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40 A Journal of Contemporary Shamanism Volume 6 Issue 1 SPRING 2013 Thats a cool metaphor how shall we do that Later I learned that the word coro- nation comes from the word corona the Latin word for garland Ultimately we actually made a 100 foot long garland some shamanic folks made a base garland of greens and blessed it and a florist do- nated hundreds and hundreds of flowers. The ritual itself was very transformational. One man who at the opening had his arms folded but who stayed and participated in weaving the flowers into the garland and hoisting it at the end wiped tears from his eyes and joined in the crowds cheers for accomplishing this Coronation of the Collective Heart. The energy generated was palpable and lasted several days and stayed with people as they dispersed to dif- ferent parts of the country. Jonathan Thats how it should be. Lenore One thing Ive found is that as we enter the political arena it is a fantas- tic arena for our spiritual unfolding. Jonathan This is the direct opposite of what many experience. Say more. Lenore Well heres an example As I was developing the ritual I just described I kept getting email reminders about reg- istering for the conference. However the only way to register was to pay the reg- istration fee. So I emailed the man who had requested the ritual and said Hey Im happy to register but since Im putting together and leading this ritual and also teaching a workshop for free can you just add my name He wrote me back and lam- basted me for suggesting I shouldnt have to pay. His response in fact was very angry and toxic. He suggested that he would be hap- py to drop me from the program and that given my attitude it probably was just as well. I felt the force of his rage Im sensi- tive and it really affected me. Of course part of me reacted and wanted to just write back To hell with you I dont need to work for you for free and then pay you to boot. But I also was struck that this guy is a leader of some renown as I was becoming and what power has a peace movement if we cant even sort things out among ourselves So I slept on it and the next day I went online and registered and paid. Then I wrote him and said Look I must have hit a raw nerve with my request. I have just registered and paid for the conference and would like to go forward with the ritual. And if you dont want me to then Ill just consider my registration fee a donation to a good cause. Jonathan Phew Powerful move. Lenore It was. Paying the fee really stretched mein more ways than one -- but I did not want to lose the opportu- nity to bring ritual activism into a secular environment and felt that making this sacrifice was part and parcel of the peace- making work. The guy wrote back and said Youre right Im overwhelmed you did hit a raw nerve . . . Thanks for handling this with much more grace than I did. So this process somehow lifted both him and me up and I think this was not only part of my own spiritual practice but also part of the social healing involved in that piece of work. Jonathan As it does so often So where does your filmmaking come into all of this Lenore In the late 1990s I went to film school in the Bay Area. I understood the power of stories in creating ourselves and our world and had an idea that we needed new stories but I wasnt aware of any particular new story I had to tell. In Spring 2001 I returned to Seattle and thought it was time to advance the sha- manic social healing work so in August I announced a Fall circle called Reweav- ing the Web Healing Our World. Flyers went out and people were signing up when one day I was doing a soul retrieval and my spirits piped up You need to do film. I said Well Im helping people Im doing good work. They said No you have a big message and you need this bigger tool. Jonathan Your spirits knew before you did. Lenore Yes and I knew what that meant as soon as they said it I had to return to the Bay Area and would commute to lead Reweaving the Web. On September 10 I left Seattle with a car- load of my things and overnighted with some friends near sacred Mount Shasta. Thats where I was on the morning of 911. When I got to San Francisco later that day I curled up on my futon ask- ing myself How do I respond to this as a healer as a filmmaker and an activist For days I meditated on this and that is when the characters who would later populate my screenplay AMERICAN UBUNTU first revealed themselves and their predicaments to me. I didnt actu- ally start writing the story for a few years though after Id moved to Portland. Jonathan And Portland is where you engaged in all that interfaith activism Lenore Yes. And throughout the ritual activism my spirits were tapping their paws saying What about film This needs to be done. In between the activism and the demands of my shamanic practice I occasionally would steal a week or two and go away and work on the script but it was coming too slowly and I constantly felt torn. Finally I got clear that I really needed to focus on the film it was my activism and social healing ministry as well as my art rolled into one. If I was going to actu- ally make this movie I had to focus or it never would happen. After several drafts AMERICAN UBUNTU finally arrived at the current one. The story is a culmi- nation of all the things weve been talk- ing aboutshamanic activism and the collapsing of polarizations. As Christina Pratt said This is a movie that shows how shamanism actually worksgrap- pling with real world problems and solv- ing things. Jonathan I cant wait to see it