What is Re-Wilding?

Re-Wilding is the journey of remembering who we are and where we come from, as if our lives depended on it. That may seem dramatic yet at this point, given the ailing condition of many of the Earth's systems due to human mis-use (abuse), our lives truly do depend upon us discovering a new way of living with ourselves, each other and the wild world around us. In western culture we have slowly evolved into a creature who sees itself as separate from the natural world. Our creation stories have evolved to support this belief system - no matter what monotheistic God you worship, He doesn't live on earth...he lives out there somewhere, beyond the physical realm. As a result we aspire to move beyond the physical realm as well, beyond the Earth and the physical life that dwells here, from which we come, upon which we are dependent for our survival. Even Enlightenment traditions aspire to move beyond the earth and earthly belonging, transcending the physical realm and the wisdom that lives within our embodiment. We are physical creatures, animals who are as much a part of the web of life as the protozoa, the ferrugenous hawk, the chimpanzee, the oak tree and the river systems. We cannot transcend this reality nor should we aspire to. Re-Wilding is the process of remembering our place and our wisdom as human beings at this critical time. It is the process of reconnecting with that enigmatic thing within each of us that has been called the psyche or soul, the thing unique to each of us that seems to determine how we each interpret the world and in what way we are called to serve it. There are many opportunities to experience our own soul's unique expression, and there are many opportunities to bear witness to others doing the same. Making Love is a profound opportunity to learn about who we are while we have the opportunity to witness another simultaneously. Sexual intimacy is not necessarily a forum for soul's expression but with intention and courage it remains one of the more powerful opportunities I have ever witnessed or experienced to come into direct contact with soul. While the work of Re-Wilding does not focus exclusively on sexuality and intimacy, they are key portals through which the journey of Re-Wilding repeatedly takes us.

The elemental polarities of masculine and feminine are also key portals through which we have the opportunity to experience the 'first language' of humanity. By that I mean that the authentic expressions of the masculine and feminine have great power to teach us about our fundamental relationship with the world and how we might live with life rather than against it. Reconciling the relationships between men and women and men and the Earth - across the globe - is a key step in crafting a new paradigm that invites us to sustainably thrive with all other life.

The exploration, the honoring and the personal ownership/declarations of the unique and breathtaking individual myths that live within each human is the final piece of the work of Re-Wilding (though these are not necessarily in any particular order). We are each born with a unique wisdom, or way of seeing the world. And for humans one thing is clear; we each carry a deep longing - which I would also call a requirement - to be seen and called out as The One Who....seen exactly for the very things we were born knowing and holding without which our communities and the larger world cannot be whole. The work of Re-Wilding takes us back to the beginning, to draft the glorious and heroic mytho-poetic truth of who we were born as, weaving in the woundings we experienced as well as the 'triumphs', which both help to further illuminate the specific greatness we were born to step into. The fact that we are each born for a unique and necessary purpose without which the world cannot be whole is a hard pill to swallow for many of us particularly in western culture, where we are repeatedly taught that we are insignificant and innately flawed. If the work of Re-Wilding had to focus on one particular process, it would be this one; the intimate and heart-breakingly beautiful process whereby we claim our mytho-poetic soul stories and claim our place in the world.