Gathering the bones for new life

There is a story told of an ancient woman who abides in the desert. She spends her time searching, unearthing and gathering bones. Bones are of the soul, the indestructible parts that remain when death seems to have had the last say. Her name is La Loba or La Que Sabe and she is the one who gathers and sorts, who sings life back into that which has been lost and forgotten in the sands of time. When the heavens are in harmony she will begin the rites of enchanting while a fire in the hearth leaps and the moon watches with hope. She sings over and to the bones and as they listen they begin to vibrate, to sing along becoming enchanted. The bones begin to reform, to take on matter, flesh and skin, until they are whole and wildly alive. Then perhaps the shape of a bear, or a deer, or a wolf will leap up and run into the night. If you keep watching you may see as the creature bounds across the river she changes into a laughing woman whose hair has many colors, flowing as freely as the wild untamed wind.

Adapted from Women Who Run With Wolves

by Clarissa Pinkola Estés

We are surrounded by stories, and I believe it matters which ones we choose to listen and agree with. Some stories can be louder than they have a right to be, and others are barely heard above a breath. Often they only get louder until we stop and listen.

We are constantly telling, creating and listening for stories to help guide and ground us - often to help make sense of moments that were too big for us to hold. Stories can illuminate the ways we have been trapped and isolated. Sometimes they can loop, stuck on repeat, so even when we are out of the moment we continue to live as though we aren’t. Sometimes they are passed down. Some we feel strongly about and some are so “normal” we don’t notice they are a part of us. Our bodies and hearts carry stories and sometimes they become so ingrained we forget they are in an active state of retelling.

We have a deep need to be seen and heard. We experience harm in relationship, and through relationship we will find repair. Just as La Loba sang to the bones to remind them of their life, we all need help to be sung back to our belonging, to be rebound to our embodied spirit.

I want to help you gather the stories of your life to help you illuminate the parts of yourself that need to be heard, the parts that are stuck in loops, and the parts that are ready to run free.