
At 18 I moved to U.K., the land of my ancestors, from Zimbabwe, where I was born & raised. In childhood, lion and leopard would pad past our door at night. Antelope graced the plains, grazing alongside the cattle. Although indigenous people lived close, real relationships only developed later,
with the Maasai & Samburu when I worked in Kenya in the 70’s. This was the time the seeds of my essential self began to germinate: I also encountered the desert, in Sudan and the Sinai. I remember feeling tiny and insignificant in those vast, spare landscapes, yet also very comfortable and at home.
It was 20 years before the seedling emerged, during a 6-month sojourn in Alaska. Here, I uncovered my life purpose, which is to connect people and wilderness. Wild nature can be a mirror for our own wild natural selves, which I believe we sorely need to re-inhabit, both for our sake and the sake of the planet.
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My seedling grew slowly. I trained with Ruth White (www.ruthwhite-gildas.co.uk), healer and workshop leader. The Ehama Institute (www.ehama.de) taught me about the 8-directions and how to sit in group council. While training in the Personal Totem Pole Process (www.deepimagery.org) I journeyed deeply with my inner animal guides. Bill Plotkin (www.animas.org) and Trebbe Johnson (www.visionarrow.com) taught me about being a vision quest guide. Throughout, nature guided and instructed me.
Walking in a Glasgow park, I heard ”be a gardener”; I have been one ever since, alongside workshops, quests and other work. During a solo trip to the canyons in Utah, USA, I felt blessed by the energies from the 7 Anasazi Kivas (ancient temples) that I was camped near. I left feeling my soul purpose affirmed and somehow deepened by the wisdom of these Ancient Ones.
I began studying Ecological Science, a good way, I thought, to combine work with my passion for nature. After 2 years I collapsed under the pressure of academic effort, physical work and
financial stress. This felt like failure but became transformation. Bev, a friend of my brother, visited me. She gave me a bag of jewels and some basic instruction, which birthed a new career, creative, not scientific.
Combining jewellery making (www.earthnotes.com) with gardening, I built a stable base from which to offer my programmes for connecting people and wilderness. A vision quest in the Sahara, accompanied by Tuareg nomads and their camels (www.visionarrow.com and www.kamelkarawanen.ch) re-affirmed my path.
A call from the wilds of Scotland, where I live, invited me to the area in which to work. I had begun to practice with an old Celtic spiritual order (www.ceilede.co.uk) which I discovered used to be very present in the same area: the voices of the Ancient Ones speak to me here, too.
Some plants grow slowly and mature late. My seedling has become a tree, with deep roots, and branches spreading ever wider, like the mighty oak. Its leaves – the Earth Notes – dance with the wind, offering their gifts to the world.
And the growth continues …..
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