Writing with Ancestors – Scriptorium of Nature

Rachel Jamison Webster and Erica Nunnally and Colin Campbell

In this workshop we explore the possibility of writing with those who came before us. We look at meditative techniques and ritual processes for finding the voices of the ancestors, those of our line and perhaps our other kin, who have medicinal words and stories for us to tell and share in these times.

“Banneker… had felt that he was not merely himself, but his people — a channel connecting to his father and his father before him, and even to those ‘brethren’ to come”
Rachel Jamison Webster 2023

Rachel Jamison Webster

Rachel is a professor of Creative Writing at Northwestern University in the US and the author of Benjamin Banneker and Us: Eleven Generations of an American Family, (named best book of 2023 by The New Yorker) which tells the stories of her ancestors to explore race, identity, genius, and justice in American history. She has also published four books of poetry, including Mary is a River. Rachel’s ancestors hail from the American Midwest, Ireland, England, France, Senegal, and Guinea. Her teaching interests include the process of meditative creative writing to access ancestral story and archetypal insight and she creates safe and transformative spaces for people to share their personal and ancestral stories. She co-teaches Writing With The Dead with Daniel Foor at Ancestral Medicine.

Erica Nunnally

https://www.ericanunnally.com/

Colin Campbell

Colin Campbell works with African Mythology and the wisdom traditions of South Africa, specifically those that are based on our relationships with the ancestors and spirits of nature. He looks at where these ancient indigenous practices collide and coalesce with the knowledge and belief systems of the west.

One of the most unique and precious treasures Colin Campbell bears is that he is one of the few who were accepted, taught and initiated by some of the wisest pre-industrial African knowledge carriers who lived in Southern Africa. Sadly, due to the decline of this indigenous culture and its associated natural habitats, Colin and his younger brother Niall, are now amongst the rarest-known custodians of ancient sacred African knowledge systems.

Find out more about Colin on https://colincampbell.co.za/

This is the forth of six workshops included in the Nature Scriptorium Online Writers Circle.

Find out more here

Nature Scriptorium