Strap in folks, this is a long one. (The teachings are not normally this wordy - but I had a lot to say apparently.)
Hi. My name is Lezley and I’m rooting Celtic Anam + Ancestors on Turtle Island (Mishiike Minisi). This teaching is a culmination of 50 years of following vocation. I hope you love it as much as I love finally understanding how it all fits together.
What + How:
How this works
A teaching is released every week for 9 weeks. This intro is the first.
Each Teaching has:
an audio or video with information &/or a story or personal sharing
further reading &/or resources
Practice - to do on your own time + schedule
links to the Discord community for support, feedback + sharing
Navigate the Website:
How to Navigate B+B
How to Navigate Discord
We don’t embody new teachings unless we use our body and practice the teaching in some personal and experiential way. Transformation happens through the experience of our Spirit in the Land of our Body.
The check marks are for those like me that get a dopamine hit off of checking things off as they are completed. You don’t have to use them if it’s not your jam.
There is also a community Teaching Discord for those enrolled. There is also a community Cailleach Ken Discord for those enrolled in the Library. Purchasing Being + Belonging automatically gives you access to the Library and the Teaching Discord. I am manually adding people so it might take a bit.
Tri-Chasag means “triple spiral” in Gaelic. The triple spiral is an essential symbol of pre-Christian Celtic spiritual and culture belief and practice.
Where I talk a lot about the Tri-Chasag foundation of Beloved Presence:
Tir agus Anam, Fite Fuaite Gu Bràth. Land and Spirit are Inseparable Forever.
(This is the first time I ever spoke these Gaelic words into the world and they had an immediate and emotional impact on me. My Ancestors love it when I speak Gaelic + Irish. It thrills them.)
Land + Spirit
This is the root of life, the root of my vocation, the root of my love.
Land + Spirit are woven and sewn together. They are inseparable and exist from the beginning to the end as intricately enmeshed fabric together. Forever.
Land is everything in the world of Form. Spirit is everything Unseen. They have never been parted.
Okay, that’s it. We’re done. Bye. Lol.
Being + Belonging is my response to the core wound of our collective belief in this cut off.
Cut off from Land.
Cut off from Spirit.
Cut off from Love and Warm Welcome.
Cut off from one another.
Cut off from love and joy and safety and peace.
Cut off from the source of Self.
This is a *belief* that we made real. Separation is a sickness that we believed was real. It’s not a reality that is possible. Land + Spirit are inseparable, so even in the world of Form we are never parted from the Unseen.
We are never parted from Spirit in the World.
It is impossible to be parted from the Self, parted from one another, parted from Land, parted from Ancestors. This teaching is specifically relevant to those of us who are no longer living in the Land of our Ancestors.
This teaching is based upon my experience rooting Celtic Anam + Ancestors on Turtle Island (Mishiike Minisi). I can be very specific about that, but can only point generally for other cultures. This may still be beneficial for non-Celtic cultures, I just want to be transparent that I can only speak with any personal authority about my own Ancestral / Cultural reconnecting experience.
Wholeness is all that is required here. It is the only ask, the only call. Wholeness is the only foundation of value. We are either thinking, living and loving from wholeness or we are thinking, living and loving from separation. Those are the only two options.
Wholeness requires a reconnection to, and a healing of our ancestral traumas and our ancestral cut off. Wholeness requires a rooting of refreshed and re-aligned ancestral patterns into the Lands with which we now live.
We are called by our Ancestors and Spirit to Be. We are called by Land + Body to Belong.
Our bodies are made and sustained by the Land we inhabit. Turtle Island (Mishiike Minisi) built and sustains my body and the bodies of hundreds of years of my Ancestors. Celtic culture and world view is my ancient and unconscious operating system. The two require conscious connection, rooting, resonance and expression for health in a good way.
This is a common story for Celts on Mishiike Minisi. My Father’s grandparents are Celtic from Ireland and further back from Scotland and England and Wales. My Mother’s ancestors, for at least 7 generations have lived on Mishiike Minisi. They also originated in Scotland, Ireland and England - but I have yet to find the Ancestors that first came here. As I trace them back in time, they move closer and closer to the east coast.
In a Good Way
This is an English language phrase based on an Indigenous understanding of living from Being and Belonging. “In a Good Way” are the Spirit-lead decisions and actions that hold together all interconnections of life as beneficial for our existence. “In a Good Way” holds in wholeness the self, community and Land, today and 7 generations into the future. “In a Good Way” means choosing the path that brings the most thriving and benefit to all levels of Being and relationship.
In a Good Way is not just ‘okay’. It is living from Tir agus Anam Fite Fuaite Gu Bràth.
Tri-Chasag
Isle of Mann flag.
Tri-Chasag means “triple spiral” in Gaelic. It actually means “3 legged” and is a symbol of sacred power and meaning used all over the world. It is deeply significant to me, connects me with my Ancestors and Ancient Celtic wisdom and is the model of my life and vocation. My world view, belief system and structure for this teaching holds 3 spirals, interconnected and dynamic.
1. Loving Inclusion. 2. Tir agus Anam Fite Fuaite Gu Bràth. 3. Soul Sovereignty.
1. The Great Binding Law
Ogichi Tibakonigaywin. There is only loving inclusion. We are all united in the Great Spirit, the Great Mystery. This is the foundation of Mystical Animism; everything has Spirit or Soul and/or everything is included in the Great Spirit / Great Soul.
The original wound that exists (and shows up in our lives in a million different ways) is the belief that we are separate from Source, separate from Spirit. We believe that we are separate from one another. We believe that we are separate from the Land. This is the Cut Off. This is the source of Separation Sickness.
Dr. Gabor Maté says that anything less than warm welcome in the world is a trauma to a child. We are traumatized not only by how we are treated, but by how we witness others being treated - and “others” includes all beings, all lives; insect, plant, animal, and human as kin. Children have an instinctual and automatic acceptance of all creation as included in family.
We come into this world with the inherent understanding of self as other and everything as family. Everything that exists is part of our kin group; there are many persons in our family and only some of those persons are human.
Witnessing any person in our family being treated without warm welcome is a trauma and a wound to our Being + Belonging. Healing our Being + Belonging dissolves the fragmentation of the truth that we are whole together, and heals the separation sickness we have made real in the world we created.
The Great Binding Law holds that you are as you were Created; perfectly, exactly as you are.
Society and made-up structures say that you are not worthy, you are not valuable, you are not lovable unless you change and are different than you are.
This is bullshit.
This is bullshit made up and fed to us by those who have plans to gain by keeping us small and ashamed and disconnected from our power and acceptance of Self and Wholeness.
Ogichi Tibakonigaywin / The Great Binding Law holds that you were created exactly as you were meant to be - exactly as you are. You have gifts and skills and passions and interests and excitements and joys that make your life worthwhile and complete - and you know exactly what they are, even if you’ve forgotten. You have the wisdom needed to satisfy your fulfillment here in the world of Form. Your purpose is to be who you are.
Allow yourself to Be. Allow Belonging. This is the heart of this Teaching.
2. Tir agus Anam Fite Fuaite Gu Bràth
Just in case you were tempted to exclude Land from the Great Spirit, from the Great Mystery. Just in case you were tempted to read about the Great Binding Law and think that Land was not included. Colonization and Christianity and White Supremacy have taught us to exclude Land from teaching about Spirit, to exclude Land from teaching about embodiment, to exclude Land when teaching about purpose and love and joy.
Land based teachings are the only way we come to wholeness.
The Land holds Natural Law for us and we can reconnect whenever we are ready. Land is the expression of Spirit in the World of Form and They are in constant communication with one another. Existence is forever in dynamic motion. Land and Spirit are in an eternal dance of communication and contact, breathing each other in and out of physical being.
Land-based teaching is the only path of value for those alive in the World of Form and looking to be rooted in Earth. There is no longevity to a teaching that doesn’t unite Spirit and Land in every step.
The original wound, the original cut off, is that we believed Land was separate from Spirit.
We believed that the World of Form could be parted from the wholeness of Spirit.
We believed somehow that Love could stop.
We have rejected and resisted and avoided being embodied because we believed that this place is different, this place is apart, this place is removed from the loving inclusion of Spirit.
Surprise!
The teachings of Being and Belonging are rooted in connecting you to your body. We are asked on this journey, to create personal ceremony (non-religious, land-based) and encourage centering intentional Spirit connection and embodiment when we do this work.
Being + Belonging is participatory teaching.
This is not passive learning. This is not sitting and receiving information in a lecture format. This is not passive accepting of authority. You are an equal co-creator in your development. A teaching is offered, then you come into participation and interaction with the material and develop your own understanding of how that teaching fits into your embodiment of Land + Spirit. There may be teachings where I speak and share from my experience.
You are the expert of your own experience.
You are the expert of your own life meaning and path. You are the expert of your Being + Belonging. A teaching circle holds space for learning to happen - but you are the author of your own learning. We hold space for one another to expand and grow and root deeper into the truth of our embodiment.
Many Ways of Knowing
In Fite Fuaite (woven + sewn together), there are many ways of knowing. There is the knowing of the mind and scientific method; which is the only acceptable way of knowing in the Western world.
Being + Belonging accepts that there are many ways of knowing. If scientific method is just one piece of the pie, then Being + Belonging utilizes all of the tools available in the pie. Intuition, empathetic and direct knowing from Land + Spirit are equally valid and valuable ways of knowing. There are no better or worse ways to be in embodied communication with Land and Spirit.
The physical, mental, emotional and spiritual bodies are all legitimate avenues of wisdom. We are whole with Creation and all knowledge is valuable. We encourage all the wisdom tools available. The key and the goal is rooted, grounded balance.
3. Soul Sovereignty
The Anam Mòr in Irish + Gitchi Manitou in Anishinaabemowin both mean The Great Soul or The Great Spirit. They also mean The Great Mystery which is my favourite because vibes; but also because calling ‘all the everything’ a Mystery keeps us in the awareness that we can’t ever claim to know or tell others what they know about this experience of being alive. The Great Mystery is between you and Gitchi Manitou.
You have a purpose and your purpose is good. Your only purpose here is to fully embody and express The Great Mystery as best as you can while you’re here in the World of Form.
That’s it. That’s all… it’s simple, but often not easy.
Another way to say it is that our purpose here is to Tend to the Earth - to come into relationship with Land and open our heart to fully take part in our embodiment on this planet.
To tend is to turn our attention to Earth and create connection.
The only task we are called to do, is to follow the guidance of Spirit in the World of Form. Follow the Unseen. Follow the Great Spirit. Embrace and obey the Great Mystery expressed with Land.
We must submit to embodied Spirit to realize Soul Sovereignty.
Submit, obey… ew; I am triggered. Lol.
Submit and obey to who?
Submit and obey are accurate terms.
The ew part comes in thinking we are submitting to an outside authority - an oppressive, controlling force. When you connect with Spirit and build a personal, direct relationship with the Fite Fuaite - you realize that you are submitting to your Self, you are obeying your own highest guidance. It’s a pain in the ass because it requires so much dedication and persistence and habitual attention, but this is allowing the greater whole to guide the little perspective.
I need to say this right now - Spirit has absolutely nothing to do with religion or anything you may have been told or taught from a bible or a guru.
Spirit is personal and universal.
It is specific to you and exactly who you are in the world AND it is all of the everything, everywhere all at once. Spirit and Land is present, seen and unseen, forever.
There are no words that can fully express this reality and words can only ever suggest what They are.
They are yours alone. They are ours together. Your purpose is to Be + Belong.
Seek Soul Sovereignty.
We connect to Soul Sovereignty by dissolving the “what” that gets in the way of communicating and expressing Spirit in the World of Form. The Great Binding Law says that you were created in The Great Mystery and you are here in Place and on Purpose, wanted and needed, exactly as you are. You were given everything you need to fulfill your purpose and your purpose is simply to Be + Belong.
You are not broken.
You are not damaged.
You do not need to be fixed.
You have everything you need.
You are exactly as you are meant to be. You know what you like and you know what you need - it’s left to you to walk towards them.
“What is getting in the way of you accepting, believing and living from the root truth of who you are? ”
What is stopping you from doing the things you want to do? Living the life you want to live? Being the you that you want to be, all out loud and real in the world?
Truth, trust and allowing.
Soul Sovereignty requires you to trust and allow your way of Being, exactly as you are.
There are a multitude of ways to lose our profundity and a million different delicious recoveries that bring us further into wholeness. I just recently learned and shifted my own perception of what I allowed to be channeling and psychic medium-ship. I had believed that it was ONLY a closed eyes/meditative/Buddha-type state of being because of what I had consumed and accepted as true through media and societal teachings. I believed that my way wasn’t medium-ship because it was not acceptable or received in my childhood.
I sit in communion with the Creation on my deck with a cup of coffee.
I don’t want to shut out the visual information of the world of form.
I don’t want or need to shut out or cut off from Land to connect to Spirit.
The World of Form ‘informs’ me and communicates with me directly in Spirit. I turn my attention to feeling in my body and listening inside - while still being connected with the World of Form. They are Fite Fuaite and I access more wisdom and greater wholeness when I accept and trust my own ways.
Self talk of “supposed to” and “should” and “must” and “have to” are red flags pointing to where we sacrifice Soul Sovereignty for acceptance and value and love from others.
We are often tempted to discard our own way because it doesn’t look like what we’ve been shown or told it “should be”. We’ve actually been shown so very little of the vast possibilities that living in the world can be. Why limit ourselves to what’s already been done and discard our own ways as wrong or unacceptable or inferior? Our ways are perfect for us.
Being + Belonging is a participatory teaching that will walk you back to loving acceptance of yourself.
Walk you back to Belonging. Return you to the safety and peace of the ground that already knows exactly who you are.
When I was re-reading this I stumbled upon a reference to “profound parts” and went searching. I don’t remember what comes through in moments of connection - so I make a record of it in some way, so I can find it again.
We lose our revelations unless we keep a record.
What does this even mean? What did I mean by profound parts? Oh. It’s an audio note…
Geezus Christ - I just listened to this again and it makes me weep. It’s a little child sitting in the dark, waiting patiently to be found and taken back into the light and the warmth of together. 💜
“Love after Love” by Derek Walcott
Click the link below to download the Teaching audio to your device.
Click images below to open in a lightbox.
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Every learning will float away unless it's recorded.
Figure out what is your preferred method for recording your discoveries. This teaching will offer up depths of juicy Self to bite into - so make sure you have a way to capture everything - preferably in one place.
make a binder, notebook, sketchbook to capture learnings.
personalize it so it feels good to you.
decorate, paper, paint, doodle - you do creative you.
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Create a self-portrait in whatever way feels good and right to you.
paint, draw, cut and paste collage, write, stamp, use the computer, phone, camera, tablet, clay...
use whatever medium you want to create a symbolic self portrait.
"Symbolic" means that you create an image that represents SELF, but doesn't necessarily have to LOOK like Self - unless you want it to.
You have full control over what symbols are meaningful for you.
You have full control over the representation of Self.
You have full control over what areas of Self are emphasized.
You can include what you desire, hope for, long for, wish for in this life experience.
You can focus on this moment, right now.
What Self looks like is completely up to you. Make this as fully connected and immersed in the experience of your Self as you can.
You can share your Symbolic Self Portrait in the community, if you want. This is not required.
Keep this somewhere safe - you will need it later.
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Intention creates a framework and a reference point to tie back into - especially when we get lost in the weeds of discovering Self. Set your intention for this teaching.
Intention is what you would like to feel, know, have, be, experience...etc., while immersed in this teaching.
When sh!t gets funky (and it will), intention pulls our attention back to the purpose of the path.
Oh right, this is happening, I am feeling / learning / experiencing / knowing this because I set my intention to this purpose.
it's a reminder to Self that this teaching and this learning is FOR us - for us from the greatest love and unity and wholeness.
Write your intention on a piece of paper or in a document of some kind that you can refer back to periodically.
you can make this an art project if that speaks to you.
paint, draw, craft, build a observable object of your intention.
make it something that resonates with the fullness of your intended experience.
Put your intention somewhere safe. We don't ever want to lose our intention.
We want to finally shift our intention and perspective to actively creating what we WANT and not unconsciously creating a jumbled-up-chaotic-mixed-bag of unclear intention.