The Call to Connect
Dear Ones,
We will soon depart on our Pilgrimage to the Motherland: South Africa and Zimbabwe. The last time I was in Africa was in the fall of 2023 when I traveled to the Cape Town area of South Africa on a Vision Quest to connect with the Seed of Hope (Paarl Rock). This rock is considered sacred by the indigenous people, the Koi or Bush People of Africa, as it marks the last ray of sunlight on the Summer Solstice, the seed for new life.
After my vision quest, I returned to the small town where my friend lives to start writing my next book. I was surprised to encounter another spiritual directive involving baboons entering the city and causing chaos in the onion fields. The farmers fired their guns to scare them away, which upset the community, and there was talk of shooting the dominant male.
A third woman joined us as we envisioned a new way to address this and give nature a voice. What if we built an altar for the baboons to spark a dialogue about how to move forward? We constructed an altar along a path just outside the city where the baboons travel at sunrise and sunset. We prayed to connect with the baboons energetically, made offerings, and used symbolic objects.
The next day, we visited the altar, only to discover that the baboons had destroyed it, scattering its contents in all directions. We sat and went deeper into our energetic conversation, soon receiving the message that they did not trust us. They also shared that they no longer knew how to be baboons.
This same day, our friend saw a giant male baboon enter the lobby of her retreat center, letting her know they had received the message. She was stunned, as the baboons had never crossed the creek before.
Over several weeks, the rituals of connecting with the baboons continued, as did the sightings of the baboons in response to our intention to co-create to find a mutually beneficial solution.
I left South Africa during this initial foray into collaborating with the animal kingdom to find solutions to the problem of human and non-human animals cohabitating as humans continue to encroach on the natural world.
Fast forward to a Zoom call about our upcoming trip to Kruger National Park.
One of the women on the call lives in Africa. During the conversation, she asked, “Can you hear that?” She said the baboons were going crazy, running on the tin roof and making a lot of noise. We couldn’t hear them. Then, toward the end of the call, she asked again, “Can you hear this?” The baboons were going wild, peeking in the window and running on the roof! The baboons!!!!
Baboons are connected to humans, sharing 94% of our DNA. Their spiritual message is about intuition, leadership, knowledge, resourcefulness, and adaptability, including empathy and strength in forming mutually beneficial relationships.
It felt like animal messengers, with the Baboons picking up where we left off in October 2023. They were excited about our return and what would unfold as we listened, collaborated, and co-created with each other.
We are on the brink of a precipice at a crossroads in Humanity’s history. It is time to form relationships with others, whether human or non-human, animals or the environment, to find new, workable solutions to move forward. Like the Baboon, we need to remember who we are and bring ingenuity to the table to affect conditions positively. The world needs us.
We are what their teachings are for us and how we might best support them, ourselves, and each other. We have all forgotten who we are and how to maintain the right relationships with one another.
We are excited to see how the Baboons will appear, their teachings for us, and how we might best support them, ourselves, and Humanity. We hear their call. They are waiting for us!
We hope to see you soon in community!
Much Love,
Carley and John