Tamarack Song's Blog

Have you ever yearned for a pure immersion experience in another culture? My mate Lety and I recently returned from a week in the south-central area of Mexico, where she was born and raised, and where most of her relatives still reside. Having direct ties with an indigenous family gave me the opportunity to live their ways; rather than being stuck in tourist-observational mode.

Food and the traditions around it can be a fertile doorway to understanding a people. This is particularly true in M...

Warrior By Moses Beaver, Lake Superior Art Gallery

This is a line from a story that haunted Moses Amik Beaver, who some of you know as the illustrator of Whispers of the Ancients, the collection of traditional legends that he and I co-authored. Some of you may also know him from the time he spent instructing here at the Teaching Drum Outdoor School.

Windigos are walking dead. They are the shells of people who were banished from their villages f...

I have longtime friends and associates who I’ve always known to be kind and thoughtful. Yet something happens to them at times when they are on Facebook, Twitter, or e-groups. They become bullies. They shame and troll. They criticize and judge. I see the tendency in myself. What comes over us that makes us objectify others, see them as one-dimensional, and define them by their worst mistakes? What is this cyberspace curse?

Let’s start with a definition of terms:
Trolling – posting deliberate...

We can understand the intertwined experience of the archetypes the same way we understand the harmony of organs within an organism. Our eyes are the Guardian; our hands, the Nurturer; and our mouth, the Communicator. Each serves a distinct role, and yet there may be times when we communicate with our eyes or see with our hands. Meanwhile, the role of the archetypes in our clan or community can be understood through the metaphor of the senses: the Guardian is sight; the Nurturer, touch; and th...

The following is an excerpt from my latest book, Becoming Nature: Learning the Language of Wild Animals and Plants.To learn more or to order your own copy, visit my Amazon.com page here.

I learned to connect with animals nonverbally when I went to live withWolves. Atfirst, I thought we spoke different languages, as I couldn’tunderstand their words, and they were lost with mine. Initially I thoughtI could train them to recognize some of my words, as I did with my dogs. However, the more I got...

A recent stroll past the beverages section of my local natural foods store revealed five brands of kombucha in twenty-five plus flavors. In addition, there was kombucha soda pop—six or seven kinds. At the deli counter, I noticed kombucha on tap—eight flavors. Yet all I had to do to discover this latest health food craze was take a peek in our school’s glass recycling bin. Yep, mostly kombucha bottles.

For fifty years I’ve watched food fads rise and fall. First it was whole-wheat, which turned...

Yogurt, a great source of probiotics, is a boon to health because it helps establish healthy intestinal flora, right? The same is true of kombucha and other cultured foods, isn’t it? And how about probiotic capsules with billions of live cultures and dozens of strains?

This is what the food industry would have us believe, as they profit tremendously from this long-standing and mushrooming health fad. They want us to continually consume these products, thinking that they are essential to our h...

It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience with my therapist colleague, and thisawareness is another one of the reasons why.

Ideals can play an important role in guiding our lives. At the same time,ideals can keep us crippled and dysfunctional. I see people-meincluded-hiding behind relationship ideals when we don’t want to admit ourpain or inability to resolve differences. We hold ideals up as banners foraction when we are unsure of ourselves and need justification for what wedo. We use ideal...

Several of us just came in from a great wilderness training run – we bore enough irritation (a slightly twisted ankle, some scratches) to know that we were pushing our edge, but not too much that it derailed us. The experience is a metaphor for the way I’ve lived my life, and it has brought me to a tipping point.

With sixteen years of training and experience, Abel has become quite the skilled and competent guide. Along with that, Lety’s essential involvement and the dedicated support of Susan and OdeMakwa (who are in training) have allowed me to get more engaged in what I am called to do. Over the past several weeks, I’ve reached around 2 million people on radio shows, I just returned from a TV filming in Boulder CO., a summit appearance is coming up, a publisher just asked for my next three books (we usually have to pitch them), we’re publishing five new books this year and have multiple video projects going, we just got a major donation for the Brother Wolf Sanctuary, our Natural Resources Committee got a grant for reintroducing wildflowers, the school is a flurry of new activity, and all signs indicate more of the same.

It’s time for me to get an assistant. Even with Jules on outreach, Nan transcribing, Andrew editing, Thorn in the office, Fox and Coyote on construction, and several others playing vital roles, we see that I need more editorial, book promotion, communication, scheduling, and whatever-else-comes-up help. We want someone who is bright, energetic, outgoing, dedicated to healing the wounds of civilization-and most importantly, likes to have fun! If this is you, or if you can recommend somebody, I/we would be tickled to hear from you*.

But before I sign off, I want to express my deep gratitude for everybody who has been a part of our success in bringing the Old Ways back to light. We did it as a Circle – all of you present and past staff, Seekers, volunteers, friends, and lovers. We are family. And let us all take a moment to honor the Elders of many nations who have guided us every step of the way.

*To apply, please email a cover letter and your resume to volunteer@teachingdrum.org.

This is another one of the awakenings I had during the unbelievable afternoon I recently spent with a fellow therapist.

How often have you heard people encouraging someone to be vulnerable, meaning to put down your guard and be open? Although it made sense to me, I felt uneasy about it, as though there was some inherent contradiction. I just couldn’t put my finger on it.

Clarity came during this unique sharing with the therapist. I realized that it is only from ego (i.e. self-protective) perspective that being open equates with vulnerability. From a fully functional perspective, to be open is to be aware and perceptive, which helps us be strong, centered, and open to support. Does this sound like being vulnerable? To me, it is quite the opposite.

The person who is guarded and shut down is actually the vulnerable one. She often ends up being overlooked, unfulfilled, and frustrated- i.e., victimized. Opening up is being engaged and in your power, which can greatly reduce vulnerability. The next time someone asks me to be vulnerable, I’ll tell him, “Thanks for the suggestion, but I’d rather leave my vulnerability behind and instead be strong and fully engaged.”