Eddy Elsey: Hope. Belief. Honesty. Endurance.

At the beginning of lockdown, in the midst of uncertainty and palpable fear, we asked Eddy Elsey to share some words of wisdom so that we could draw strength at a time when we needed it the most.

In the darkest times we often remember the parts of ourselves that, at one point, we told to make their home there. Often forgotten in times of abundance, their gnarled grimace stares back at us through the dwindling starlight with an expression - not of anger or mistrust - but a wild and ancient form of activism. Hope. Belief. Honesty. Endurance. We call on these parts of ourselves now. The ones that learnt to move freely in the blackness. The ones that could spend a thousand years patiently waiting to be called home. The ones who’s currency sits rooted in a consciousness far, far away from the daily awareness of our current society.

In short, we have been living on borrowed time, and all of the things that we were taught to believe mattered to us - crumble like sandcastles in the constant waves of an ocean filled with the barnacled remains of an ancient knowing of what humanity is truly connected to. It is into these waves we must now dive. Not just with bravery as our sword and shield but with the trust that in this alien ocean we will remember what it truly means to be a mortal creature on this planet. To care for one another. To pay libations to the rise and fall of the seasons. To plant candles in the earth for an invisible harvest that can sustain not only us but our generations to come. Within this great and painful inhalation of culture it is not clear to me if the virus is the infection or us. But whatever the truth - within the poison is the cure. 

I offer up to each of you a lighting of a candle tonight. With the intention of calling back all the parts of ourselves that we expelled from the round table of our hearts. Bring them home so that they can guide us to brighter pastures.