As dusk fell, Marco 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.
Here's info on our upcoming journey to the forest. Please consider this to be your invitation to become part of this adventure in one way or another. We were involved with the Pachamama Alliance through their Awakening the Dreamer symposium, which was life changing for us. We had many years of taking in and sharing the symposium before going to the Amazon with them.
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. The Fundacion Pachamama run many journeys to the forest. 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,
