About Animism and Ceremony for Settlers with Kelley Harrell

What does it mean to truly live the relationship of the animate world around us? How must our path as Settler-Colonialist effect this relationship? In this episode with my friend Kelley Harrell, we discuss this and many surrounding topics! 

This conversation explores the profound challenges and opportunities of cultivating animistic awareness in these uncertain times.

Kelly, an animist, death walker, and author, shares her journey of navigating America's settler culture while developing authentic spiritual practices with runes. She articulates the crucial difference between intellectually believing in animism and embodying that life-way through direct relationship with place. "Animism for me is the thing that I strive for," she reflects, "but I often feel that I'm so entrenched in American settler culture that I will never be able to really claim it."

As climate "chaos" disrupts our seasonal patterns and ecological relationships, Kelly calls us to develop new ceremonies that honor both ancestral wisdom and present realities. The Land remembers what our ancestors did – and it remembers what settlers continue to do today. Holding both of these truths  becomes essential for authentic animistic practices today. Or just in being human: a good kin.

The conversation turns toward the end to Kelly's work with Runes as living entities rather than static symbols. When approached from an animistic perspective, these ancient symbols offer a bridge between worlds.

Perhaps most powerfully, in the end, we explore death – both literal human death and the countless transformations that comprise ecological cycles. We explore how our culture's fear of death manifests as our impatience with natural process. We see that it takes Earth 100 years to create an inch of soil, but we want it in 1.

Kelly is an animist, author, deathwalker, and death doula held and tended by Tuscarora, Woccon, and Sissipihaw land. For the last 25 years, through Soul Intent Arts, she has helped others ethically build thriving spiritual paths. Her work is Nature-based, and centers soul tending through the Elder Futhark runes oracle, animism, ancestral tending, and deathwork. Kelly also host the podcast, What in the Wyrd, and also writes The Weekly Rune as a celebration of the Elder Futhark in season.

Learn moe about Kelly HERE.