Indigenous Wisdom Conversations: Sound as Inheritance with Catherine Gairard (Part One)

Who is on your altar this year? And what if you've never made one? Julia Carmen sits down with her granddaughter, Juliana Guerrero, as Día de los Muertos approaches. Juliana remembers what the season looked like growing up, what she carries from the line of women behind her, and what it's like to teach in a school that builds a huge ofrenda together every year. She names what she calls a teeny tiny silver lining of the overculture's version of the holiday: it has people asking questions. They talk about doing this with respect, about asking permission, and about the fact that some altars are private. Juliana walks through her living altars, including the love altar she first built during a hard season. Julia talks about where to begin if you're new: start with yourself, start with the people who really saw you, and don't compare. They also talk about grief, and about the songs and films that help carry it. Julia closes by reading the Fire Dragonfly card, and Juliana leaves us with three words for anyone sitting with their people this week: be still, be kind, be love. Free Día de los Muertos Resource Kit: theschoolwithoutwalls.net/kit

You may know their work long before you ever really meet them. The Artist is often seen, but not seen. Julia Carmen returns to the Archetype series with the Artist, paired with Emerald Dragonfly. She describes them as the creators of their own universe, close kin to the Alchemist and the Wizard, and filled with more emotion in motion than most. They move like chameleons, changing their own colors and seeing the colors in other people, so they're very hard to fool. Julia's other image for them is an octopus: ranging in every direction, and ready to release its ink when it needs to. An Artist doesn't have to paint. This archetype shows up through poetry, through parenting, through a person's work and word. Julia also names the caution for those who lead with the Artist: because emotion runs ahead, being near one can be intense. The Artist is born with the knowing within, and their stories come from other worlds of being. This is an Archetype that can be cultivated, in the stillness of you. Their companion is Emerald Dragonfly: "Know this. You can never be lost." Learn more about your own archetype in The Magical Papers online course, at theschoolwithoutwalls.net.

Some archetypes can be cultivated. The Seer cannot — they arrive this way already, walking with their peeps, and stay that way their whole life.

What is a casita, really — and what happens when it gets crowded with somebody else's stuff? Julia Carmen sits down again with her granddaughter Juliana Guerrero for another J&J, sparked by a question Juliana asked after their overculture conversation. A casita isn't a house — it's the place within each of us connected to the Soul Self of Being, what Julia has also called the little blue light since Juliana was small. It's a homing pigeon: wherever you go, it says, this is you. The two talk through what happens when a casita gets neglected or overrun with other people's stuff, and how Juliana found her way back to hers after a dark stretch in high school — asking herself what she actually wanted, rather than what she was told to want. Julia shares the question a friend once asked her that changed how she guards her own casita: if someone knocked at your door, would you just let them in? Boundaries, they agree, are a form of care, not withholding — and Julia is direct that if what you're carrying is more than a casita can hold on its own, get the professional support you need. Juliana offers her own tending practice — sun, a walk, a good cry, writing it down. Julia pulls a dragonfly card live on air with a message for anyone listening: rest in the sleep of yourself, and know that how will show itself in its own time. Links and resources: What is Soul Listening? Sleeping Dragonfly Purple Dragonfly Learn more about The School Without Walls and the Dragonfly Guides: Get your free guide: 10 Questions to Ask Your Soul Self Enroll in The Magical Papers Explore The School Without Walls Production assistance from Podlad.com and Daypack Digital. Artwork by Olivia Dancel. Dragonfly art by Soul Creative Design.

What if the child in your life who doesn't quite fit the mold was never a mystery to solve, but an angel you were chosen to guide?