Tales from The Council of All Beings – Part II

New Life on The Old West held our first ‘Council of All Beings’ meeting in September at Kingfisher’s Bridge Nature Reserve, near Wicken, leaving participants genuinely illuminated and inspired.

Since their inception in the late ‘70s, Council of All Beings meetings have helped countless thousands of people around the globe find solidarity and courage to act on behalf of nature, despite worsening social and ecological conditions (The Work that Reconnects, 1984 — John Seed, Joanna Macy, Arne Naess ) During the meeting participants are invited to step aside from their human identity and speak on behalf of another life-form. Beings come forth to speak of their concerns and the challenges they face, and to be witnessed and received by the humans.

Although many attendees had informed us of their apprehension beforehand, the event was hugely successful and feedback was extremely positive. Taking a non-human-centric view of nature was an exciting and compelling activity, even though many felt “out of their comfort zone”.

An unusual activity – but so worthwhile!

Here are a selection of tales told by some of the life-forms present.

Click on each picture to reveal the story of what it was like for the human taking part.

I am Muntjac…

[Sung]

“Oo, Oo, Munc-Munc-Munc-Munc-Munc

Oo, Oo, Munc-Munc-Munc-Munc-Munc

Have I got your attention?     I’m a MUNTJAC.    Hi.     And I’m foreign

Some of you don’t like foreign.    I know.    But Hi.     That’s me.

And I’m free to be me. And I’m free to be me. I’m free. How ‘bout you?

Are you free to be you?

“It was really empowering to put myself in the shoes of Muntjac, and to join the Coincil of All Beings, it created an empowering imaginative space, where I saw people become engaged and impassioned and literally wanting to fight the corner of the species or the entity that chose them.
I appreciated that once people’s waters and flames had been ignited – you engaged us to think compassionately about what gifts we could offer humans, that was a really lovely transition and really vital, saying as we all need to become more conscious of our power and not feel so separate.
The fact that we were doing that in community was really powerful coz I felt I was standing with 15 other beings/people who I felt were activated and engaged with the planet in a similar way as I am and so I didn’t feel so alone. It also felt very cathartic and useful”

What I have to tell you, is…you don’t see me and my friends. You like to kill us.     

So many ways to kill us.    It’s really weird.    It’s really strange   Why do you want to kill us?

I don’t think it’s all of you.   Just a part of you.   I think you need to love that part.

That likes to kill us.    Me and my friends.     You kill us with your guns.   You kill us with your traps.    You kill us with your cars.

Me and my friends, badgers, hedgehogs, foxes, deer, rabbits…me.    You like to kill us with your cars, because you don’t see me, but I am free.

Oo, Oo, Munc-Munc-Munc-Munc-Munc

Oo, Oo, Munc-Munc-Munc-Munc-Munc

And run, run, run, run, I love to run and run and run and run STOP.    Breathe   Sniff    See…it’s great out here, being free to be me.    How ‘bout you?”

I am Reedbed…

“Iam a reedbed and I provide a home, a place to hunt, a roof for a house, I clean water. I have seen people move to the Fens, and then fens grow up around me, please let me grow again.”

“Lets be honest at first it was a bit awkward 😊, but once I got into it I enjoyed representing the reeds and reedbeds.”

I am Ivy…

“Iam Ivy, and I speak for all the Ivy people who support, sustain and protect a myriad other beings of the forest. I climb my tree friends to reach the light, and in return my strong stems help to support them in their old age. My evergreen leaves provide shelter for insects in the harsh winters, my flowers in November are the last source of nectar for bees, and my berries are a favourite of the song birds throughout the winter months. If I grow on your home I will cool it in the summer and I’ll helpo to keep it warm in the winter. Please don’t cut me down when you see me growing upa tree. I promist I won’t do it any harm. We are friends; we need eachother. Leave us be.”

“Being a part of the Council was a wonderful experience. It took a little while to relax into the “other” that had been asked of us. But, after a little while, we started conversing back and forth as the Beings that had chosen us to represent them, and that was inspiring! As Ivy, I discussed being dismissed as an offensive plant with Nettle; Fox and Eel and Muntjac had much to say to each other, as did Spagnum and Fungi. It was at that moment that it became so clear to us all that everything in the Wild is connected; we Humans are too quick to try to intervene when all that Nature needs is a little space to simply be.”

Keep your eyes peeled as we post the tales of more beings in Part III and beyond.

What’s more, we will be running the second of our three Councils in April 2025. If you would like to attend, then please get in touch!

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