1000 Unseen Hands

When the pandemic began, I started hearing Joseph Campbell’s phrase on repeat in my mind: “follow your bliss, and you’ll be met with the support of 1,000 unseen hands.”

For years I had been drawn to these types of quotes about pursuing what you love, but none of these offerings ever made it past the fear barricades in my cognitive mind. In other words, the concepts felt inspiring, but disembodied.

I realized I wouldn’t stop hearing this phrase unless I tested it out for myself. Could I truly follow my bliss and feel supported at the same time? What *was* my bliss, and what did it actually feel like in my nervous system to feel safe and supported?

These two questions became the compass and bearing for the journey ahead. I began a daily practice of establishing neurocircuitry of safety and support within my own body. Multiple times a day, I would pause and breathe and imagine the physical touch of hands offering support, and I practiced letting myself fully take in this feeling of love that I thought at the time was purely imaginal.

Eventually, it got to the point where I was imagining and sensing an entire field of supportive hands in 360 directions. I could move, leap, fall in any direction and still feel held. This practice offered a sense of liberation and freedom unlike anything I’ve ever experienced.

Months in, as an interest in ancestral connection began awakening in me, I was awestruck to realize that these 1,000 hands Campbell spoke of held a close correlation with Seven Generations.

I started being pointed towards epigenetics and ancestral healing in my meditation studies. I began learning more about indigenous cultures who held the interest of Seven Generations at the forefront of their decision making. I started being shown so many ways that these concepts could marry as visual meditations that were just as healing for me to create as they were to share with the world, and I came to know these intimate, synthesizing moments of creation as those of Bliss.

I never could have imagined how this path of inquiry would lead to such intimacy and awe.

Ancestral Study No 13/1,024 hands
7”x7”
Acrylic
2021

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