yes! Do you have any recommendations? I particularly love Barbara Alice Mann and Kaarina Kailo’s The Woman Who Married the Bear: The Spirituality of the Ancient Foremothers
Fascinating cultural details. I love how animals and people coexist on tribal lands, with balance and reciprocity at the heart of these traditions. I’d love to read more.
Thank you for your thoughtful response. I love your idea of applying wild-craft to daily life, of turning the process of wild-crafting inward <3 I will join you in this!
Thank you for this writing. I entirely aligned with the process and destination you describe in mytho-poesis. It is a missing link I'd been sensing with how to reconnect to our world, as you describe through stories. For an individual it makes sense. However my question relates to what the land is telling you. What of this process when the story the land and the ecosystems it sustains are dying? Spirit power has always relied on that which is wild, with domesticated animals and environments recognized as possessing less power. What of these connections and wisdom and power when the structure supporting it all slips away?
Oh thank you very much for your thoughtful reply, I love your questions. What are you feeling? Is there any experience you would like to share? There is an immense amount of grief I sense… there is no way around it. It’s a daily practice for me to move through that feeling. I’m not sure if it comes from me or the land, to be honest. But I also see that emotion in my partner, who collects wild seeds for restoration projects for a living, so whatever story, energy we’re feeling, is shared. I’ve found solace in Joanna Macy’s works and writings on expressing ecological grief. Finisia Medrano’s work is also very influential for me. In some ways, grief can be a way of rewilding. It is definitely a very “dangerous” emotion to our current over-culture. Perhaps leaning into that feeling is a way of the land expressing wildness through us? What do you think?
I've been fortunate enough to have lived long enough and in enough proximity to nature to have an understanding of the environments around me. It is indeed hard to recognize what I have seen with my own eyes that are no more, what had been lost long before that, and what is likely to come. But while much appreciated it is not any kind of process of grieving that I'm interested in. There is much you mentioned in terms of your knowledge and secrets that suggest a degree of shamanic or immanentist practice. If nothing else, whether you intended it or not, the mytho-poesis is surely a way such practices are established. It was through wild animals that humans once accessed the spirit power of our biosphere. But what of such practices when the wild animals are only a memory? And what is the land saying as it is experiencing so much loss?
It is really great for me to hear your experience, thank you, because I am often overwhelmed. I am from one of the fastest growing valley’s in Montana and it’s been a lot to hold. A highway expansion just wiped out a beloved willow harvesting spot. I sit in massive expanse of parking lots and think about the fields that I used to play in there, and then I think about the camas that used to grow there. So to hear your process for me is very helpful. TBH I think this essay “The Woman Who Married a Bear” doesn’t capture the whole picture here. So I also really appreciate this discussion. The Blackfeet documentary “Bring Them Home” talks about this too. They had the knowledge and the ceremony, but couldn’t ground the teachings in the Bison. The Blackfeet were able to bring Iinnii home and that makes my heart as big as a bison’s.
We might be coming from different perspectives because I am not looking for hope or ways to articulate grief or inspiration. My perspective (both lived and scientifically defined) is that we are living in a time of mass death almost never experienced on the planet. I am both curious about how people have connected with the world in the past and what those methods would yield in our modern times. The documentary you recommend seems to address this in a way. I would challenge you to perhaps write your own story like The Woman Who Married the Bear but set in the present or recent past. I reckon it would be very resonant.
Yes in considering your query more, I can see how these animals become flattened by our current stories. I appreciate your patience with me! We reduce them to a list of characteristics instead of understanding them as a whole or a being. We use the characteristics, but we don’t imitate them to gain somatic knowledge (even that word is flattening of the actual knowledge). It took me a second to understand that, because I suppose I am lucky to be from one of the last intact ecosystems in the lower 48 (Swan Valley, MT). So for me I do get to experience the animals of my imagination first-hand and am also tied to their rhythms. I also sleep with one eye open when I’m sleeping outside because of grizzly bears. The bears directly affect how I move and interact with the landscape here. I hunt, so I am imitating a rutting buck in November and am generally obsessed with deer and elk habits on the landscape. I am usually incredibly annoyed by the flattening of these animals by popular culture (“buckskin babe” culture in particular). Have you come across Jon Young’s work in the 8 Shields Model at all? It’s one of the closest experiences I’ve found for re-orienting the mind. There’s ceremony too, I’ve found fasting to be profound. I do want to point out that grief is an ancestral cultural technology that is suppressed…I am definitely leery and somewhat abhor pop-culture self help.
What a gift to exist in such an ecosystem and be connected to it. I've not explored any specific model/practice but have been studying the frameworks of imminent practices generally. I believe that you - more than most - are ready to begin exploring the enchanted world through a teacher. One word of caution. There are clear delineations between women's magic (shorthand for enchanted learning and practice) and men's magic. Two spirit individuals can practice both, thus their unique power. But do not trust any man who would try to learn or teach the female spiritual arts (Deepak Chopra comes to mind here).
I do think we are in a struggle to maintain our soul(s). Chase Iron Eyes speaks about this. The over-culture wants mono-culture and we are watching it consume and over-power. For me, I can’t give up. Chase talks about a Crazy Horse song: “I like the fight, even though it’s difficult.”
I’ve been living in this interview, and I wonder if you would like it too:
I would point you toward this book that is an essential introduction to the enchanted universe that was once the core way humanity interacted with our world. The book elaborates on the concept of “wakan” which is touched on indirectly by Chase Iron Eyes (in describing things or concepts you hear he uses the word wakan if not directly exploring the concept).
For further bear lore, look into the northern circumpolar bear cult. It's the best.
yes! Do you have any recommendations? I particularly love Barbara Alice Mann and Kaarina Kailo’s The Woman Who Married the Bear: The Spirituality of the Ancient Foremothers
Ooooh I’ve never heard of that one! Roslyn Frank is a great treasure trove of knowledge on this topic — it’s her whole research area. here’s a good starter: https://www.academia.edu/32234371/Frank_Roslyn_M_2016_A_status_report_A_review_of_research_on_the_origins_and_diffusion_of_the_belief_in_a_Sky_Bear_?sm=b&rhid=38062057351
Reminds me of mythological time-before-time when the human and animal world were not distinct from
one another.
I have dreams of this time, where I can speak to animals - and where shape shifting shamans come in animal form as lovers, friends and even children.
I’ve had dreams like this too. How beautiful. Life is an interconnected web beyond even our wildest dreams. 🌈🕸️
Fascinating cultural details. I love how animals and people coexist on tribal lands, with balance and reciprocity at the heart of these traditions. I’d love to read more.
I highly recommend https://www.pbs.org/show/bring-them-home/ you can stream the documentary through this link. Thank you for reading <3
This was a beautiful and enchanting read. I will use the concept of “wildcrafting in my daily life”. Thank you for this.
Thank you for your thoughtful response. I love your idea of applying wild-craft to daily life, of turning the process of wild-crafting inward <3 I will join you in this!
Thank you for this writing. I entirely aligned with the process and destination you describe in mytho-poesis. It is a missing link I'd been sensing with how to reconnect to our world, as you describe through stories. For an individual it makes sense. However my question relates to what the land is telling you. What of this process when the story the land and the ecosystems it sustains are dying? Spirit power has always relied on that which is wild, with domesticated animals and environments recognized as possessing less power. What of these connections and wisdom and power when the structure supporting it all slips away?
Oh thank you very much for your thoughtful reply, I love your questions. What are you feeling? Is there any experience you would like to share? There is an immense amount of grief I sense… there is no way around it. It’s a daily practice for me to move through that feeling. I’m not sure if it comes from me or the land, to be honest. But I also see that emotion in my partner, who collects wild seeds for restoration projects for a living, so whatever story, energy we’re feeling, is shared. I’ve found solace in Joanna Macy’s works and writings on expressing ecological grief. Finisia Medrano’s work is also very influential for me. In some ways, grief can be a way of rewilding. It is definitely a very “dangerous” emotion to our current over-culture. Perhaps leaning into that feeling is a way of the land expressing wildness through us? What do you think?
I've been fortunate enough to have lived long enough and in enough proximity to nature to have an understanding of the environments around me. It is indeed hard to recognize what I have seen with my own eyes that are no more, what had been lost long before that, and what is likely to come. But while much appreciated it is not any kind of process of grieving that I'm interested in. There is much you mentioned in terms of your knowledge and secrets that suggest a degree of shamanic or immanentist practice. If nothing else, whether you intended it or not, the mytho-poesis is surely a way such practices are established. It was through wild animals that humans once accessed the spirit power of our biosphere. But what of such practices when the wild animals are only a memory? And what is the land saying as it is experiencing so much loss?
It is really great for me to hear your experience, thank you, because I am often overwhelmed. I am from one of the fastest growing valley’s in Montana and it’s been a lot to hold. A highway expansion just wiped out a beloved willow harvesting spot. I sit in massive expanse of parking lots and think about the fields that I used to play in there, and then I think about the camas that used to grow there. So to hear your process for me is very helpful. TBH I think this essay “The Woman Who Married a Bear” doesn’t capture the whole picture here. So I also really appreciate this discussion. The Blackfeet documentary “Bring Them Home” talks about this too. They had the knowledge and the ceremony, but couldn’t ground the teachings in the Bison. The Blackfeet were able to bring Iinnii home and that makes my heart as big as a bison’s.
We might be coming from different perspectives because I am not looking for hope or ways to articulate grief or inspiration. My perspective (both lived and scientifically defined) is that we are living in a time of mass death almost never experienced on the planet. I am both curious about how people have connected with the world in the past and what those methods would yield in our modern times. The documentary you recommend seems to address this in a way. I would challenge you to perhaps write your own story like The Woman Who Married the Bear but set in the present or recent past. I reckon it would be very resonant.
Yes in considering your query more, I can see how these animals become flattened by our current stories. I appreciate your patience with me! We reduce them to a list of characteristics instead of understanding them as a whole or a being. We use the characteristics, but we don’t imitate them to gain somatic knowledge (even that word is flattening of the actual knowledge). It took me a second to understand that, because I suppose I am lucky to be from one of the last intact ecosystems in the lower 48 (Swan Valley, MT). So for me I do get to experience the animals of my imagination first-hand and am also tied to their rhythms. I also sleep with one eye open when I’m sleeping outside because of grizzly bears. The bears directly affect how I move and interact with the landscape here. I hunt, so I am imitating a rutting buck in November and am generally obsessed with deer and elk habits on the landscape. I am usually incredibly annoyed by the flattening of these animals by popular culture (“buckskin babe” culture in particular). Have you come across Jon Young’s work in the 8 Shields Model at all? It’s one of the closest experiences I’ve found for re-orienting the mind. There’s ceremony too, I’ve found fasting to be profound. I do want to point out that grief is an ancestral cultural technology that is suppressed…I am definitely leery and somewhat abhor pop-culture self help.
What a gift to exist in such an ecosystem and be connected to it. I've not explored any specific model/practice but have been studying the frameworks of imminent practices generally. I believe that you - more than most - are ready to begin exploring the enchanted world through a teacher. One word of caution. There are clear delineations between women's magic (shorthand for enchanted learning and practice) and men's magic. Two spirit individuals can practice both, thus their unique power. But do not trust any man who would try to learn or teach the female spiritual arts (Deepak Chopra comes to mind here).
I do think we are in a struggle to maintain our soul(s). Chase Iron Eyes speaks about this. The over-culture wants mono-culture and we are watching it consume and over-power. For me, I can’t give up. Chase talks about a Crazy Horse song: “I like the fight, even though it’s difficult.”
I’ve been living in this interview, and I wonder if you would like it too:
https://youtu.be/wS9Lcx33NgQ?si=BqxnGnrNV6A_WyDI
I would point you toward this book that is an essential introduction to the enchanted universe that was once the core way humanity interacted with our world. The book elaborates on the concept of “wakan” which is touched on indirectly by Chase Iron Eyes (in describing things or concepts you hear he uses the word wakan if not directly exploring the concept).
https://www.natureinstitute.org/in-context-48/craig-holdrege/an-enchanted-universe
Yes! I love this and will read it.
Wonderful post, thanks◇
My heart sings in your writings!
Thank you for this beautiful piece!
Thank you for reading Julian, I really enjoy your work. I loved your piece on hibernating bear and the solstice too.