Thank you for beautifully sharing your sacred and wild stories — I look forward to more installments <3 As a non-white immigrant from a place that had gone through cultural and spiritual ruptures, somehow I can still relate to you on the being a “spiritual orphan” even with the grounding faith and practice of Buddhism. Perhaps it could be that the Buddhism I try to practice isn’t even the morphed version that took root in my homeland, and I keep getting pulled into shamanism in my wandering mind (and life occurrences). I’m just slowly putting two and two together lately about what might be actually going on for me. All that is to say — I trust finding your presence and energies in your words is some kind of cosmic nudge.
btw, after having used the word “Woo” so many times, I just realized how it sounds like the Chinese character “巫” (wū), which is the original name for the shamanic healers/seers/knowledge holders and their practices from the peoples on the lands and places now collectively known as China. Now I have to research the etymology of the expression “Woo”!
This is so fascinating, Yiqing-- thank you for sharing your experience, and also this information about the Chinese character. Wow! I love that so many of us have been using the term "woo" to toss off full responsibility for our spirituality, to make it a little smaller and suggest that it's silly, when it's possible the word we are saying could ALSO be something in full ownership of spiritual potency. I'm so grateful to have read this!
I dearly love—and personally connect with—your story. I, too, have felt like a spiritual orphan; drawn to shamanic work and indigenous practices despite my white heritage. I, too, struggle with the acceptability of the ‘woo’ aspects of my spirituality. Keep writing! Your work is a ray of sunshine in my life!
What gets called woo is often just what lies beyond a paradigm’s current limits—comprehensible, but not yet sciencable under a materialist framework. The physicalist worldview insists on tools that cannot measure what many already know through direct experience. And so, what’s real becomes what’s allowed to be spoken.
But there is obviously an undiscovered medium of nonlocal travel and communication tied to consciousness—pointed to in the myths, medicines, and metaphysics of nearly every culture that predates or stands apart from Enlightenment rationalism. It’s not vague, it’s consistent. It’s only illegible to institutions designed to ignore it.
There is also mounting evidence—archaeological, experiential, testimonial—for advanced nonhuman technologies that appear to operate through this same medium. What’s often described in sanitized sci-fi terms as “UAP phenomena” may instead be better understood as a cross-section of contact: between minds, between dimensions, between the stories we allow and the reality we inhabit.
The embarrassment isn’t in being woo. It’s in pretending the Overton window defines the boundary of the real.
Loved this post, Kati. Thank you for walking this necessary and precarious line to bring this wisdom to us with your signature searing, personal prose. I can't wait for this book.
Beautiful writing Kati! I'm not especially woo--not anti- but also not called, I would say. So I am loving this account of entering a world that is not mine and is so beautifully rendered by your words.
Thank you for saying so, Elizabeth. I hadn't even thought of the audience that isn't woo but might want to read any way-- almost anthropologically, along for the storytelling. It's a useful addition to have in my head.
Love this beautifully written piece. Oh yes, I’m very familiar with sidestepping topics (I’ve been to lots of “meditation retreats”) and manoeuvring conversations away from the wild divine. And I love that feeling of being in a room full of people where hiding is not required. Thank you for reminding me there are lots of travellers out there.
While our stories are different, they are also very much the same. I describe my awakening spiritually as being "pursued by the Divine." Please keep writing and sharing your story!
Thank you for this Katherine. I was called to the mystical from a very young age, but I learned to be very dismissive of it, so of course it went dormant. The process of re-discovery and “owning my woo” has been equal parts, revitalizing and terrifying. It feels right to step into the light, especially now when it is so needed.
It's something that channeled through during my first module of shaman school, during our divination unit. I don't think anyone else does it! I actually brought a bag of nine small animal bones to try to divine with, but they turned out to have compromised energy (sigh, something I should have suspected based on where they came from). So at the last minute my shaman and I were talking about who has always spoken to me/where my channel has always been clear (Trees) and I went outside and had a conversation with a pine and she told me how to do it. Four amazing readings then unfolded for my peers and I was like... holy shit ... this is a thing.
Amazing! I’ve alway had a close relationship with trees also, but not like that. I love that you are connecting more and more deeply to your own wisdom.
Thank you for beautifully sharing your sacred and wild stories — I look forward to more installments <3 As a non-white immigrant from a place that had gone through cultural and spiritual ruptures, somehow I can still relate to you on the being a “spiritual orphan” even with the grounding faith and practice of Buddhism. Perhaps it could be that the Buddhism I try to practice isn’t even the morphed version that took root in my homeland, and I keep getting pulled into shamanism in my wandering mind (and life occurrences). I’m just slowly putting two and two together lately about what might be actually going on for me. All that is to say — I trust finding your presence and energies in your words is some kind of cosmic nudge.
btw, after having used the word “Woo” so many times, I just realized how it sounds like the Chinese character “巫” (wū), which is the original name for the shamanic healers/seers/knowledge holders and their practices from the peoples on the lands and places now collectively known as China. Now I have to research the etymology of the expression “Woo”!
CHEERS lady-mate
This is so fascinating, Yiqing-- thank you for sharing your experience, and also this information about the Chinese character. Wow! I love that so many of us have been using the term "woo" to toss off full responsibility for our spirituality, to make it a little smaller and suggest that it's silly, when it's possible the word we are saying could ALSO be something in full ownership of spiritual potency. I'm so grateful to have read this!
I dearly love—and personally connect with—your story. I, too, have felt like a spiritual orphan; drawn to shamanic work and indigenous practices despite my white heritage. I, too, struggle with the acceptability of the ‘woo’ aspects of my spirituality. Keep writing! Your work is a ray of sunshine in my life!
This comment absolutely made my morning. Thank you so much, Jo!
What gets called woo is often just what lies beyond a paradigm’s current limits—comprehensible, but not yet sciencable under a materialist framework. The physicalist worldview insists on tools that cannot measure what many already know through direct experience. And so, what’s real becomes what’s allowed to be spoken.
But there is obviously an undiscovered medium of nonlocal travel and communication tied to consciousness—pointed to in the myths, medicines, and metaphysics of nearly every culture that predates or stands apart from Enlightenment rationalism. It’s not vague, it’s consistent. It’s only illegible to institutions designed to ignore it.
There is also mounting evidence—archaeological, experiential, testimonial—for advanced nonhuman technologies that appear to operate through this same medium. What’s often described in sanitized sci-fi terms as “UAP phenomena” may instead be better understood as a cross-section of contact: between minds, between dimensions, between the stories we allow and the reality we inhabit.
The embarrassment isn’t in being woo. It’s in pretending the Overton window defines the boundary of the real.
Well said.
Loved this post, Kati. Thank you for walking this necessary and precarious line to bring this wisdom to us with your signature searing, personal prose. I can't wait for this book.
thank you, friend, for walking with me through the birthing!
Beautiful writing Kati! I'm not especially woo--not anti- but also not called, I would say. So I am loving this account of entering a world that is not mine and is so beautifully rendered by your words.
Thank you for saying so, Elizabeth. I hadn't even thought of the audience that isn't woo but might want to read any way-- almost anthropologically, along for the storytelling. It's a useful addition to have in my head.
Love this beautifully written piece. Oh yes, I’m very familiar with sidestepping topics (I’ve been to lots of “meditation retreats”) and manoeuvring conversations away from the wild divine. And I love that feeling of being in a room full of people where hiding is not required. Thank you for reminding me there are lots of travellers out there.
Beautiful. I am proudly woo and love meeting others on the other side of society's judgments!
::High fives::
I’ve been woo since 1984. I came out in 2014. Now I know woo is not separate or different from what we call secular. It’s all one thing.
While our stories are different, they are also very much the same. I describe my awakening spiritually as being "pursued by the Divine." Please keep writing and sharing your story!
I love that. It does feel sometimes like it's hot at my heels, lol...
Thank you for this Katherine. I was called to the mystical from a very young age, but I learned to be very dismissive of it, so of course it went dormant. The process of re-discovery and “owning my woo” has been equal parts, revitalizing and terrifying. It feels right to step into the light, especially now when it is so needed.
Welcome home to yourself and us. This is so beautiful. :)
Thank you. 💜 Here is a glimpse of my “coming out” if you are interested.
https://open.substack.com/pub/thegoodpsychotherapist/p/beads-on-a-mala-birth-of-a-medicine?r=2cg3f8&utm_medium=ios
I’ve been fascinated by your tree readings too. Such an interesting idea! I’d love to learn that skill.
It's something that channeled through during my first module of shaman school, during our divination unit. I don't think anyone else does it! I actually brought a bag of nine small animal bones to try to divine with, but they turned out to have compromised energy (sigh, something I should have suspected based on where they came from). So at the last minute my shaman and I were talking about who has always spoken to me/where my channel has always been clear (Trees) and I went outside and had a conversation with a pine and she told me how to do it. Four amazing readings then unfolded for my peers and I was like... holy shit ... this is a thing.
Amazing! I’ve alway had a close relationship with trees also, but not like that. I love that you are connecting more and more deeply to your own wisdom.
Loving your story. I was waiting for the next installment! Please keep going, you have so much to offer here.
It's so powerful to hear that. Thank you!