I try to cultivate relationships with plants by asking for permission before harvesting and leaving an offering of gratitude. I try to sing and introduce myself when we’re walking on the land, and imagine that they’re with us as we eat traditional foods throughout this trip. Even the time we’ve spent reconnecting with friends along the way reminds me of times when our ancestors would have travelled for trade or for ceremonies, reconnecting with friends and traders from other places, maybe even speaking different languages but having some common threads that tie them together.

I think about my ancestors and try to feel them with me as I’m creating different offerings for in-person events while we travel (which, admittedly, has also resulted in spending a LOT of time in front of the screen as it turns out that promoting an international event in an unfamiliar community requires much more energy than we knew to expect!). This past weekend I had a sold-out workshop which I called “Permaculture for a Regenerative Future”. 15 folks signed up! 5 had to cancel in the week before, and on the day of, after all the work of setting up a beautiful space… no one showed up. Not a single person. 10 no-shows. It’s really got me reflecting on how fragmented our modern society has become, and how challenging it has become to show up for live events - whether they’re in person or even online. We have virtually infinite educational resources available online, and it’s as if it’s become inconvenient to go live events with other real human beings. Even online events frequently experience people who sign up and then no-show with an expectation of receiving the recording (don’t get me wrong, I have also done this on occasion).

This has got me thinking about how deeply I desire to feel a sense of community with other like-minded and like-hearted beings. I want to create spaces where we can have enriching conversations and learn from each others’ experiences. I want to trade my goods, skills, and stories, for your goods, skills, and stories, just like our ancestors did for millenia. I fear that our capitalist society has programmed scarcity into our very bones, leading us to believe that all waking hours must be devoted to income generation activities, and gotten us to trust Google and Chat GPT as knowledge keepers more than our elders, our mentors, our peers with lived experiences.

I have a feeling that this sense of belonging to other beings that I’m yearning for is something we will get to experience in the coming days… perhaps my musings here are part of my intention-setting for this next week. Later today, we’ll be linking up with two friends - one, a dear friend from a women’s circle I was part of in Victoria, BC where we live, and another is a new friend who I have never actually met in person yet - we met on an online course about The Work That Reconnects and truly connected. The three of us women have been collaborating to share our event this coming Sunday in Bristol, England, entitled “The Art of the Spiral: A Work That Reconnects Experience”. This will be taking place just two days after summer solstice, where we’ll be watching the sun rise over the ancient monument of Stonehenge along with 10,000+ other people, possibly like many of our ancestors did for 1000s of years. The day before, we’ll be participating in a pilgrimage walk with Charlotte of Pulvers’ Apothecary… a wee description of that event if you’re interested:

What we might expect to experience at Stonehenge this Friday, June 21. Image credit: Buzz Feed

Our pilgrimage will commence upon the banks of the River Avon, at a sacred place some folks call the 'Stonehenge Spring’. This incredible wellspring is one of the reasons why Stonehenge came to be and is not open to the general public (on private land), granting us a one off experience. It is a place that the ancient inhabitants of these isles worshipped and made offerings... the waters being full of many ancient artefacts some from 10,000 years ago when aurochs roamed the land.

Set within an enchanting glen we will rest and dream a while; receiving a ritual blessing with these ancestral lustral waters and the euphoric flowers of midsummer. Bringing ourselves into alignment with the blessings of the season, ‘Hauldro Haf’ and the great turning of the sun.

From then on we will walk the ways of the Salisbury planes visiting mysterious barrows of kings of olde, ancient trees and sacred places… finally processing the avenue path of the Summer Solstice Sunrise to the Hele Stone and into Stonehenge itself. We’ll complete our pilgrimage within the heart of the henge for sunset, aligning our pilgrimage and prayers with the world at this auspicious moment.

I’m reminded, through writing this, that despite my frustrations with how technology and corporate capitalism have in some ways weakened our in-person relationships… the internet has been an incredibly helpful tool to make this trip possible for us. Without platforms like WorkAway, Worldpackers, and WWOOF, we wouldn’t have met the incredible people whose farms/homesteads we’ve contributed to. I wouldn’t have met Esmé, one of my co-facilitators for this event, or the wonderful Kate - another friend from a different online course who I met in person for tea in Glastonbury recently, and who will be on the pilgrimage walk with us as well. Without the tools of technology, we wouldn’t be able to keep in touch with family & friends, and Chris wouldn’t be able to continue earning an income through his business while we travel. Perhaps it requires a shift in mindset… the tools that are available to us today are simply different than those available to our ancient ancestors. When we boil it all down, I like to think our needs and dreams ultimately aren’t all that different from those of our ancestors - we just go about achieving them in different ways these days.

And on that note… want to participate in a little international trade?

I wrote this Ebook called Tending the Earth: A Path to Soil Regeneration and Collective Abundance. It’d make my heart so happy if you could check it out. Even more so if you wanted to exchange some currency for it. I’d be on top of the world if you implemented some of the strategies I share in there to tend the soils where you live. Every little bit of cash helps on this extended journey we’re on, and in exchange, I am sure that you’ll learn something new, have some new practices to implement, and have an expanded perspective of & appreciation for the wild world beneath our feet.

"If you treat nature with respect, she will tell you her secrets."
-P.A. Yeomans