Quynn Red Mountain shared their story and experiences with us recently and you can find our conversation below.
Hi Quynn, thank you so much for joining us today. We’re thrilled to learn more about your journey, values and what you are currently working on. Let’s start with an ice breaker: What are you being called to do now, that you may have been afraid of before?
I am being called to bring forth a side of myself that has been in the background up until now. I come from being rather shy, and over the decades I have taught myself, and learned from select others, how to engage with others in an bold and open hearted way. I am so grateful to have had so many deep interactions with people within the the vocation I have created over the last 25 years. Now, in my late 50’s, I am intrigued to explore my creativity and voice in ways I didn’t have the courage or confidence to do as a younger person. Now is the time for meaningful courage in sharing with others, and so I am encouraging this within myself, and we shall see what unfolds from it!
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
Over the last 25 years I have created and built a non-profit org known as Web of Life Animists which offers a growing number of events and services in the Tucson community and online, I am proud that over the decades I, and many others, have shared Nature connection, spiritual exploration, intuitive enhancement training, and supportive Earth honoring community in ways that have lasting effects on people of many walks of life.
Okay, so here’s a deep one: What was your earliest memory of feeling powerful?
I remember a moment in later grade school, 5th or 6th grade, when I was a part of a competition between two teams of maybe 8 kids. Each student on the teams were holding hand drawn letters needed to spell out a particular word. The point of the game was to “spell” out the chosen word with the scrambled letters we were all holding, faster than the other team. After a couple minutes of the mayhem of kids of my team trying to collectively figure out who should go where to spell the word, I decided to move in front of all them, where I could see each kid and their letters. Before I could think about it, I was directing each letter to move to the position each child needed to be in to spell the word (I don’t remember the word now). The other kids on my team listened to me, and we spelled the word first and won. I have always remembered this experience, not because I felt “powerful” per se, but because I thought to change my perspective to see the situation differently, understand what needed to happen, and rally others to participate in the success.
What have been the defining wounds of your life—and how have you healed them?
I have had multiple defining wounds so far. One that I feel strongly today is when I dealt with a form of cancer in 2014. It was a surprise as a 46 year old person, and it rocked my world. There was a 3-4 week period where I did not have a diagnosis, and that was a deeply challenging time. For many nights I felt that “my death” woke me as a presence by my bed. For most of those nights I resisted, and then finally I asked it “what?!”. For a few nights after, I felt as if I was being shown places in my life where I had regret. I was told I needed to reduce my “regret quotient”, so I began to make a list of what needed attention. A lie I told to my mother long ago, something I needed to return to someone with whom I had a difficult ending, and a few painful eras of my younger life all came to me and asked for healing. As I went through the process of surgery and healing my body, I also wrote letters, had conversations and created rituals to tend the regret that wanted attention during this time of sickness. Now I feel lifted out of those regrets, and am grateful for living in “remission” today.
So a lot of these questions go deep, but if you are open to it, we’ve got a few more questions that we’d love to get your take on. What’s a belief you used to hold tightly but now think was naive or wrong?
As a woman of almost all European heritage, and growing up in a mostly white community in the 60s-90s, I received no school or cultural education about social justice, racial inequality and perspectives of black and brown people. As I left the community where I was raised, and put myself in multi-cultural/racial spaces, I realized how little I actually knew and how much I needed to learn from/about People of Wisdom of Indigenous and Animist cultures and lifeways.
Before we go, we’d love to hear your thoughts on some longer-run, legacy type questions. If immortality were real, what would you build?
If I had more time to live than I can imagine, I would work to share the ideas and lifeways of “Animism” with as many people as might be interested, with the intention that animist ways are important for future generations to make it through challenging and beautiful times that lie ahead.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/quynn.red.mountain/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/quynnredmountain
- Youtube: @QuynnRedMountain
Image Credits
Quynn Red Mountain
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