Eight letters a year - a path back to native spirituality and self-expression
In this episode, Priska Lang, social artist, scribe, and somatic experiencing practitioner, shares about her project Holles Rad, a collective sending seasonal letters filled with art, stories, and reflections to reconnect people with the yearly cycle.
We learn how Holle, a pre-Christian figure from German mythology tied to fertility, death, and transformation, became a starting point for asking what ancestral wisdom could mean for people in Central Europe today, without borrowing from indigenous traditions that were never ours to take.
Priska talks about tracing practices back to their true origins and learning from feedback when good intentions still caused harm. We also touch on the political dimension of natural cycles, learning from bird migration as an image for freedom of movement.
This conversation is or anyone who wants to connect with heart, mind and body with the place and cycles around them, no matter their history with it. A reconnection between people and land that have been separated through capitalism.
It speaks especially to people questioning spiritual bypassing, cultural appropriation, or how to build community rooted in consent and accountability.
Listeners can take away that healing and connection do not require borrowing from other cultures, that slowing down with the seasons can be preventative rather than reactive, and that even well-meaning projects need ongoing feedback and unlearning to stay centred.
Amendment of September 24th:
In this Episode we have used the word "Decolonize” and just recently learned (from Tsepo Bollwinkel) that this is not a term white people should use unless they themselves were "recently" colonized. It is a word reserved for the colonized, as the process involves them decolonizing themselves and their spaces. For white people - descendants of colonizers who continue to benefit from colonial conditions today - the process is different: it entails recognizing and dismantling structures of domination such as white supremacy, offering apologies, and engaging in acts of reparation.
For this inappropriate use of this term in this and previous episodes I want to apologize and hereby raise our collective awareness.
💡 HIGHLIGHTS of this Episode
✨ Ancestral roots vs borrowed traditions
✨ Trace every practice back to its true origin
✨ Spiritual bypassing vs facing collective pain
✨ Seasonal rhythm as a ritual, not reaction
👋 ABOUT Priska Lang (she/they)
Priska is positioned as a white German and works as a scribe / visual harvester, social artist, facilitator, somatic experiencing practitioner, and co-founder of Holles Rad.
Priska draws visual summaries of events, designs and facilitates workshops or trainings, and accompanies people in one-on-one sessions of trauma work.
At Holles Rad people receive letters eight times a year with art, stories and various inspiration for reflection, ritual, and cyclical living.
They work remotely and in person both in English and German.
Priska is based in central Germany in a community project called Fuchsmühle.
🔗 CONNECT & follow Priska's work
👉 Website
👉 LinkedIn
👉 Instagram
📚 RESOURCES to dive deeper
➡ Website Holles Rad | Holles Rad on Instagram
➡ Lakota Declare War Against “Shamans” & “Plastics
➡ Lyla June Johnston (Diné and European heritage) "The Vast and Beautiful World of Indigenous Europe"
➡ Tsepo Bollwinkel speaking at the Decolonize Healing Symposium „Eine intergenerationale Sicht auf Trauma“ („An intergenerational perspective on trauma“)
German with english subtitles
➡ Education on topics of connection - (embodied) liberation, critical whiteness, anti-/(de)colonial, queerness, somatic practices
➡ Education on worldpolitical topics
💌 CONNECT & engage with Pia
Feel free to connect with me on LinkedIn to follow and support each other’s work. 🤗
If you consider yourself an #impactjobseeker or aspiring #impactpreneur at the beginning of your journey, jump on my Newsletter “Impact Insights” where I regularly share tools and best practices from my work as a sustainability consultant and system change facilitator. 🤓⚖
For daily insights “behind the scenes” and event updates, join the extended community on the @work.with.impact Instagram account. 🧐💓
Take care of yourself and others!
Pia 🤍
P.S. You can also watch this Episode on our YouTube Channel to see our faces 👋
#Regeneration #CyclicalLiving #SomaticExperiencing #AncestralWisdom #SeasonalRhythm #SpiritualBypassing #Decolonize #CommunityCare #SolidarityEconomy #SocialArt #Ritual #Wintering
