How to Write Ancestral Wisdom
A friend and I were on our weekly walk on the Old Croton Aqueduct Trail that runs from the Bronx 26 miles north to the Croton Reservoir. We came upon a road that crosses the trail and a man dressed in all black, with a black knit hat, was walking down the road toward us.
This man-in-black captured my attention and I stepped off the path to check for something in my shoe and to see who this person might be. As I dug around for the pebble under my heel an older man greeted us with a gentle and kind smile as he passed.
I sorted myself and we kept walking, too, now behind him.
We were yammering on about life and whatnot when, a few paces down the trail, I looked up to see this man standing before a beautiful huge tree with his arms open wide, as if basking in the presence of this arboreal being.
The moment seemed to stretch in time—the simplicity of his body, his form a 't' draped in black, standing before the still-green of this tree. And then he brought his hands together in prayer as we passed.⠀⠀⠀
My friend and I fell silent, as if we were intruding on a sacred moment that should not be disturbed. The man walked to the tree and placed his hands on the trunk as we walked by. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
We whispered to each other as we continued, wondering about his ritual. I kept saying, "I do that with trees, too!"
How beautiful to witness this simple devotion.
I looked back to see if he had started walking behind us, but instead of continuing on the trail he was repeating his communion from a different angle, his arms stretched out to either side, open to the tree and the endless sky.
4 Craft Tools to Write Your Deepest Knowing
Indigenous cultures around the world recognize our integral relationship with the natural world and with ancestors who have passed on. The voice of Grandmother, Hawk or Tree are as vital as any living being.
So how do you access this wisdom? And how do you weave it into your writing?
My novel, Tree Dreams, was inspired by my walks amongst the redwoods and old-growth forests of the west coast. My body was drawn to nestle in at the base of these giants, my spine against the trunks that were hundreds to sometimes thousands of years old.
Their presence was palpable. If I could settle myself enough, it seemed, I could learn the secrets they have to share.
Mine became a practice of learning to listen. I was thrilled when a reviewer from Booklist wrote of my novel, Through [Kaye], readers feel the sway of the big trees, how they move “with so many other things, like another language.”
It is another language, indeed! And it is one thing to experience these sacred connections so deeply, and another thing to learn how to capture them in writing.
We have to learn to sense the difference between the dimensions of our experience—the literal physical details and our more mystical experience or knowing. Here are a few craft tools to help translate these moments to the page:
HORIZONTAL and VERTICAL MOMENTS: Horizontal writing describes the chronological series of events and the details of the 'here-and-now.' This helps to set the scene. Vertical writing drops into the interior experience. So once you’ve oriented the reader to the physical world, you can delve into the transcendent experience.
BUILD a BRIDGE: Once we know what is happening in the physical world, offer a 'bridge' to the new awareness. In the story above, the tree and the man’s ritual serve as a great bridge from the ordinariness of the day to a moment that felt sacred. Being aware of what bridges your own personal experience is a great place to start and serves as great material.
NAME WHAT SHIFTS IN YOUR AWARENESS: Describe the new world/ knowing that you have stepped into—do you have a sudden clear knowing? an illuminating narrative that spans years in a flash? is it access to a quality of healing that channels through your body? how does that feel? The more visceral and specific the your description better. Specificity allows the experience to come to life.
RETURN to the PHYSICAL WORLD: Return the reader to the physical world by getting back in your body and immediate surroundings. This helps us (and you!) integrate with the mundane of our day-to-day and helps to hold the expanse of the experience.
Have questions? Please ask in the comments below and I will be happy to reply.
If you have your own connections with ancestors, please leave them in the comments! Hearing others’ deep, moving and mystical experiences (and writing my own) is one of my all-time favorite things to do. I would love to hear.
And here is a photo of that lovely tree…
