Chi Siamo
{a practice with caves, volcanoes, salt + the winds}
For four months we will devote ourselves to three different ancestral beings (specifically of the Mediterranean regions) that have recently moved me in ways to share.
Through stories, myth, ritual, and creative practice, we'll remember the parts of ourselves that come directly from them, and we will offer back to them. We relate with them.
These ancestors, that are indeed our relations— the stone caves, volcanoes, salt and winds are alive, most definitely not dead, and yet they carry the stories of our history, of our dead, of ways when we knew them intimately.
They carry elements that we can invoke within, turn to, become, synchronize with.
Chi Siamo is a practice being with the/your dead, but also being with what is very much alive, within us. And to remember not only who we are, but who we are when we remember our relationship with them, again.
This "course" is for everyone, all genders and folks from all ancestral cultural bodies. If you are interested dancing with these beings together, come along.
While this will be especially interesting to those with Southern Italian cultural somas, (as I focus on the southern Mediterranean region), everyone comes from these beings and knows them within their cell memory.
Your ancestors entered caves, held vigil for volcanoes and knew the protection and cleansing of salt. These beings hold myths and stories your ancestors held, too. All are invited to practice together.
By being with these ancestors, we also remember who we are. Each of these ancient ancestral friends contain medicine for us all. And we contain medicine for them.
Chi Siamo, in Italian, means: Who We Are.
We can be together with them.
In Chi Siamo, we sit with, learn about, pray with and explore our own cellular connections to...
Caves.
Caves, caverns, grottos— throughout time these were the entryways into the underworld. the place you enter for ritual and offering before you go under. The nymphs were the gatekeepers, the oracles, the in-betweens, that blessed the passage, held the threshold, and always the water flowed within them. Caves are an important ancestor for those of us willing and wanting to go inside, and be with our chthonic rites and rituals, the realm of our dead, the beauty and magic of the underworld. Within the cave we find our way in and venture down, to a rhythm only found underground. We will explore actual caves and dieties and practice creating our own myths around them.
Volcanoes.
These ancestors (we will explore one in particular: Etna) teach us about pressure, tension, expression, grief, rage, alchemy, fertilization. After we experience the entrance to the underworld, we get to dwell in the belly of fire, in the potent creative and destructive force of the volcano. Rightful rage, creative agency, and authentic expression of chthonic grief are the prayers and spells we hold this month. We will explore both how volcanoes have been revered throughout time, the deities associated with them, as well as the way they can be guides for us, now.
Salt.
Most salt of parts of the Mediterranean sea came from the minerals contained in particles that exploded from the fire of the volcano. These two are intricately connected ancestors— fire and water— and part of our original source of life. Their union made salt and salt grew much of the life we needed to exist. We return to the womb, the waters, and what the water contains: salt. This profound and potent being is so important to our ancestral bodies. We are held up by this salt — we don't even have to work at it, it just lift us, holds us, allows us to be in the water, cradled by water, be from the water. Salt protects us and potently clears us from blocks our paths, and moves evil eye energy away.
Winds.
The winds, specially Sciroccos and the North Winds, bring change. Many arts and folk remedies are only created under these specific winds. For instance, drums and wine, can only be made with the wind is moving in a very specific way. The winds help us transmute, communicate, change. They help carry our songs and spells across lands and scatter the seeds. The cling dust to skin. They shift our narratives. They change us. They connect us to all our ancestral lands, no matter where we are, the wind moves and connects us to air everywhere. Who are we when we become winds of change? What will we carry with us now?
What you receive:
- Recordings for each module with information around mythology, ancestral practices, and stories that help us remember who we are as children of these elemental ancestors.
- Downloadable PDFs with rituals, writing prompts, and creative practices for each ancestral connection we long to make.
- Online community space to share and connect with others.
- One live call with MaryBeth in March 2024 (specifics TBD).
- A practice that brings you closer to the ancestors that often don't get revered— the more than human ones. Caves, Volcanoes and Salt are more than just "nature"— they are what made us. They are not just something to look at, they are what is within us.
- A simple way to have ancestral veneration and contemplation without needing specific dead people to work with. Sometimes this can be hard. This is a body based, land centered, practice. This is alchemy. We are made of the beauty and miracle of these natural beings.
- Invitation to connect and remember who you are, who we are. And honor the spectrum.
We are the descendants of the myths, of the rituals, and the ways of being when these elementals were honored.
We are the stories, the textures, the sounds, the heat, the taste, the potency. The fierceness. The magic.
The cost of this experience is $33 per month for a total of 3 months.
Access to the course and community space begin immediately after checkout. You will have access to course materials and community until June 1, 2024.
Please note: When you register, you are committing to three total payments. There are no refunds on digital courses.
the spell for who we are:
Chi Siamo. Chi Siamo.
We are the oracles of the caves and underworld.
We are the creative rage and fertile healing of volcanoes.
We are the cleansing and protective power of the salt.
We are the winds of change.
May we all be blessed and well, may this experience be both a learning, but also a spell, a prayer, for us all.
Hi, I am MaryBeth and I am your guide.
I am a writer, a teacher, an ancestralist, a mother, and a pilgrim that comes from cave, volcano and salt people. To learn more about me and my work— feel free to ready my long prose of a bio HERE.
