The Sacred Circle Way

An introduction

If we surrendered 
to earth's intelligence
we could rise up rooted, like trees.
                   -Rainer Maria Rilke

Hello, and welcome! I am delighted that you are here and sincerely hope that I can be of service to you.

When you subscribe to this page, you will receive stories, perspectives and practices that draw from nature-based spiritual paths, particularly shamanism and animism, to assist you in getting unstuck from a depressed, apathetic, or helpless place, and empower you to take soulful action for a kinder and more harmonious world. I have been practicing shamanic journeying and nature-based psychotherapy for twelve years; in addition to these modalities, I will also draw on my experience in peacemaking, history, philosophy, media literacy, and activism.

Why nature? Why spirituality? Why action? And how are they all related?

These are big questions, and I have lived within these questions for the past 25 years of my life. In the first twelve years of my career, I worked for progressive nonprofits focused on independent media, environmental sustainability, women’s human rights, and social justice. In the second twelve years of my career, I have practiced nature-based psychotherapy and shamanic journeying. Over these years, I have become increasingly convinced that the activist and spiritual approaches to creating a better world must not be severed from one another: they are two halves of a beating, vibrant whole.

Without authentic spirituality and soul, attempts to create change can become self-righteous, condescending, egoic, tunnel-visioned, polarizing, exhausting, and sometimes even vicious. But practicing spirituality divorced from meaningful action can become a self-indulgent path of ecstasy.

And so, as I enter the 25^th year of my working life, and my 50^th year on this planet, I seek to bring these two halves together through these writings. Thank you for embarking on this journey with me!

Who are these writings for?

If you are interested in the questions I posed above, then these writings are for you. If you are someone who yearns for, and is willing to strive for, the well-being, dignity, and freedom of all beings – where “all beings” really means all, includes people of all races, classes, genders, sexualities, religions, immigration status, political affiliations and other axes of identity, as well as animals, plants, and the Earth herself – then these writings are for you.

If you are someone who has noticed that you feel better in the natural world, and are curious about how to bring that indescribable goodness into everyday life, both for your own sake, as well for the saking of helping others, then these writings are for you.

It doesn’t matter whether you are Christian, Jewish or Muslim, whether you are Wiccan or practice shamanism, whether you are atheist or agnostic or anything else. When I first discovered the nature-based spiritual path known as shamanic journeying some 15 years ago, I myself was an agnostic, and continued to be for quite some time. People of all faiths have discovered that the wisdom of nature, and nature-based spirituality, can be integrated into their larger spiritual traditions. (I will explain what I mean by shamanism and nature-based spirituality in future posts.)

But, while your particular spiritual orientation doesn’t matter, your heart does. In order to benefit from these writings, you must be willing to drop out of your critical mind and into your heart, and leave behind the all-too-common cognitive orientation of “only one of us can be right, so you must be wrong.” Truth is multi-faceted; all of our lived experiences and hard-fought wisdom combine to form a greater Truth. In other words, there is no room for fundamentalism here – in your or in me.

A note about opening up non-polarized space

We live in a highly polarized society, in an age where the media you’re absorbing is not the same as what I’m absorbing; in some cases, there may be no overlap whatsoever. This state of affairs did not come about by chance. People driven by greed learned a very long time ago that in order to reap obscene profits from a given population, the easiest and cheapest way to do so is to divide and conquer.

We have simply entered the age where that dividing and conquering happens mostly without rifles or chains or legalized discrimination, but rather via words and information technologies.

Because of the subsequent information bubbles we live within, I believe it is not only dangerous, but harmful to make assumptions about a person’s values based on their political affiliation or vote. In fact, I believe one of the most urgent tasks before us is to figure out how to create values-driven spaces, loving space, spaces that are as un-media-ted as possible, rather than continuing to play into the hands of billionaires who profit from our endless division. Creating a values-driven, non-polarized space is one of my intentions with this page.

That said, I will not mince words about the harm that politicians are inflicting on entire populations of people, and the Earth herself, in order to protect people’s feelings. Now is not the time to back down from speaking truths. We must forge common ground rooted in truth and love, not assumptions, misinformation, lies, and hate.

So, what is the Sacred Circle?

Have you ever had an experience in the natural world where reality shifted? Perhaps you were gardening, or lying on the beach after a swim. Or perhaps you had just finished a sweaty hike to the top of a mountain, and you took off your pack, sat down on a rock, and gazed upon ridge after ridge of mountains unfolding beneath you. The only thing you could hear is the wind, and the wind of your own breath. Sweet-smelling mountain fir scented the air. A hawk coasted on the currents below you.

And suddenly, your mind shifted from wanting to capture this scene on your phone so you could show all your friends, to experiencing the precious sacredness of all life. Your critical mind blessedly dropped away, and you felt connected to the Earth beneath you, the sky above you, to the clouds in the distance and the trees undulating along every ridge. You felt a part of a grand harmony that is so much bigger than you, and everything was in its rightful place. A deep love for all life blossomed in your heart. You felt in your bones that you are no better than, and no less than, any other being on the planet, and this was sweet relief. You could be exactly, authentically who you are, and you belonged.

There are many ways to describe these experiences. Some call this the web of life; some call this God. Wilderness therapists use the impossibly unpoetic phrase, “peak experience” (sometimes I wonder if psychologists choose the driest possible descriptors on purpose).

The words I have come to use, to point to experiences like these, are “the Sacred Circle.”

But then what? In the modern world that we have constructed, we hike back down from the mountain, hop into our cars, and before we know it, we’re speeding along at 55 mph back to our tragically disconnected modern lives.

It doesn’t have to be this way.

I believe these so-called peak experiences are so much more than a single moment. They are a call. A call from God, a call from the Earth Mother, a call from Spirit or your truest, most authentic self, your soul. You are being beckoned to join the Sacred Circle of life in a more intentional way. To live your life as though the lives of every being, from the largest whale to the tiniest ant, are sacred.

And indeed, the Sacred Circle can become a way of life. Like meditation or prayer, we can learn to practice this spiritual experience daily. It can become a value system, a way of guiding our decisions, from small to large to everything in between. It poses beautiful, challenging questions, such as: What do you want to do with your life? What is your purpose? How do you want to show up as a friend? How do you want to show up for your community? Will you choose to drive alone or make the extra effort to carpool? If you have the economic means, will you choose to prioritize installing granite counter tops, or solar panels? Do you advocate for policies that protect the Earth? Do you vote to protect the Earth and the lives of all beings? Do you eat your breakfast as though it is a collection of products from the grocery store, or do you receive it as a gift? When you are lying on your deathbed, what might you regret – and what changes can you make now to prevent that?

Fearlessly asking these questions, and seeking evermore to live our lives by the answers that bubble up from our souls, is the essence of living in belonging with, in integrity with, the Sacred Circle. Or, if you will, the Sacred Circle Way.

I will write much more about this in the months to come, but before I go any further, I want to acknowledge that, while this way of describing this experience may be new, the concept is very much not new. We are essentially talking about the religion, philosophy, and way of life of indigenous peoples. And, while white people were indigenous at one time, we have become utterly severed from our own indigenous roots. We are like orphans of the Sacred Circle, Adam and Eve cast out of the garden. (There are many other racial groups who have become disconnected from their indigeneity as well, but I will only speak to my experience as a white person.)

So, many of the people who are advancing these ideas today are Native American teachers and leaders. To name and honor just a few of these voices: In her stunning book Braiding Sweetgrass, Robin Wall Kimmerer describes this way of life and invites us into it, including, urgently, those of us who are descendants of settlers and colonists. In Restoring the Kinship Worldview: Indigenous Voices Introduce 28 Precepts for Rebalancing Life on Planet Earth, Wahinkpe Topa (Four Arrows) and Darcia Narvaez offer many powerful, more academic essays on these concepts. In Becoming Rooted, Randy Woodley describes this way of being as the Harmony Way, and offers very short chapters and practices. The Red Road is a Native American phrase used to signify “a deep commitment to living life in the best way possible — with an intrinsic respect for others, oneself, and creation and a dedication to worshipping the Creator.” I am so deeply grateful that these thought-and-soul leaders have stepped up to offer their vision in these times.

At this moment in history, with ecosystems all over the world in crisis, I believe we need many voices speaking in different styles, words, and approaches; with this page I seek to speak primarily to those of us who have been orphaned from these life-affirming ways.

What can you expect from this page?

You might see a new post every month, or one every week. I’ve spent the past decade working with individuals and very small groups, and am new to publicly writing from the heart. I cannot anticipate my creative flow.

But I can anticipate content. Here are some of the topics you can expect to see sooner or later on this page:

• Choosing joy in a broken world;

• Dancing with aggression: how to stay strong when faced with cruelty, greed and violence;

• Nature-sized change: gathering your community to create localized change;

• The power of vision: the why and how of envisioning a better world;

• A nature-based model of Truth in a time of disinformation and polarization;

• Why overcoming toxic polarization is crucial not only for the health of our democracy, but also for the safety of targeted populations;

• Resistance, repair and the middle way;

• and many pieces on Living the Sacred Circle.

If you have made it this far, thank you for the precious gift of your time and attention. Please introduce yourself in the comments, and let me know what you care about! What resonated with you? Do you have any additional topics you’d like to see addressed? And please share this with people who you think will be served by these writings.

Much respect and gratitude to you.

Kris