As dusk fell, Marco Mukuink was in the middle of an intricate story. Suddenly he got up, telling us that he had to go and check on Fabiola. We assumed he was talking about a child, or maybe a grandmother, but he explained that Fabiola was his tapir. What? Your tapir?! Our minds boggled.
We were visiting the Achuar community of Sharamentsa, deep in the Ecuadorian Amazon rainforest, an extraordinary journey organised by the Fundacion Pachamama. Our host was an Achuar man called Marco who was giving us a fascinating account of the role of a padre called Louis Bola (back in the 1960's) helping the Achuar people unite so they could face the outside world together.
He told us that Fabiola is free to come and go, and as a nocturnal animal rests somewhere in the forest during the day, appearing between 4pm and 6pm in the afternoon to visit with her people. Then goes back to the forest to find food overnight. He came back soon with her and we all met her. A large, curious, freindly and excitable animal who is loved by the whole village.
Later, Marco told us an extraordinary story. He was talking about ceremonies, vision and action. For the Achuar, the point of ceremonies is to receive a vision for the next part of their lives. It's like an instruction, their guidance system. In their culture, he explained, you only share that vision once you have realised it - which may take many years. Until that time you simply do your best to follow it.
The vision gives you one side of the bridge, the work of manifestation builds the bridge until, when the whole bridge is there and you have brought the vision into realisation, you can truly celebrate the accomplishment.
He told us that in as a young man, in his third ceremony (for which his mother had made the medicine) he received a vision that he needed to become a pilot. For a young man in the middle of the forest, this is a challenging thing to even imagine. He told us how he followed this vision over many years and how hard it was. After years of working at it, he did indeed become a pilot in the Amazon.
One day he had an emergency call to pick up someone who was very sick and needed to be brought from one of the communities in the interior to a hospital. As he flew on this rescue mission, he was told that the person in need of help was his own mother. He picked her up and as they flew across the forest his mother blessed him and celebrated the realisation of his visit with him. She had been part of creating the ceremonial container in which he had received his dream. And he was now holding his mother as he took care of her. He was very moved as he told us this story, and as I write, I am touched by it again.
He used this story to illustrate a mistake that people from the modern world often make. We want visions and then we want more visions. And often what we are seeking is visions which reassure us that we are OK, that we are special. Not many of us seek a vision that will be hard work to bring into being. Even less then get down to the work to make that vision real.
He told us that bringing a vision from the dream (spirit) world into manifestation is always hard, and takes dedication, tenacity, patience, and courage. I found this deeply reassuring. At times, I've experienced doors opening with inexplicable grace and ease. But side by side with this, I experience the reality of sustained work - the sustained labour of love - which is needed to bring something reliably and solidly, into the manifest world. I think if you asked anybody who has brought something into the world reliably substantial beauty, whether that is playing Vivaldi, creating a beautiful garden, having a good relationship, or being a Movement Medicine teacher, they would acknowledge that its taken dedicated, persistent work and effort.
In our modern culture it’s easy to think that something is wrong if I have to work at it, if I have to put in effort. It’s one of the new age traps. Miracles definitely do happen, and/but most often work and effort is required too. Just like giving birth.
A labour of love dedicated in action, especially together with others (thanks to my Dad for this key addition) can be a joyous thing.
This is a huge part of the adventure of life - the adventure of bringing vision into the world. Of finding out how what works, often through finding out what doesn't work. It's the adventure of incarnation, book ended by the knowledge that dissolution is also inevitable. Creation and letting go. A genuine Phoenix dance.
Update from our journey in 2026.
We have just come back from our upcoming 2026 journey to the forest and I have two updates. Fabiola has now fully re-wilded herself, and so, though I was a little sad not to see her again, I was very happy that she has been able to return to her wild life. And Marco told us more about his life now. Sometime after he had realised his dream of becoming a pilot, and helped his mother, Covid came and flights stopped. In this interval, Marco recognised that this dream was done, and that his dream for the next part of his life was about growing high quality food for his village and making great baskets (traditionally a male task in Achuar culture). Once again he taught us about, life, change and human evolution.
There are many ways to connect with the spirit of the forest and the request which emerged from the Achuar in the early 1990's for a global alliance to stand with life and with the forest. The Awakening the Dreamer Symposium. You can support The Fundacion Pachamama. You can find out about the journeys they run into the forest, one of which we will be leading a journey in April 2027. Info to follow soon!
The Long Dance is blessed by its connection with the Fundacion Pachamama and Amazonian leaders who come to dance with us.
With gratitude for Zoe Tyron's image of Fabiola (at top), for Marco's teaching and for Fabiola!
Maybe see you in the forest or on a dance floor soon,
With love,
