Hi Friend,

Thank you to those who are expressing strong interest in the Origin Stories Course - and for those of you who are signing up! It's turning into a really cool gathering of people!

I always love this moment - when a particular class comes together, and I get to learn about the particular stories and world views from one another that we will get to listen to! I used to run a lot of story-crafting courses, and it's really fun to do so again. Especially during these times. It’s already been a reminder of the power of gathering around our stories… especially the tender process of story crafting.

Here are a couple of questions about the course that came up in the webinar that I want to address:

• Do I have to know much about my ancestors to take this class? Part of what we are doing together is opening ourselves to the wide breadth of ancestors (including ‘landcestors’) that we each are a part of. Plus some folks might want to focus on organizational, national, or cosmic origin stories. We have participants who are themselves adopted. And many of us mostly have remnants.

• Do I have to come to every session? Nope. They will be recorded. And if you can't attend any of the sessions (for reasons that have to do with timing, for example) but still want to do the work itself, let me know - we can probably offer an alternative that will support you in that.

• Do I have to know what story I will work on when I start the course? Nope. The first few classes will help you find something meaningful to work with. If you ARE working on your book, then we can talk about the best way for you to engage with this course.

• How much time will it require between sessions? Because part of our work in this course is to help you jump-start your own creative story-telling process, I'm encouraging you to write/do art for 20 minutes every day, 5 days a week (and if you want to do 7 days/week, I won't stop you). You will be getting writing prompts, so it is not just a blank page. If it’s better for you to sit down for an hour or two a week, instead of 20-30 mins a day, that can also work.

• I've participated in and led writing groups for many years, and I know that this combination of gentle structure and accountability is really helpful to get into a creative practice!

There will also be embodiment exercises and ancestor-connection exercises, which can also help your creative writing/crafting process. This is not just about staying in your head! And, because I tailor these courses to the needs of the participants who have gathered together, a lot can emerge in this space (I might create a few 'constellation audios', or I might not) that is based on you!

I myself have two different Origin Stories that I will be working on (and have been for some time) during this course. The first is around some of the Indigenous origins of democracy (a story I keep learning about and keep finding important nuances in how to tell it in better ways, to different audiences). The second is the story of how I started Sequoia Samanvaya, this eco-spiritual organization, and some of what I've learned in that process. That means I'll be sharing a bit from these two stories, as they are in-process, instead of just as 'finished products'.

If you are ready to register, you can do so here.

And we are doing one last informational webinar this coming Thursday to support your discernment.

Regardless of your choice to register, I want to leave you, at the end of a month that has been, at least for me, fuller than expected, with a thought on absences.

I shared a story on the most recent webinar (which you can access here) about some of my mother's journey of finding her biological father, whom she never knew growing up. This included meeting her two half-brothers for the first time in her mid-seventies! It's such a great story - totally one that could be on a talk show! Including how her biological half-sister did not want to meet her because she did not want to believe that her father had an extra-marital affair...

Part of the meaning I've found in my mother's journey is how spaces of absence—gaps where you just don't know what happened (sometimes really big ones)—are both really common and can be incredibly fruitful, generative places. In other words, absence is not always negative. "Wholeness" - if such a thing is even possible or desirable, and I'm not always sure it is—does not necessarily mean devoid of absence. Rare are old trees without knobs and cracks.

Sometimes we have only remnants - crumbs along a pathway, ashes after a fire; the echo of a voice we once loved; the shadow of a fleeting dream. Sometimes the ephemeral can still be persisting. Sometimes we can find our reflection in the waters that keep moving, as well as those that stand still. For that we have poetry, and songs, and a galaxy of stars to gaze at, and hopefully some places where we can just be cozy.

Remnants can become powerful fodder for stories. For life ways.

Take courage in remnants, as well as in wholeness. Take courage in the gatherings around stories.