In each story, there sits a small gem of fear inside the one who tells it.  Have they wandered too far down the path, worn out their welcome, told too much?  If they are speaking out to the wind, is the wind still listening?  Are there ears out there to hear?  Stories are living things; they exist to be told over and over, in 10,000 ways, across 10,000 tongues.

I sit under a peculiar alchemy of fire radiating from the earth across which the lightning moves, invoked by the flow of water.  But in my head, I am sitting by a fire, the lodge -- the womb of the Mother -- waits and the hot stones are having their sweat and my uncle says again and again "There are 4 ways, there are 4 ways, there are 4 ways."

I am older than I once was.  I look around me and I see the strengths of the world, the threads of narrative that present themselves, the songs that come all the way from Deepwaters to now.  I sit under an Owl Moon, under Her watchful eye, in the land once known as the Land of the Lady of White Waters, now dry and hot since the Lost Ones swarmed here like a group of intoxicated ants.  I sit here and I tell stories.

My mind is emerging into it's new paradigm and the following quotes are helping shape it :

Curt shared a great quote from Vine Deloria's "Custard Died for Your Sins"

I'm sitting here in silence but I have a story to tell.  It may not be your story.  We are the 10,000 Ways and we have many ways of speaking.  But this is one way.  It's hidden in what I was told, in what I've seen, in where I've been, but it's still there.

This story starts with a book I just finished "Eat, Pray, Love."  Wonderful book, highly recommended if you'd like to get away from the gloomy fare many of us read for 'fun.'  In it, a woman takes a year off to chase her passions, learn how to pray, and finally find those parts of herself she was missing.  Truly a delightful read.

Bill's recent thread on animism has inspired me to post a series of articles I wrote a while back about my experiences/perception of animism -- or what I have re-termed 'monism'. Note this was written for a general audience rather than for this community with its more 'advanced' conception of some of these topics. PART III

Bill's recent thread on animism has inspired me to post a series of articles I wrote a while back about my experiences/perception of animism -- or what I have re-termed 'monism'. Note this was written for a general audience rather than for this community with its more 'advanced' conception of some of these topics. PART II

Bill's recent thread on animism has inspired me to post a series of articles I wrote a while back about my experiences/perception of animism -- or what I have re-termed 'monism'. Note this was written for a general audience rather than for this community with its more 'advanced' conception of some of these topics.

Some say you will find no better test of your own knowledge than when you teach it to others, so with that...

Hello! I'm an animist. I devote my life to the spirits. With the number of agnostics, atheists and interested seekers out there, I figured it would be fun to open up a Q & A thread.