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A Good Dose of Holy Ferocity

“Tenderly, I now touch all things, knowing one day we will part."

~ Saint John of the Cross

Greetings friends~

It has been an unexpectedly long time since my last newsletter. I planned to write before a trip to Ireland and the Big Island of Hawaii this summer, but it didn't happen, and now here we are, spinning through the cosmos toward winter. After a hot, parched summer in Santa Barbara, I thoroughly enjoyed the lush, green, rainy islands - visiting friends and family on an ancestral pilgrimage and driving a van for a group of astrologers on a sacred site tour of the land of Eriu. I reveled in the wisdom of my neolithic ancestors and their exquisite feats of ingenuity and observation around cosmic cycles and relations with the natural world. Beauty, magic, myth and the way of the feminine were the ground and surround, however, we also auspiciously arrived on the same day as the Pope and throughout the journey bore witness to horrendous stories of current and past abuses of children and women in the name of the Catholic Church. In verdancy and outrage, I returned to Southern California, acutely aware of the dry, dusty creek beds, thirsty trees, effects of fire... as well as the abuses of power, privilege and patriarchy at home, in the midst of a heat further ignited by the recent political and social injustices and unrest. Furthermore, as we here on the west coast are still recovering from fires and related devastations, floods and hurricanes have reeked havoc on the east coast, and now recent mass shootings have deepened our collective despair. The troubles certainly continue to trouble. In this, we are called beyond hope, to delve inside ourselves to uncover the truth of our beings, the dream of our soul and a life of meaning and purpose. May we have the support, courage, faith, steadfastness, imagination, kindness, truth and friendship we need, as well as a good dose of holy ferocity, singing and weeping, laughing and feasting, as we engage this endeavor and meet and greet each moment of change.

November 1, Samhain, in the Celtic tradition, marked the new year, the end of harvest time and the beginning of the dark time, the first days of winter (in this hemisphere). A time in many cultures where the veil between the worlds is thin, and we remember in gratitude, our connection to our ancestors and all that sustains us in this and the Other World. As days become shorter, it is a natural time to turn inward, reflect on what we have experienced, and rest and vision for what is to come.

I am grateful to have the opportunity to slow down and take time to reflect and prepare for the upcoming year. In this spirit, there is not currently much on the calendar. For locals, check out the Women's Grief and Gratitude Retreat in December, and stay tuned for information about Dream Courses, Young Adults Councils and a follow up to the Soul Activism Training. The next local Community Grief Ritual will be March 30-31, 2019 and I am inspired to offer more initiatory programs for youth, as well as continue to provide opportunities for people to cultivate connection, compassion and community both locally and beyond. Stay tuned for updates as dates and programs are confirmed for next year.

Thanks to so many of you who reached out in response to my last newsletter. Thank you to all of you who continue to show up to and for the programs, groups, sessions, councils, talks, etc. I keep offering... your presence enriches myself and others in a shared field of openness and mutual tussling with what it means to be human in this time and place, and how to surrender and respond to what it is we are being called to in service to life. I am deeply grateful and honored.

in love and blessing,

Alexis


Upcoming Events


Women's Grief and Gratitude Retreat

December 8-9, 2018

Arroyo Hondo Preserve, CA

Camping

Join us for a weekend camping retreat to explore our grief and gratitude in communion with each other and the land. We will share in circle, engage in ritual, have time on the land, sing and dance, weep and laugh.

With Sharon Tollefson, Elizabeth Gonella, and others.

Saturday 9am - Sunday 4pm.

Register by November 25


Mundane Miracles, Holy Wonders & Other Tidbits


SEA STARS

I am very grateful to live near the ocean. Even though at times I lament the sparseness of fresh water due to years of drought, I receive abundant gifts from the salty sea. Not too long ago, I was walking on the beach at low tide with a friend, enjoying conversation and the beauty of the morning. As we passed by familiar rocks covered with muscles and sea anenomes, she excitedly asked, "Is that a starfish?" I followed her gaze to a bright orange area on the underside of a large rock. If you are not from this part of the world, then let me tell you that until about five years ago the area would have been covered with starfish, the orange and purple thick bodied sea stars, and the thin legged ones too. However, I have not personally seen one in years despite my very frequent walks on the beach. Since 2013, almost all of the starfish have been killed, from Alaska to Baja California, as a result of sea star wasting syndrome, a virus of undetermined origin associated with warmer water temperatures (read climate change). So you can imagine my surprise and elation, when I lifted up a strand of sea weed, and lo and behold, there was a bright orange starfish - Ochre Sea Star, Pisaster Ochraceus Segnis. Seeing this creature after years of its absence reminded me of a story I heard from a wild and mischievous teacher regarding seeds and the mystery of life. It was known in some of the rural villages in Guatemala, where he lived, that on occasion, after a good rain, long forgotten seeds would sprout out of the walls of the old mud houses, bearing flowers and fruits never before seen, but heard about in the stories of the old ones, waiting for just the right conditions and circumstances to return again. Along the same thread, another indigenous elder, from the Aleutian Islands on the coast of Alaska, shared his experience of grief as a young boy, when he realized the traditional masks of his people were all lost and forgotten. He was advised by his elder to go out onto the water and sit very quietly for a very long time until he connected to the place from which all things, all traditions, originate - the womb of the world so to speak. The elder shared that the masks resided there waiting to come forth at the right moment. And they did.

ODE TO CLOUDS

I read an article this summer in a local publication entitled, Southern California is Losing Its Clouds: New Study Reveals a Significant Decline Since the 1970s. Apparently "cloud cover is plummeting in southern coastal California," according to a climatologist. I was struck by the absurdity and the impossibility of this... and yet the truth, local clouds on the brink of extinction. So much is changing, lost, forgotten... is there anything exempt from the hand of this uncertain fate? Clouds, are a feast for the imagination, as well as being essential for the earth-atmosphere system, as they help regulate the earth's energy balance by reflecting and scattering solar radiation and absorbing earth's infrared energy. Those ephemeral passing beauties, signifying change and weather, moisture and life. Whimsy. Rain. Rainbows. Protection from the sun. Storms. Heavenly realms. Enchantment. As we learn to dwell in a field of uncertainty, it is good to pause a moment and reflect on the beauty and majesty of clouds. Lift your gaze and look up or outside through the window at the vastness of the sky, our atmosphere and beyond, and breathe in, knowing your heart is as vast. Find a way wherever you are to honor clouds, and for that matter, everything else you see, smell, hear, touch, taste and feel... all the 10,000 things on the cusp of now. We never know when something we notice or may not have noticed, might disappear.

BOOKS I HAVE RECENTLY ENJOYED

Linda Kohanov: The Tao of Equus

Sharon Blackie: If Women Rose Rooted

OTHER RESOURCES THAT HELP

Michael Meade Mosaic Voices Podcast: Hope and Despair #95

VOTING

We are on the eve of midterm elections in the US, and have the possibility to reshape our government and change our collective dream. Whether or not democracy is currently working or for that matter, your personal cup of tea, let us cast our votes for justice, truth and peace and all that is good, however we do it, in the voting booth and in our every day actions and prayers.

Voting Guide for Santa Barbara, CA Thanks to Art Ludwig of Oasis Design.

Choosing Love and Life in the Face of Complete Uncertainty and Risk

Global Youth Peace Summit Gathering

"Let us risk the wildest places, lest we go down in comfort and despair."

~ Mary Oliver

Greetings friends~

Spring is springing here in Santa Barbara County. We had several rains this past season, which although necessitated folks in high risk zones to evacuate repeatedly, also gratefully brought clear water flowing to the streams, new green life to the land, the blossoming of wild flowers and happy bellies of critters. Given the challenges we all face in our personal lives, communities and in the world, it is good to feel the spirit of renewal which accompanies the welcome water and turn of the seasons. Nature is a good teacher that way, in the natural rhythms of letting go and coming forth.

Around the Spring Equinox we held a Grief Ritual at an old barn in a local canyon. Amidst the oaks and sycamores, 35 men and women came together to honor grief in a collective ritual of beauty, rawness and communion. At the end of the day, several of us walked downstream to the ocean to bring our offerings to the sea. On our return, one of our party noticed a large fish, 18 inches long, moving upstream through the clear water in a cement tunnel up a fish ladder, which is how the stream passes under the highway at this particular spot --- a steelhead trout! Last spring, this stream, with very little water due to years of drought, was home to steelhead eggs. This brought scientists and nature enthusiasts, as the steelhead have been endangered in this area for some time. In all my years frequenting these front country streams, I have never seen a fish this size. It was a blessing and a reminder of change and possibility. Only 3 years ago (almost to the day on May 19), a corroded pipeline deposited 3,400 barrels of crude oil into one of the most biologically diverse coastlines on the west coast in the Refugio Oil Spill and devastated the area. A couple weeks ago, Caltrans approved a 60 million dollar project to build a wildlife bridge over the 101 freeway about 60 miles south of here to open the way for mountain lions, bobcats, coyotes, deer, and other animals to maneuver around a human centered world. If completed this wildlife crossing will be the first in California.

I have recently crossed a sort of wildlife bridge in my life, indeed, a powerful threshold. Life conspired, as it does, to provide just the right circumstances for me to hit and reveal unexpected hard edges. Eventually through intense fear and reactivity, incredible resistance, and much letting go and surrender, I have found myself on the other side, choosing love and life in the face of complete uncertainty and risk. It is a holy and humbling journey to undefend the heart and keep it open in the face of inevitable loss, disappointment, and pain. Profoundly challenging. And that is without any real threat to my person, dignity, rights, lifestyle and life. I am beyond blessed for that privilege. Deep bows to human beings who are willing to forgive, heal, choose love, offer shelter to each other. It is a miracle, to be alive, in the reciprocal exchange of love and gratitude. To know our vulnerability, and that of others, and be kind and merciful.

In the spirit of gratitude, for the whole non-human and human world, for ladders and bridges, I offer thanksgiving for the blessing of being and working with some amazing people in the past months. Men and women with the Santa Barbara Bucket Brigade, shoveling and digging along side each other in awesome community solidarity.The courageous women who have joined me for a 6 month Soul Activism training, those in a recent initiatory mentorship journey, as well as a 12 week dream group series which just ended. The staff of My Friend's Place, a homeless youth shelter in Los Angeles, who are bringing the practice of council to their work. Antioch students who are exploring and re-imagining mental health in the context of a sick culture. Pacifica Graduate Institute students who sit in council every month to share and listen from the heart. The brave men and women who show up to honor grief in community. All of the people I am honored to accompany on their paths of remembering wholeness. My family and friends and animal companions - particularly steelhead, gray whales, dolphins, blue heron, bobcat, my cat, and the little bird - black phoebe? - who flew in my open front door yesterday and let me pick her/him/they up to take back outside.

I invite you to read below for upcoming programs and events.

I hope to see you.

with love and blessings,

Alexis


Upcoming Events


Community Grief Ritual

June 9, 2018

Arroyo Hondo Preserve, Santa Barbara

ALL WELCOME

An opportunity to honor our personal and collective grief with regards to the sorrows of the world, loss of loved ones, ancestral grief, trauma, places in ourselves that have not known love, what we expected and did not receive, and the reality that everything we love, we will lose.


Young Adults Wilderness Fast

June 22 - 30, 2018

San Emigdio Mountains, CA

Ages 18-28

Join us for a 9 day immersion to honor your transition into adulthood with 3 days and nights alone in the wilderness. Supported by a circle of peers and guides Alexis Slutzky & Shawn Berry.

Register by May 21


Young Adults Council: Dreaming Our Future

June 6 7-9pm

Yoga Soup, Santa Barbara

Ages 18-28

Show up with other 20 something folks to share and listen from the heart about what is moving in you during these times. What are the dreams you are carrying for yourself and the world? Dreams from the mystery of the night as well as dreams and longings and visions from the day.


Global Youth Peace Summit

June 10 - June 15, 2018

Nevada City, CA

Ages 14-17

I will be a part of the 6th Annual California Global Youth Peace Summit next month, June 2018. The summit brings together 50+ youth from more than 20 countries for a week focused on leadership development, personal growth, and cultural exchange. Youth who participate come from all walks of life including youth born and raised in California as well as immigrant and refugee youth who have recently resettled in the Bay Area and youth from around the world. It is an incredible experience of courage, creativity and healing.The Summit is still working to raise money. Please visit site below if you would like to make a donation.


Wisdom Rising in the Wild: Women's Wilderness Retreat at Tara Mandala

July 7 - July 14, 2018

Pagosa Springs, CO

This retreat will bring the spirit of Wisdom Rising, a movement started by Lama Tsultrim Allione, into the wild. Following in the footsteps of the sages of old who lived and practiced in nature, we will practice deeply, sitting under trees in direct contact with the elements, on the beautiful land of Tara Mandala. With Lopön Chandra Easton, Alexis Slutzky and Stacy Zumbroegel.

Register by June 6

At the Mercy and Power of the Elements

"It’s possible I am pushing through solid rock

in flintlike layers, as the ore lies, alone;

I am such a long way in I see no way through,

and no space: everything is close to my face,

and everything close to my face is stone.

I don’t have much knowledge yet in grief

so this massive darkness makes me small.

You be the master: make yourself fierce, break in:

then your great transforming will happen to me,

and my great grief cry will happen to you."

~Ranier Maria Rilke

Greetings dear Santa Barbara and Montecito community~

A native elder I know from the Aleutian islands, translates the traditional greeting of his people as, 'the morning tastes good!' It is good to be alive on this cool, bright morning. We have come through a most devastating time in our town and local area, first the fires and then the heartbreaking tragedies surrounding the mudslides. We have found ourselves at the mercy and power of the elements and forces of nature - fire and air, water and earth. Some people in our community have been brought to their knees with the magnitude of loss - the death of loved ones and children, physical injuries, home and belongings, and most of us, even those not directly impacted, have experienced the loss of safety, predictability and certainty. Furthermore, in times of such pain, often other unrelated and untended griefs may come to the surface, from our personal and ancestral history as well as the sorrows of the world and our shared context for this tragedy - our relationship to the natural world. The last weeks have required many of us to stretch beyond our imagination and certainly beyond our capacity.

Amidst the grief and tragedy, and perhaps as a direct result, it has also been a time of community cohesion and kinship. There has been an incredible outpouring of communal response and support - services, funds, goods and opportunities to gather. Literally, folks coming together, rolling up our sleeves and digging each other out of the mud. We are witnessing great acts of courage, redemption, beauty and communion. 


Upcoming Events in Santa Barbara, CA


Community Grief Ritual

March 24, 2018

9:30am-5:30pm

Arroyo Hondo Preserve

Open to all 

An opportunity to honor our personal and collective grief with regards to loss and change, sorrows of the world, ancestral grief, trauma, places in ourselves that have not known love, what we expected and did not receive, and the reality that everything we love, we will lose. 


Women's Dream Group

12 week series

Tuesday evenings 7-9pm

Starts March 6

A circle for women to explore dreams, symbols and archetypal images for personal and collective healing, vision and action.

Register by March 4


Drop-in Dream Circles

Monday evenings 7-9pm

March 19

April 23

May 21

Open to all

Come with a dream or simply to listen and be in a co-creative field in honor and respect of the mystery as revealed through the dreamtime.