Stories for a Living Future
A Podcast with Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee
Stories of the Heart
In this third podcast series I return to familiar themes: living at the end of an era, in a time of great dying, and yet holding a thread to a living future—a thread woven in ancient memories as well as visions of a new way to live with the Earth and Her more-than-human inhabitants. But this series is also more personal, what it means for me as a mystic to grow old in such a darkening landscape, hearing the Earth cry.
These are stories of the heart, words which belong to the depths of my soul as well as to the empty places I have wandered, the visions I have seen, the beauty and sorrow I have come to know. And always a return to what is simple, which sings with the beauty and wonder of our shared existence—the blue heron in the lagoon, feathers sometimes ruffled against the wind, the red-tailed falcon that came to sit on a branch outside my window, my love for the Earth.
In this time between stories, where are the visions to guide us, the dreams to follow? How can understand the conflicting forces that define our world and our shared future without this deeper wisdom? We have to learn once again how to listen to the rivers and wind, and to open the door to the visionary worlds that guided our ancestors. Listen/Read More
In this time between stories, where are the visions to guide us, the dreams to follow? How can understand the conflicting forces that define our world and our shared future without this deeper wisdom? We have to learn once again how to listen to the rivers and wind, and to open the door to the visionary worlds that guided our ancestors. Listen/Read More
As an interlude between Series 2, From the Edge of the World, and Series 3, Stories of the Heart, I want to go back to the beginning, to a talk “Awakening” given in 2007. This talk explores the foundational question of the relationship between our own individual spiritual journey and the Earth changes taking place which I have described in the previous podcasts, in particular how our spiritual awakening belongs to the whole of life.
In the early years of this century this spark of a global awakening was fully present. Sadly in the years since it has been covered over by the distortions and polycrisis of the present time. But it still remains in the seeds for a living future, waiting to be awakened. Listen/Read More
From the Edge of the World
In the second series of these stories for a living future, I reflect on the changes happening in our world. Living at the edge of the world, beside the ocean, I am also present inwardly where the two seas meet, where the inner and outer worlds come together. Here, in the space between worlds, between stories, where everything is uncertain, there are patterns forming, forces constellating that will determine our collective destiny and how the future will be written. Watching these patterns allows us to participate in this changing inner landscape, as well as to walk with awareness into the future, the living moment unfolding around us.
The following podcasts tell the same story in different ways: a reawakening of oneness and earth magic, the forces that oppose this shift, and the transformation of the Earth Herself.
At the edge of the world one can see not only storms building far out to sea, but also forces forming across continents. If we are to walk through these transitioning times of radical uncertainty, we need an awareness of these patterns, which often develop deep in the inner worlds, and determine so much of our shared destiny. Listen/Read More
What should we do in response to the present time of darkening and cascading crises? Although there is much work to be done in the outer world, there are also simple steps taking us from witnessing to grief to love, so that we may participate in the transformation of the Earth Herself. Listen/Read More
As I experience our world becoming darker and more self-destructive, I am drawn more and more into prayer as a refuge and response. Prayer, like the first cry of a newborn baby or the final gasp of a dying person, is that most essential response of the heart and soul. It returns us to the only connection that can truly sustain us. Listen/Read More
In this liminal landscape, a place between stories, it is more and more important to find a place of belonging. In my own journey this has been the gift of a garden, a place where the worlds come together, the spirits of the land and the beings of light, together with the beauty and colors that change with the seasons. Listen/Read More
The axis of love runs through all things, present in every grain of sand, every drop of rain, every laugh, every tear. And this axis is coming alive in a new way—our hearts are being turned back to the physical world and the wonder of divine presence. We need to reaffirm the sacredness of the Earth we can see and touch, and how it is all a part of one living divine Being. And love will help us to see what our minds have forgotten. Listen/Read More
Collectively we are walking along a fault line where two eras meet, forces constellating deep within our psyche and within the Earth. And yet we have little understanding of these primal powers that are the great determining factors. How can we include the voice of the Earth, work together with the changes taking place within her body and soul? Listen/Read More
Around us we can see the cascading crises of the end of an era, but we have little awareness of how the Earth Herself is changing. Even as the Earth is suffering, life is recreating itself. There are deep patterns of realignment taking place, patterns that need our cooperation, our co-creation. Listen/Read More
In order to understand more fully the changes taking place I try to let the Earth and my heart speak to me, tell me their story, how the threads of creation are being rewoven into a new pattern. What does it mean that a doorway between the worlds is opening? How can those whose hearts are open become part of a prayer that speaks to the Earth, that welcomes what is being born within Her? Listen/Read More
Oneness is a foundational principle for the new era, but in order to recognize how we are a part of this living wholeness we need a new quality of perception, less rigid and more fluid. We need to become more aware of the patterns of interconnection that link together the biosphere, and also the worlds of magic and sacred meaning.
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Getting older I find it easier to be more fully in the moment, a place without clocks or calendars. The present moment is all around us, though mostly hidden, covered by our thoughts and the patterns of the day. It contains both the outer physical world of the senses and also the mystery of the soul, a dimension full of meaning and spiritual secrets. Listen/Read More
Watching the stars, the Milky Way stretching across the sky, I sense how the changes happening within the Earth reach far into the cosmos. Our journey together with the Earth is taking us through the debris of a civilization causing ecocide, but also reconnecting us with patterns long forgotten, with myths and sacred meaning lost from our rational minds, a landscape which includes the heavens. Listen/Read More
The final podcast in this second series is the shortest, but in many ways the most essential. One morning I awoke long before dawn with the clear knowing of the seven foundational qualities that belong to the next era. I describe them in the way they came to me. Listen/Read More
This short piece is an interlude between Stories for a Living Future Series One, and Series Two: From the Edge of the World. It explores the need to hold a space between stories, between the known and unknown worlds, a space that is also present with each and every breath. Listen/Read More
Over the last two years I have written a number of stories about returning our consciousness to the living Earth, a numinous world alive in both matter and spirit. As we travel through the darkening days of the present time there is a primal need to find a pathway back to this landscape, experienced through our senses and our dreams. These stories are both simple and radical, simple because they describe what is already around us, the wind in the trees, water flowing over stones. Radical because they point to a fundamentally different quality of consciousness, which belongs to both our distant past and our possible future. Presented here as a series, these stories are an opportunity to become immersed in this landscape, physical and imaginal, and through this shift in awareness to be able to walk towards a living future.
At this present time, when the story of humanity and its patterns of conquest and control are in direct conflict with the story of the Earth and its patterns of biodiversity, how can we find our way back to the living Earth? Listen/Read More
Written during the early months of the pandemic, this piece describes the moment outside of time when everything is new, and is lived for the very first time–a primal awareness of a world awakening with wonder that we need as a seed for the future to come fully alive. Listen/Read More
Walking early one morning I discover a blood moon through the trees, an encounter that reconnects me to the mystery of the multidimensional world that surrounds us. Listen/Read More
This podcast explores the intersection of spiritual practice and our ecological crisis, and how these two central threads have been woven into my own journey. Listen/Read More
Once again my consciousness is drawn back to the early days, before of what we think of as “the Fall,” when the worlds of light and the physical world sang together. And how we need an awareness of this magical time not just as a myth, but a primal awareness, a seed of consciousness. Listen/Read More
Watching river otters in the nearby wetlands I sense a world without the conflict or division that is present all around us. They point to a doorway into a way of being with each other and the Earth that carries the secrets of our shared existence. Listen/Read More
As we walk into the liminal landscape of the present time, when so much is uncertain, what are the qualities we need to support us and reconnect us to each other and the more-than-human world that surrounds us? A sense of deep kinship is essential to our continued journey together with the Earth. Listen/Read More
In this piece I reflect on the limitations of language to describe a pathway to a living future. If we are to read the signs that are already around us we need words born not from our rational mind but the deeper rhythms of the soul and the land. Listen/Read More
A simple spiritual teaching is to live in the moment, the now. Rather than being caught in memories of the past or thoughts of the future we are attentive to the present moment, allowing us to be more aware and participate in life moment by moment. What is less understood is how this quality of presence can open a doorway to a different way of being, of sensing and feeling, that can help us to find a way back to a place of belonging and balance. Listen/Read More
What does it mean to live at the end of an era, and how can we hold the light that is left in this time of rising darkness to find our way towards a living future? We have to hold the threads of love that connect us, and the acts of care and generosity that express this love. Listen/Read More
Summarizing these stories I am trying to turn our attention to a way to walk through this dying land without losing our way, to travel through these seasons from Winter to Spring. We have to tread carefully, walk with awareness, and return to values that support life, that recognize that all life, all creation, is sacred. Listen/Read More