Lineage

More information about my modalities, mentors, and cultural relationships.

Peopled Lands

Much of my language for this work is drawn from the tradition of the Animas Valley Institute and Bill Plotkin. I have participated in Animas programs over the course of five years, including their yearlong immersion and facilitator trainings. I was last with Bill in summer 2022, when he encouraged me to offer this work. I have also learned a great deal from involvement with the 8 Shields nature connection movement based on the work of Jon Young and others at Wilderness Awareness School, WA.

My greatest influences however have been the Indigenous teachers and communities who have mentored me through my own process of soul initiation during ten years of cultural inquiry and apprenticeship. These include the Achuar communities of the Pastaza river, Ecuador, the Puyukruna people of the Upper Pastaza, and friends and elders from the Dene communities of the Yukon and Northwest Territories.

I will remain forever indebted to the territories that feed these peoples, and forever humbled by the generosity of spirit that has flowed from these ancient places through their people to me. These endowments I do not forget.

My mentors have been many, but I name the central figures here to acknowledge my enduring respect and gratitude for them.

Flavio Santi of Puyukruna, Pastaza

Narankas Mukucham of Kapawi, Pastaza

Wanik Gualinga of Chichirat, Pastaza

Nate Bacon of the Animas Valley Institute

Ancestry

My ancestral lineages are Burmese/British on my mother's side, and Scottish/Irish on my father's side.

My soul initiation journey led me down a path of longing to Indigenous ecologies and cultural contexts, with much youthful urgency and stumbling along the way, eventually back to the grief of my own broken lineages, and the colonial traumas that breathe there.

I identify as a white-passing mixed race person, and culturally orient to the Gaelic traditions of Ireland and Scotland which were ancestral touchstones of my upbringing. As an adult, studying the mythology and history of my ancestral tradition has informed how I understand myself today, the stories that I carry, and the responsibilities that I have as a settler in someone else's homeland. It is my land-based relationships to the wild beings of this place that have guided me into the deepest understanding of that complex belonging - a paradox that stretches me into my broadest humanity.

Diversity and Inclusion

I identify as a cisgendered male white-passing person of colour. My pronouns are he/him.

I have lived and worked in cultural settings where I was the only settler, and the only white person. I am familiar with engaging race and cultural difference. I strive to maintain critical awareness of my privilege in all contexts.

I consider myself a culturally safe practitioner; I also welcome critical feedback and direct discussion of diversity issues.

If you face systemic forms of oppression that obstruct access to this type of work, I am happy to extend low-cost mentorship to you, just get in touch.