ANGELA’S STORY
The deep dive, the nitty gritty &
Where I Stand
My Story
Roots
I come from a wild and strong weaving with ancestors from Ireland, as well as some DNA surprise threads from Peru, Mexico, Hungary, and India. My Irish and Cornish ancestors emigrated to Australia many generations ago. They are lineages of healers, musicians, artists, and miners and I honour their great sacrifice and the gifts I’ve inherited from them. I was born and raised under the Southern Cross on the unceded country of Gundungara and Tharawal First Nations in Australia. The songs of the surf and the bush, the ancient perfumed flora, and the many amazing creatures nourished a really intimate relationship with the sensuous magic of nature.
Darkness
Like most of us, and as life would have it, there was darkness and trauma, and I lost my way. And like many of us, I numbed and escaped with alcohol, put a smile on my face, and pretended I was “fine”.
But there’s a metaphor! If, when driving your car, you continuously throw all your trash in the back seat, when the day comes that you crash that care, then all that trash is going to come flying over into your lap!
And in the early '90s, right in my Saturn return, that’s exactly what happened.
I was alone in a new country, had already been in therapy for 3 years, but was completely lost! Naturally, I was still telling everyone I was fine, but somehow the Universe put the right people in my path and the synchronicities began to happen as they do whenever our soul is calling for help.
I was taken into the loving arms of the Sweat Lodge ceremony with the Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish) Nation, an incredibly gifted Somatic therapist, and a spiritual sisterhood and recovery community that are both still a huge part of my life. And so began my journey into the Medicine Spiral! Sometimes an intrepid adventure, sometimes a messy trudge, but always getting what I needed to heal and grow.
Rebirth
Around this time, I found Animism (Shamanism), a spiritual path that was deep enough and practical enough to support my healing. After 8 years on the path, and after intensive inner work, I began training in the shamanic healing arts while returning to academic studies. I worked for 10 years as a counsellor in the areas of youth career transition, women's spirituality, addiction treatment, and harm reduction outpatient. In 2003 I became a Mama, and in 2007, I completed Advanced training as a Somatic Practitioner and went into full-time private practice specializing in the spiritual recovery from trauma by synthesizing a unique offering of shamanic healing and somatic counselling.
Unfolding
A couple of years later, my nights were filled with dreams and visitations from my Ancestors, and this began seven years of what felt like light speed transformation. That ancestral calling led me to the first of five ancestral pilgrimages to Ireland. I returned time and again to deepen this connection as I learned the way of the Bean Feasa (woman of knowing, seer, companion on of the Land).
In 2011, I met my teachers from Peru who generously showed me how to weave Andean Energy Medicine with the Irish cosmovision, and a year after that, I sat in my first Plant Medicine ceremony which led to 5 years deeply connecting with Ayahuasca and Huachuma, supporting Aya ceremonies, and travelling to the Andes to connect with Huachuma.
Evolution
Then something happened that not only refined my Medicine but brought together all of the pieces I had been working with for 20 years. Whilst on my fourth pilgrimage in Ireland, I was at a sacred temple I’d been to many times before and my teacher said to me, “It’s time to work with the mushrooms. It’s your ancestral medicine and it’s time.” To be honest, I wanted to resist because it was more responsibility and I’m human!
But the moment I followed through was the moment that all the years on the path, all of the work, and all of the holding space and ceremony fell into place. Through countless hours in ceremony, I began to learn through the old Irish ancestors that the mushroom is here to reconnect us to the Faeries! I’m not speaking of the tiny fairies we’re fed by the mainstream in children’s books, but the magnificent, immense luminous beings of Nature who teach us to live as wise, harmonious humans, and whose wisdom is not Faerie “tales” but Faerie Teachings.
Long ago known as the “little white horses”, psilocybin carries us through portals to unseen realms where we are awakened from our numbness, healed of our illusions of separation, and returned into the arms of Mother Earth as her child, ready to learn and ready to live life as fully as possible.
The Present
Each day I sit in gratitude for these 3 decades of learning this spiritual way of living through Animsim. It has been a privilege to facilitate hundreds of Sacred Life Animism (formerly White Bone Shamanism) healing circles, in-depth spiritual growth programs, Ancestral pilgrimages, and transformational retreats.
I’ve had the blessing of supporting thousands of people all over the world, and have been endlessly inspired and humbled by the resilience and creativity of the human spirit, as well as the beauty and mystery of the cosmos. This inspiration is what keeps me committed to my own healing and unfolding, as well as sharing the path.
Where I Stand
The Land
I honor and deeply acknowledge the Indigenous people and nations who for thousands of years, have stewarded the land and water where I live, raise my family, and share my work. I recognise that I am an uninvited guest here, and acknowledge that the ancestral and traditional lands were stolen and are the unceded First Nation territories of the Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) in so-called Port Moody, and the kʷikʷəƛ̓əm (Kwikwetlem), xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Stó:lō and Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish) territories, in so-called British Columbia. I also acknowledge my gratitude for all of the plants, animals, minerals, and waterways and am committed to treating all beings with respect and reverence.
All are Welcome
Animism is a daily life practice rooted in spiritual ecology and kinship with the understanding that we are all connected at its heart. It’s deeply important for me to create welcoming spaces for people from all races, nationalities, socio-economic backgrounds, ages, abilities, sexual orientations, and gender identities, as well as cultural, political, religious, and other affiliations. ALL are welcome.
As a healer and spiritual guide, I can’t truly practice without doing my best to understand and address the loss, stress, violence, and discrimination that Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) and Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Non-Binary, Queer/ Questioning (LGBTQ+) and people with disabilities are faced with. If one person’s wellness is impacted due to discrimination because of their race, religion, age, ability, sexual orientation, or gender identity, then we are all impacted, our planet is impacted.
My aim is to foster an inclusive and safe space through open communication, humility, and mutual respect where everyone is to be treated with dignity and grace, and that within this space my events, courses, and online offerings are safe for all who come.
At the same time, I acknowledge that my experience is one of white privilege. I’m a middle-aged, white, slender, cis, straight woman, non-disabled, and neurodivergent with post-secondary education. All this to say that I’m privileged and with that comes ignorance, and the realization that I’ve made more than my share of big mistakes that have caused harm. I have a long way to go on my lifelong journey of listening, unlearning, dismantling, and decolonizing and I’m conscious of my responsibility to engage in these in an effort to contribute to the equity of all.
“In our work and in our living, we must recognize that difference is a reason for celebration and growth, rather than a reason for destruction.”