Thank you for tuning into the first journey of the Coracle, an alchemical vessel for individual and collective change powered by the spiritual technology of folk tales.
Before you go on to read ways to collaborate with the story of the Red Bead Woman, from the Yakut people of Siberia, please take a moment to subscribe to the Corpus Callosum Chronicles so you get each journey in your inbox. You can also listen (please like and subscribe if you do) on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. And please share with your friends!
Ways to Collaborate with the Stories in the Coracle
We are used to hearing people say a story is alive when we find ourselves moved by a tale, but have you ever considered that a story is actually alive?
I mean alive like you and me, with its own desires, intentions, and ability to navigate on its journey.
This list of suggested rituals and ceremonial practices will bring you into a living relationship with all of the stories that I will be telling over the next 18 months in the Coracle.
Introduce Yourself
It’s rude to just barge in and take what we want. When we don’t introduce ourselves with honesty, elegance, and humility in any situation, including meeting a story, we continue to perpetuate the attitude of extraction that is killing our planet.
This attitude has us believing collectively that the world is a resource, here for our taking. Introducing ourselves to the story is a recognition that it is also a sovereign being with desires and longings here on Earth to evolve through embodiment. I lead us through a way to do this in the podcast episode. You can make this your own. Have fun and get creative with your introduction.
Ku Like
Ku Like is a Mū Hawaiian protocol for acknowledging our internal masculine and feminine that puts us into contact with how these two energy centers are in relationship to themselves and each other, in preparation for their union, what the alchemists called the heiros games, and the Hawaiians call the aumakua.
(Note, aumakua is also the word for an ancestral family spirit in Hawaiian culture, that takes the form of animals, plants, or other elements of nature. Here, we are using it to signify the androgynous state of consciousness that occurs when the inner feminine and masculine wed, resulting in a being who is able to function in flow because the centers are in balance and exaltation.)
I lead listeners through Ku Like in the recording above.
Checking In and Consent
Through Ku Like, you will check in every time you listen to a story in the Coracle and ask yourself, “How much of this story am I safely able to receive?”
This is a strong initiatory container and I want you to learn how to keep yourself safe. You may hear a no. If so, you have the option to be a witness to the story and the voyagers on the Coracle who do consent.
Once you know how much you are willing and able to receive, give your consent to that. If it’s a no, verbally set that boundary.
To be guided through this process, listen to the audio.
Create an Altar
An altar is a physical space for you to nurture your connection to the story. By creating a physical space for it to land and be honored with food, drink, smoke, feathers, flowers, and herbs, you let the story know you are welcoming it into your life and value it as a gift from your ancestors who encoded their wisdom into these old stories so they could survive through centuries of imperialism to this point in time now when we are starting again to have the ears to truly hear them, and to follow their instructions back to a more natural way of living that respects all forms of life.
Ritual Walks
Set a threshold and step over it with the intention that everything on the other side of it is the story speaking to you through the circumstances in which you find yourself. This is a marvelous way to see how you are part of the land’s dreaming as the story moves through you and out into your environments and interactions.
Important—Make sure you step back over the same threshold and close the portal!
The Nine Currents
The Nine Currents are a path I developed inspired by the Nine Properties of Light as shared with me by Mū Hawaiian lineage carrier, Ke’oni Hanalei, of Pōhala Hawaiian Botanicals.
I took each of the properties of light and formed them into questions to help you understand how the story is moving through you and informing you about yourself and your relationship to light itself as the manifestation of creation.(Versus dark as the metaphorical signifier of uncreation. I also want to note that I value both, and have great reverence for the primacy of darkness as the foundation of all we see with our eyes through light.)
Because they are currents, they will move you where you need to go, and because you are in a coracle, you will need to learn to paddle and navigate. The Nine Currents could serve as journaling prompts or tools for contemplation.
The Nine Currents:
The Current of Revelation: What does this story reveal to me about myself, others, or the world? Am I available for the disclosure? Am I hiding? If I am hiding, do I consent to exploring why and commit to the disclosure?
2. The Current of Reflection: How does this story expose my vulnerabilities? Am I available to be exposed? Where am I lying to myself or others?
3. The Current of Refraction: How does the story move me physically? What is it quickening in me? Where am I stagnating?
4. The Current of Diffraction: How can this story help me respond and adapt to the challenges it presents to to my ego and psyche? Am I willing to live with the consequences if I don’t adapt when called? How can I continue evolve when fears arise?
5. The Current of Interference: What am I resisting in the story? How can I work with what I’m resisting, instead of flowing with it? How can I overcome self-sabotage?
6. The Current of Polarization: What choice or choices is the story asking me to make? Where do I need to focus? Where have I been noncommittal to something I really care about? Do I consent to exploring that, with myself or others?
7. The Current of Dispersion: What must I do, or who must I be, in order to transform, now that I have received answers to the previous questions? Where or why do I refuse to change? Where am I refusing my own power and agency?
8. The Current of Scattering: What do I need to do in order to let others know I’ve changed? What gifts can I now share? Where am I withholding?
9. The Current of Completion: What am I now ready to release and completely let go? Am I still holding onto something that I want to release? How can I acknowledge I have completed this journey and move into the world in a new form?
Private Sessions
For those wanting personalized guidance in the Coracle, I am offering private sessions on Zoom at $113 for 60 minutes.
Private sessions can be especially illuminating through going through the Nine Currents in conversation. Things sometimes come out in dialogue that you can’t see on your own.
I am committed to holding an honest, trauma-informed mirror of a space, to help you move from Current One, Revelation, to the Ninth, Completion.
Please message me here to schedule a private session:
Resources
I am a thinker. I enjoy elaborating on how I create, and I love to share the esoteric structure of my creations. It is perfectly fine to navigate the Coracle without understanding how it works as a spiritual technology, though I do suggest committing to all or some of the ways to collaborate I’ve listed here so the stories, and the holy in nature, know you are serious and committed to this process. For those who would like more background on this process, there is a wealth of info on my website jenniferlighty.com. Check the Coracle and Resources pages.
I have also shared extensively about the underpinnings of the Coracle here on Substack if you want to peruse the archives. Here are a few links to articles:
The Spiritual Technology of Fairy Tales
Resources
I am grateful for the teachers and mentors who have shared their methods and insights with me that have contributed to the Coracle.
Here is list with links if you’d like to explore their bodies of work:
Ke’oni Hanalei of Pōhala Hawaiian Botanicals
Storyteller and Writer Martin Shaw
Storyteller and Teacher Stephanie Mackay
Writer and Coracle Witness Lola Wilcox
How You Can Help
Please like and subscribe to the Corpus Callosum Chronicles. Please tell your friends to tune in here by sharing this post, or direct them to Spotify or Apple Podcasts to listen. Please send me your comments and messages. I love hearing from you!
The Gift Economy
I am offering the Coracle without asking for financial exchange because I want to. If you appreciate the work and want to support it financially, I will gratefully welcome your gift of reciprocity.
I also welcome any other gifts you want to send me!
Thank you for being here!
Jen
The Breaking Wave of Ecstasy Who Brings the Light Down
Kō aloha lā ea
Concentrate on love by way of the light
