Last Born In The Wilderness

[Intro: 7:44] In this episode, I speak with animist counselor and artist Dare Sohei.  In the very beginning of this discussion, I ask Dare what the animism in animist counseling is. As they state on their website and elaborate on further in this interview: "Animism, briefly, is the felt sense that all matter, all bodies are inhabited with spirit, including non-corporeal bodies such as ancestors, beliefs and ideas, that exert influence on our bodies, actions and cultures. All of our ancient ancestors were animists, even though that term is more modern." From there, Dare tells me how recognizing of our inherent relationships — whether they are secure or insecure attachments to our bodies, the land, ancestors, more-than-human life, and cultural somas (such as "white supremacy," and this thing we call "The United States of America") — can allow us to address the fundamental disconnection that is producing the crises we find ourselves in presently. This discussion gets a bit emotional for me towards the latter