I Wish You Heartbreak - An Exploration of the 19 Ways with Deena Metzger

We’re so grateful and honored to begin the 3rd season of the Embodiment Matters podcast by sharing with you this rich conversation with wise elder Deena Metzger. 

A poet, novelist, essayist, storyteller, teacher, healer and medicine woman who has taught and counseled for over fifty years, in the process of which she has developed therapies which creatively address life threatening diseases, spiritual and emotional crises, as well as community, political and environmental disintegration.

Deena has spent a lifetime investigating Story as a form of knowing and healing. 

She conducts training groups on the spiritual, creative, political and ethical aspects of healing and peacemaking, individual, community and global, drawing deeply on alliance with spirit, indigenous teachings and the many wisdom traditions. You can read a longer story about Deena’s extraordinary life here http://deenametzger.net/bio/

Deena teaches powerfully through asking challenging questions, and we have been grateful to be her students for several years.

Her current work is envisioning a new future for all beings. Considering new forms of peacemaking, healing, and sanctuary for all beings is encoded in the 19 Ways to a Viable Future for All Beings. Essential to the 19 Ways are respecting and restoring Indigenous ways, the Pathless Path, and the No Enemy Way. Deena works with writers to develop the literary voices essential for this time and she is a mentor to those who are seeking their own paths to be healing presences for the future. For many years Deena has lived at the end of the road at the edge of the wild in Topanga, California, with various animal companions. 

In this conversation we explore Deena’s articulation of the 19 Ways. We talk about working with dreams not in a personal, psychological way, but in a communal way. We talk about what she wishes for all of us - and the answer might surprise you. We explore illness as a messenger - through her own personal history with cancer as well as the covid 19 pandemic. I also share a powerful story of an experience with Deena many years ago which changed my life in a powerful way and which had both of us in tears. We hope you enjoy this clarion call from a wise elder to live differently and to meet these times with courage, community, and heart. 

Some relevant links: 

Deena’s Website: http://deenametzger.net/

The 19 Ways: http://deenametzger.net/19-ways/

This powerful poster of Deena made decades ago http://deenametzger.net/the-poster/

A list of Deena’s published works: http://deenametzger.net/published-works-3/

Deena mentions this book, Blackfoot Physics, in our conversation 

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/110248.Blackfoot_Physics