Tracking the cycle of transformation

For the past 12 years I have been creating and accompanying people through learning journeys (literal, symbolic and metaphorical)that enable them to experience the cycle of transformation: the transformative process that happens in our days and nights, in the moon cycles, the seasons, digestion, composting, as well as death and rebirth, crisis and metamorphosis. These journeys become experiences that touch people at their core. They demand attuning oneself with the wholeness of the place we inhabit, and so are also a way of addressing the question of how we may live in greater harmony with the world now.

Together with my colleagues at Efecto Mariposa (Colombia), we have created a nine months ‘pilgrimage’ in Holistic Science and Sustainable Living for participants to open their perception, see Life with new eyes, de-structure old paradigms and search for their particular place and path in the world. This unfolded for me in the recognition of how our life and rhythms are embedded in a constant and fractal dynamic of destruction, liminality and creation.

My practice has been focused on exploring the experience of such journeys and the implicated phenomena as whole processes, letting myself be immersed in their depth, be sensitive to their qualities and track their patterns. I am still developing my creativity, artistry and attuned intuition, to create these collective journeys - metaphorically and literally. How to create a sense of adventure, the experience of coming into dialogue with a place, in ways that stir both rational and poetic inspiration. I am experimenting with song and voice, embodying ancient archetypes and tapping elements of deep imagination.

Furthermore, studying the cosmological and mythological western roots of our relationship with darkness and chaos, I can see how this cycle of transformation affects us all structurally: individually and collectively. We are so used to growth, light, ascendance and transcendence, that accepting a descent, a “de-growth”, a de-construction, a death in many areas of our human existence is a big challenge. My research involves being attentive to how particular happenings that arise on the way of the learning journeys speak of a broader phenomenon of death and rebirth, and offer clues to how we can learn to live fully and intelligently into this process.