Ancestors Calling

My ancestors made themselves known unexpectedly. As a light-skinned person who had by now assimilated my speech into an American accent, my complex familial identities were buried & subsumed under decades of political repression, the cultural homogenization of sovietization, and the traumas of displacement & migration. I didn’t feel that I could rightfully claim Sakha indigenous identity as a settler/refugee living far from my ancestral homeland on lands wounded by empire & colonialism.

My ancestors, however, were explicit in their instruction. My grandfather and grandmothers appeared, as clear as any living human, and told me that I was theirs in this life, that I had a duty to become Sakha. A responsibility to live on my ancestral lands and speak my own language. To write books. To practice & embody the medicine of my ancestors.

This all felt true, and still I sat with it for some time, assimilating its weight & potential before acting. My spiritual practice, by now well rooted in dharmic practices such as puja & japa, began to transform. I built new altars and spoke to my ancestors regularly. My ancestors had promised that they would arrange the trip for me, and that ‘someone else’ would pay for it. Overcoming my fear & vulnerability, I launched a successful crowdfunding campaign, and embarked on my first trip to
Sakha Republic, a vast place with a majority indigenous population, few roads, and a preserved arctic indigenous culture.

I went without expectation, with no plans and no one I knew to meet me. It really was a leap of faith, to fly seven hours east of Moscow based on guidance from the spirit realm, not knowing who would catch me when I landed and whether the landing would be soft. 

That first trip changed my life. Within hours I had met true friends, mentors, spirit workers. I was fed, and housed, and overwhelmed with gracious hospitality. The spirits who had called forth this journey made all the necessary arrangements through the magic of coincidence & synchronicity, and I came to understand that I was perfectly taken care of; all I needed to do was show up. I met shamans and traditionalists of many types, visited sacred sites, studied my indigenous Sakha language, and watched my own capabilities as a healer & teacher expand with each initiation, as I opened with increasing trust to channel the forces who had waited so long to work with me & through me.

Now I travel to Sakha Republic regularly, spending seasons there once or twice a year. It is no longer new; it is home, and thus filled with the mundane activities that make up regular life. I continue to be involved in teaching & learning, practicing ritual & esoteric arts, spending time with the land & my mentors, and supporting local activist efforts around sovereignty, environment, and language preservation. I often tell people that having started as a practitioner of mind-body-spirit healing, I have leveraged my focus towards the spirit part of that triad, emphasizing healing work performed in conjunction with ancestors and spirit helpers of blood, land, & vocation.

I am honored to travel widely offering teaching, ritual, and facilitation. Recently I have presented at PantheaCon, Souldust Compassion Camp, and Groundswell Community & Retreat Center. I continue to see private clients for tarot readings, ritual healing work, and intuitive counseling in person and online.