When I was just seventeen and still very much a boy, I was diagnosed with Acute Leukaemia and given two weeks to live. In the haze of treatment that followed, I walked the line between life and death, undergoing an enforced initiation into the axis where mind, body and soul meet. I was eventually cured via a Bone Marrow Transplant. That experience fundamentally changed my life and took me the best part of ten years to even begin to understand.
After my recovery, I found myself engaged on the archetypal inner journey. I had many questions about what it means to be alive and kicking in this human body. Along the way I explored and experimented, trying to keep one ear on the song of my heart. I studied kundalini yoga, embraced dance and free movement, began to craft my own tinctures and took an interest in wild foods.
Ten years post-transplant I re-initiated myself through the ceremonial use of plant medicines in the jungles of South America and trained in Shamanic work in Mexico’s Sonora Desert. Several years of contemporary shamanic work followed, incorporating energetic healing, conscious dreamwork and practical magic, all while developing my skills as a musician, writer and designer.
My first book, Chimera: Living Through Leukaemia, A Memoir, tells the tale of that near-death initiation, and has just been released after a successful crowdfunder campaign in 2021.
The book has been receiving some great early feedback so do check it out if you’re interested.
For occasional updates, do follow me on Instagram or Facebook, or use the contact form on this website. Drop me a line sometime, I’d love to hear from you.
Jody
