In every generation of every family there is one person that is born carrying an unequal amount of the emotional and energetic burden of their lineage. In an intact culture, this person would be recognized for bearing a gift, a seed: the potential to become the healer of their family line. This potential would be cultivated, and the individual guided to learn how to use this gift to heal their personal and ancestral wounds, as well as guide others in their own process of healing.
This understanding has been lost in our modern society, and instead those bearing this gift are criticized, belittled, ostracized for the very sensitivity that would make them exceptional healers. They become the “black sheep” of their families and communities.
The Flowering War is a companion, a guide, and a roadmap for those individuals, those that have carried too much and been seen too little, those that have an incredible gift that, when untended, can become a devastating burden. It is for those that I’ve come to know as “Griefbearers,” the potential healers of generations of untended wounds and accumulated trauma. It is for those that have lost their way in bearing this burden but somehow, miraculously, keep going. It is for those would-be healers, consumed by self-criticism and self-doubt. For those wrestling with addiction and self-destruction. It is a Light to guide them out of the Darkness.
The Flowering War is for those that are determined to break the harmful patterns of their lives and their lineages. It draws on the ancestral living wisdom of the Toltecs to guide you to a greater understanding of yourself, your purpose in life, and the essential role you play in healing an increasingly wounded world.
If you recognize yourself in these words, this book is for you.
Dr. Oscar C. Pérez (the “C” is for Carbajal) is an author, speaker, and self-proclaimed “Underworld Guide” that has spent decades guiding people to reclaim their lives from the depths of their own personal hells. He was called to this work from his earliest years, being drawn to the healing and wisdom traditions of his ancestors at a very young age.
He is the founder of Tending The Fires, a school and community for healers and leaders that are at the forefront of the work of Soul Recovery – the alchemical process of healing personal and collective trauma through storytelling, ceremony, ritual, and re-membering our origins as Earth-based spiritual beings. He has worked with communities throughout the world, teaching and leading healing ceremonies for metabolizing unprocessed trauma and ancestral grief in English, Spanish, and Portuguese.
His work with individuals in substance abuse recovery earned him the affectionate title of the “Recovery Shaman,” by members of that community, which alternately feels like a great honor and a somewhat humbling endeavor. He has a PhD from Brown University, where he studied how storytelling and ritual are used in intact cultures to help individuals and communities heal trauma. He currently resides in his ancestral lands of Southern New Mexico, where he teaches, acts as a guide and trauma recovery specialist, and spends much of his time attempting to honor and feed that which feeds Life.