Hello Wild Graces Friends,
This last month has brought an unexpected journey into my life: my Face Book and Instagram accounts were hacked and I have spent many hours and dollars righting the wrong. Living in those technological trenches, with daily explosions landing close-by, gave me hours to contemplate not only repair of the current situation, but how to move forward.
I follow a number of writers on Substack and always appreciate its straight-forward simplicity. No bells and whistles, no ads, no promotions, no tangled web of Meta communications. Simply the thoughts of writers whose work I admire that arrive not too often in my inbox! You can see where this line of thought is leading: I have paused my Instagram and Face Book accounts and created a Substack called
Rewilding the Human Heart
A journey of reunion with the living earth.
Explore outer terrain and inner landscapes with me.
Please follow this link, subscribe and forward it
to your friends, family and colleagues who would be interested in my work!
https://sharifaoppenheimer.substack.com/p/rewilding-the-human-heart
I hope you will join me there! All subscriptions will be free. Although Substack has built into its system an encouragement to upgrade with each post, you can ignore it! It feels to me, given my recent experiences, that Substack is a more grounded container than the circus ~ with its inherent privacy dangers ~ that is social media.
The following is a taste of what you will find there
“Over the millennia humans have learned tangible ways of fostering relationship with each other and the more-than-human world. Our lives were spent observing the myriad ways plants, insects, birds, and other animals communicate. The gifts of song, movement, breath and blessing are lessons humans have learned from our other-than-human kin. I call these ways of communicating technologies of relationship. We will employ these technologies ~ these embodied languages ~ here within Rewilding the Human Heart.
Song is earth’s first language, articulated by wind in treetops; by water rushing over stones and dropping into clear pools; by birdsong at dawn, autumn crickets, geese flying in formation; by coyote whom we call the song dog and vixen’s song of love. Like our ancient ancestors around the fire at the cave’s edge, we too can discover the magic of song as we embed ourselves more deeply into our own immediate pocket of the emerald earth. As we walk our favorite trail or sit in the twilit back yard, allow song to arise from your listening heart. Offer this simple song as a gift to these other-than-human relatives who surround you.
Movement, like song, is a primal language spoken by countless beings. Certainly, we humans speak through movement too. Neuroscience, as well as our own experience, shows that rhythmic, continuous movement soothes the soul. Outer harmonious movements bring harmony to interior body rhythms; here we find comfort and rest. Dance has spoken volumes since the dawn of creation. Think of the bird-of-paradise’s elegant courting dance or the playful grooming, chasing, bumping and tumbling of coyote mates. David Abram, the celebrated cultural ecologist and geophilosopher, encourages us to dance with the wild, a depth ecology movement and arts practice which he calls Place Dancing. As we settle more deeply into relationship with our earth-elders, let’s playfully move the way they do. Stand up and allow the breezes to ruffle your hair, spread your wings and feel the lift of wind, feel that your bones are filled with air.”
I will continue to send you this blog from the Wild Graces website ~ to share with you images, poems and inspirations. My intention in Rewilding the Human Heart is to explore more hands-on, embodied ways to deepen our relationships with the Elements of Earth, Water, Fire, Air and Ether as well as the Realms of Nature ~ Mineral, Plant, Animal, Human and Unseen Beings. We will put into practice many artistic, ritualistic and celebratory ways to give honor and thanks. Please join me and invite your friends to enjoy the festivities!
With Delight, Sharifa
As always, please forward this blog to your circle of friends. The link to subscribe is at the bottom of this page:
https://www.sharifaoppenheimer.org
Photo by Aron Katz on Unsplash
