The Sacred Earth Activism core team: Opening Ceremony and Introduction to the Conference

The Sacred Earth Activism founders and core team: Christa Mackinnon Jonathan Weekes Louisa Shorney Seersha O’Sullivan Steve Kent.

We are honoured to have Carolyn Hillyer connecting us ceremonially with the sacred lands and sites of these isles, setting the tone with her talk about the sacred and secret ancestral knowing of the wild lands.

Carolyn is a renowned writer, artist, musician, drum maker and workshop teacher, living amid the wild hills of Dartmoor. She has released over 20 albums, singing of ancestral memory and sacred spirit in the land and paints life-size images of the archetypal and mythological feminine. Her beautiful books (Weaver’s Oracle, Book of Hag, Sacred House, Her Bone Bundle) are rooted into the deep ancestry of the land and explore women’s ancient relationship with the raw mysteries of the earth. While she travels widely with her work (including Arctic Siberia’s frozen edge, the northwest Pacific ocean rim and the Negev Desert’s burning heart) the moor continues to be her profound source of inspiration.  

Carolyn will talk about the untamed song of wild land, the 4000-year-old language that was mother to the living Celtic languages and the deep ancestral resonances that are voiced within it. How do we unravel our intangible yearning for home and find a sacred expression for our own indigene on this Earth? How do we pin this prayer into the changing realities of these times, and anchor the courage and hope needed to mend and protect the integrity of life on this planet? Website

Indra, is a passionate and resilient earth warrior elder and activist of 30 years. Her experience and knowledge range from creating and running protection camps to building movements. Currently, Indra holds the camp frontlines at HS2 and Stonehenge. Raised as a traveller, Indra was always deeply connected with the living land and felt the devastating disconnection of patriarchal destruction of nature on a deeply personal level, spending her life fighting alongside Her as a sister.

Indra believes that we are all called to action at this critical time. She will share her learning and wisdom that may help to guide you into what you are called to do, dispelling the myths of power whilst showing you how to rewild yourself with courage so that you can step through your fear, ready to hold ground.  

Dom will be reciting two poems for us from his acclaimed collection “Rite of Passage”. His poems tell the story of an initiation into the shadow of man’s distorted relationship with the earth, which has not only led us to the edge of our our own annihilation, but also to the potential of a new world, travelling through crisis to form and emerge from the ashes of the old.

Dom holds workshops, rituals and initiations into living in a world in crisis and how we can move back into equilibrium and greater connection with the earth. He has received an Eric Gregory Award and a Jerwood/Arvon Mentorship, and he won the 2017 National Poetry Competition. He also won the Magma Poetry Prize and 2nd Prize in the Resurgence Ecopoetry Competition. He has performed his work on BBC Radio 4, at poetry festivals and his work has been made into film by the Poetry Society. website

Jim Graywolf Petruzzi, a Romany Gypsy and United Western Lenape’s chief ambassador, is a teacher, guide and ceremonialist at the White Otter Academy. He began his activist work with the Vietnam War and marching with Martin Luther King. During the last few years he created the first Standing Rock protest virtual group, followed later by the Water is Life Movement and the Climate Change action so desperately needed.

“Standing Rock was an effort to protect the waters and the sacred land of the tribe. It was given no mainstream media coverage - except some fake news. Friends in Pine Ridge asked me to try to share the story virtually. I was joined by seven others and we created a group that shared the truth globally. A group that still has 130,000+ members globally.” (Jim Graywolf)

Jim will share the successes, failures and issues of this work and discuss these issues with participants. Website

Itzhak Beery is an internationally recognized shamanic teacher, healer, speaker, community activist, and author of three Amazon bestseller books. He is the founder of ShamanPortal.org, The Andes Summit, and co-founder of the New York Shamanic Circle, receiving the 'Ambassador for Peace Award' from The Universal Peace Federation and the UN. 

Itzhak believes that it is high time to unite all individual shamanic practitioners and their groups and tribes with many around the world who support their teaching to create one powerful force to fulfill the Andes Eagle and the Condor prophecy. We must give birth to the Conscious Revolution of a peaceful, harmonious, just, and sustainable planet for future generations.

Itzhak will talk about his work of creating the powerful web that is needed to fulfil the Andes Eagle and the Condor Prophecy and answer questions you might have. Website

Rune Hjarnø Rasmussen is a historian of Religions with special interest and study focus on Afro-Atlantic and Nordic religions. He is the author of the Nordic Animist Calendar 2020 & 2021 and the book “The Nordic Animist Year”. His acclaimed ongoing projects around Nordic Animism, traditions that engage with gods and spirits of nature and landscapes characteristic of Northern Europe, offer a new environmentalist way of engaging and acting by focusing on traditional animist knowledge and its relationship with concepts crucial to everyday life, such as ecology and sustainability.

Rune will be talking about lost totemic kinship ties with cohabitants of the land in North European Traditional Knowledge and how restoring those ties can contribute to a new environmentalist way of being. Website Website

Elizabeth Jenkins is a renowned spiritual teacher and international bestselling author. Her books “The Fourth Level”, “Journey to the Queros" and “The Return of the Inka” are widely regarded as the most influential books on Inka Nature Wisdom Traditions. As well as writing, speaking and facilitating training courses and workshops, Elizabeth is also an organic farmer and earth activist, working closely together with indigenous communities in Hawaii, where she lives.

Elizabeth will be addressing sacred earth activism in Hawaii, telling us about her communication with sacred beings, such as the MANA WAHINE, and ceremonial work together with the TUTU PEOPLE, successfully employed to resist detrimental developments on Hawaii’s sacred mountain and sacred beaches.  Website

Bruce Shillingsworth is a prominent First Nations rights, water and lands activist. A gifted artist, Muruwari and Budjiti elder (Uncle) and cultural educator, he has been leading the “Water for Rivers” campaign, illustrating that First Nations people from around the world have the knowledge and know-how to heal Mother Earth.

We are truly honoured to welcome uncle Bruce Shillingsworth at the Sacred Earth Activism conference where he will speak about the sacredness of land and water, his activism and why we need to rise up and speak out to create the long overdue change. 

“Yaama we will no longer sit in the shadows of evil. We will rise victoriously into the light. We will enter a world of change.”

Website

Nick Hayes, the man behind the ground breaking, brilliant, radical and highly acclaimed bestselling book “The Book of Trespass: Crossing the Lines that Divide Us”  is an author, well-known illustrator, print-maker and political cartoonist, who worked for several papers and co-authored four novels. 

Nick will discuss with earth activists the massive implications of the current distribution of land and the laws of trespass, which exclude us from accessing rightfully thousands of square miles of rivers, woodland, lakes and meadows, as well as the politicisation of sacred grounds and acts of civil disobedience and resistance. Website

Nicola Peel, winner of the Peoples Environment Award, has spent 20 years working in the Ecuadorian Amazon, initiating numerous environmental and social projects, such as building rainwater systems , agroforestry to prevent deforestation and mycoremediation to clean up oil spills.

She is often asked “How do you not get burnt out?” Her reply is, through her deep connection working with the elements of earth, water, air and fire. Nicola was the translator for the High Priest and Priestess of Bolivia on their visit to Stonehenge and cares deeply about our own connection to this land. She is someone who walks her talk and believes Action is the Antidote to Despair and we can all be a part of the future we wish to see.

Nicola will speak about her experiences, focusing on how we can all be part of the change and the future through our actions. Website Website

Members of the Sacred Earth Activism core team will give an update about the actions at Stonehenge, which started in December 2020 and are ongoing. We will explain and show you what has been happening on the ground so far, such as trespasses, ceremonies, camp activities, spreading of information and court cases brought by the Stonehenge Alliance.

We will offer some space to discuss the planned infrastructure development around Stonehenge, the issue of sacred lands, disturbances of burial grounds and dishonouring of ancestral sacred sites and how we can not only proceed with resistance but also with bringing back a sense of connection to our sacred heritage and lands. Website

Tiana, a truly outstanding young woman, put her life into the service of sacred activism, spending a year at the Calais refugee camp and then at Standing Rock. She founded Woman Fest and was the central mass action co-ordinator for the Extinction Rebellion movement in the UK in 2019. Tiana is currently holding the communications staff for the Mother Earth Delegation of United Original Nations and is also active in the Stonehenge movement. 

Grounded in earth wisdom teachings, fusing the spiritual with her activism, Tiana will share some of her a activist experiences, her learnings, her exceptional wisdom and will answer questions from participants. 

Mattias Olsson is a filmmaker and pod-caster, who, after a waking-up experience, moved from New York – leaving his job as a photographer behind – to Sweden where he lives connected to the land, creating films and podcasts that arise from deep levels of his own soul and earth-centred beliefs. He has made films and podcasts with authors such as Charles Eisenstein and Stephen Jenkinson, and tackled subjects such as Separation, Ecology and Bio-dynamic farming

Mattias will be introducing himself and his film platform, sharing how he uses the medium of film to inspire change towards a more thriving and beautiful world. He will then show his short film ”On Separation”, which is a documentary on the interconnectedness of all things. A film inspired by the work of authors Daniel Quinn and Charles Eisenstein. After the film there will be a space for discussion and Q and A. Website

Pat McCabe (Weyakpa Najin Win, Woman Stands Shining) is a Diné (Navajo) grandmother, activist, artist, writer, ceremonial leader, and international speaker. She is a global voice for peace and draws upon the Indigenous sciences of Thriving Life to reframe questions about sustainability and balance, and she is devoted to supporting the next generations, Women’s Nation and Men’s Nation, in being functional members of the “Hoop of Life” and upholding the honor of being human

It is an honour to welcome Weyakpa Najin Win at the Sacred Earth Activism gathering. About her subject she says ”As the female of our kind, I stand with the full authority of the Mother Earth to speak on behalf of Life. It is my place to ask: Are we placing Life at the center? Are we placing it at the center of our actions, our decisions, our plans?” Website

Our technical direction for SEA is being looked after by Richard Buckworth from OneVoice Media who will shortly be launching a "kickstarter for climate action" online content platform which showcases projects taking place globally which tackle the major environmental issues affecting our planet.

Richard is a Producer and Director with over 20 years experience in TV broadcast working on major outside broadcasts, live studio and post-produced programming and who specialises in online streaming for various clients .   

He is also a Systemic/Family Constellations workshop leader and fully-trained Journey Practitioner with over 17 years experience in the self-development field.