I came out as an animist!

[ Thank you to my colleagues and co-conspirators, in higher education, social justice activism, migrant rights, and motherhood, for subscribing to this newsletter. ]

I've come out as an animist, all ways, and I want you to know! And perhaps you or someone you know would like to work with me to do some delightful, expansive, enlivening work?

For two years, I have been in a bit of a molting stage of life. Transformation came over me like a big wave at first, and it continues to seep into my days, filling the cracks with new questions, a different kind of urgency, a mash-up of possibility and quiet. I want to share more about that process in future (news)letters, in case it resonates, but this letter is about the result of all that tossing and turning: My newfound clarity as an animist researcher and spiritual activist.

The Wikipedia definition of "animism" is:

(from Latin: anima meaning 'breath, spirit, life') the belief that places, objects, and creatures all possess a distinct spiritual essence. Animism perceives all things—animals, plants, rocks, rivers, weather systems, human handiwork, and in some cases words—as being animated, having agency and free will.

Yes! Absolutely! All in! And woah, when we take it seriously that "all things have agency and free will," the state of things takes on even more layers. It is bad out there, and it has been bad for quite awhile. And also, maybe the way forward, a better way for humans and the planet, is not something that humans can hold alone?

In all honesty, I have always been an animist, and this "big announcement" has landed a bit flat with a few friends. Their response was something like, "obviously, Jill, we always knew that about you." Lol. Maybe I have not been as subtle about my animist tendencies in our academic and activist circles as I thought. That said, as the cruelty of the dominate leaders and systems escalates, I no longer want to do this as the secret sauce. This is now the main dish, folks.

I have been cooking up three new offerings for groups of people to try out together:

1. Story-walking: Community Co-design for Liveable Futures. This is a re-vamped, even better version of the thing I have been doing over the last 20 years. Over one to three months, I guide a qualitative research process around something sticky, urgent, or needed in ways that invite perspectives from everyone involved, including ancestors and other than human kin. We will end up with a final thing -an event, a poster, a report, a grant proposal, a zine- that is...animated! Larger than any one person, a holder of relations and new possibilities, the ground you all just created to walk on.
2. Ancestor Circles. Healing with our ancestors is needed in order to cross the cruel chasm between awareness and repair that we are living in now. In these story-telling circles we talk about what we know and don't know, what we can and can't know, and why it matters. I also share different cultural frameworks for ancestral connection, including resources for those who want to go deeper with ancestral healing. We can do one circle or several. Virtual or in-person.
3. Grief Groups. Grieving together, safely and bravely, is a "technology" that we have assigned to the margins of human life. But we need to grieve in groups, now more than ever. (Have you noticed how things are backed-up? Frozen? Stagnate?) When I facilitate a grief group I hold trauma-informed, ritually-safe space to express the full range of our grief, personal and collective. We can do one or a series of grief groups. Virtual or in-person.

You can read more about each of these professional services (and how I am taking animism seriously) on my new website: www.jillandersoncampos.com

Please reach out if you are intrigued. I would love to talk more, no strings attached. Since money is not flowing right now either, my fees are flexible to meet the needs of each group. We need to find each other again, in news ways, on this shifting financial terrain.

Many of you are working with teams on the frontlines of state and corporate violence, and I am not making this pivot lightly. I really do believe that these resources can move us closer to widespread, border-crossing justice, dignity and well-being, for those who are on the frontlines of the violence as well as those who have stepped into roles as advocates.

You are receiving this announcement because we have worked or walked together over the years, but in order to get future letters (once a season, more or less), please consider SUBSCRIBING. <3

Finally, I am facilitating grief groups over the next few months in a couple of ways that you can join or share.

On the last Thursday of every month, around the time of the full moon, I am holding an in-person, drop-in Grief Group in Mexico City from 6:30-8:30 pm at the panadería social: Las Panas. If you or someone you know is interested, please reach out for more details or feel free to stop by. This is an open space to come and express what is heavy on your/our heart(s). Primarily Spanish, with English translation available. [Because people have asked, I hope to open a virtual group in the coming months. Please subscribe to this newsletter to get updates.]

For the women here, I will also be participating in a group to respond together to the gender violence that underpins so much of what is so deeply wrong: Womb Alchemy: Leading From Your Full, Female Self. Social Justice Coach & Facilitator, Michelle Puckett, facilitates groups that foster a supportive network of accountability so we can live into our callings as justice-cultivating actors in the world. I will facilitate a grief workshop as a part of the 12-week process. Speaking from experience, this 1.5 hours a week can have a ripple effect across everything else! The group starts this coming Wed, May 20th 11-12:30pm PST. Sign up here. Reach out with questions.

So grateful for you, and the way you walk in our broken, beautiful world during this time of immense change, loss, and uncertainty.

With love, Jill Anderson Campos 

p.s. For a couple of examples of others who are taking animism very seriously, check out these two recent articles in The Guardian about how Columbian artist Delcy Morelos listens to soil and is inviting people in Mexico City and London to listen too, and about a village in Norway that is listening to the birch trees.