I talk a lot about multiple ways of knowing with my clients and in my life. Some of the most transformative experiences I have had have happened precisely because I suspended over-reliance on the rational, cognitive parts of myself and leaned into something else just as real. That happened to me one day this summer when I had a profound and unmistakable knowing that I needed to tell the story of how I die.
Working the Roots
When I found the poke sallat growing in my backyard, something in me – that part of you that knows and you don’t know how it knows – knew that the things that were happening in my life in relationship to my ancestor Granny were not coincidences.
In June 2008, I got one of those phone calls that you know might come one day but you’re never really prepared for. My 90 year old grandmother had been rushed to the hospital with symptoms of what we would soon find out was a massive stroke. She survived for a month and a few days after the event. What she taught me in those few days will stay with me for a lifetime.
True Confessions
I used to feel fear often when I thought of connecting with my ancestors for guidance of any kind. But like with any relationship, spending time together built trust and comfort. Today, I am so certain that they have my back and want me…us… to heal and thrive and bring all of the gifts, magic, and medicine only we can bring to the world.