Welcome to Under a Fig Tree
An archive of essays, poetry, stories and reflections rooted in imagination, mythopoetics and ancient religion
A manifesto for a re-sacralised life
I believe the modern western world is suffering from a type of spiritual amnesia and an illiteracy of imagination.
We have forgotten our myths that precede the Abrahamic religions and our creation story is trapped in original sin.
The Roman persecution of paganism followed by the Inquisition of the Middle Ages did a really good job at near wiping out the earth-centric, life-affirming wisdoms of Europe and Western Asia.
But they did not succeed.
There is a deep wellspring of myth, custom, tradition and sacred knowledge in every culture.
This is the offshoot of a once universal worldview that believed in a “sacralised cosmos” - as religious historian Mircea Eliade put it - meaning an animistic belief in a cosmic sacrality manifested equally in the animal and vegetable worlds.
This worldview can be traced all the way back to our earliest beginnings in the ochre cave temples of prehistory some 60,000 years ago.
It is the oldest and longest continuously practiced religion, surviving in diluted forms in the hunter-gatherer societies of aboriginal Australia and the San of southern Africa, in the great temple traditions of the Neolithic and Bronze Age, and in the folklore and religious customs of traditional cultures.
My work re-braids this old cosmology back into the modern western psyche.
Who am I?
My name is Gabriela. I am a Spanish/Welsh writer, mythologist, poet, beekeeper, ritualist, singer/songwriter, independent scholar of the history of religion, lover of knowledge and all things old and secret. I have an academic background in mythology, anthropology, theology, and Sufi poetry. I hold an Undergraduate degree in Middle Eastern Studies and Arabic (SOAS), an MA in The Poetics of Imagination (Dartington Arts School) and various qualifications from Pacifica and Oxford University.
Since 2011, I have travelled to traditional cultures around the world to learn about their customs, myths and belief systems. I have studied ancient sites in the Balkans, Crete and Palestine, and prehistoric cave art in Northern Spain, Southern France, aboriginal Australia and Sulawesi, Indonesia. And I have apprenticed with shamans, renunciants and traditional healers.
To find out more about me and my work, you can visit my website.
What is this publication?
The main archive of my work and a platform for all my new writings sent directly to your inbox
Published once a month for all subscribers and every Sunday (sometimes fortnightly) for paid subscribers
A special thanks to subscribers who pay for my publication!
Each piece has an audio recording that you can listen to like a podcast
The monthly newsletter is a type of care package with a poetry offering, reflections and musings
The weekly entries are essays based on my in-depth research or pieces I write from “the Road” - on a research trip or travel. These can be spontaneous and unedited, mainly raw impressions and transmissions of images and secrets from the old places
Why subscribe?
My writing, fieldwork and research is fully-reader funded. And everything I write here is funded by you! I don’t receive financial support from any institution, organisation or private body.
Becoming a paid subscriber directly supports my work, while giving you full access to my archive plus weekly new writings for Sunday reading/listening.
How to support my work
If you enjoy this publication, the main way to support me is to become a paid subscriber.
You can also help me spread the word by sharing it, or referring friends. For every referral, you will receive rewards that will give you free access. Simply click the buttons below.
Quotes from your favourite pieces can be shared on your social media, simply highlight a section and press “share quote”, or copy and paste the link to that piece.
I hope you will consider joining me here, in the imaginal landscape known by Sufi mystics as the place where the two seas meet, the Nâ-Kojâ-Abâd ("the country of non-where”) of the ancient Persians, and the land east of the sun and west of the moon in the Russian fairytales.
Or, put more simply, see you under a fig tree.
** The title of this publication is in memoriam to my great-grandmother’s fig tree in Spain under which, as C. S. Lewis would put it, my imagination was first baptised.
What readers are saying
“Gabriela is a flowing fountain of poetry, quotes, anecdotes and thought-provoking personal philosophies.” —Britt Lee, South Africa
“Your work speaks to my soul and so many others because you listen deeply and live in touch with the pulse of the World Soul. You have an extraordinary gift for reaching the very heart of the trouble, staying with it and sharing inspiration for how we can each find our way home to ourselves and one another on this living Earth. Thank you for the poetry and healing nectar!” — Suzanne Alvino Rosen, USA
"My heart is my guide and you have made me cry in such a deep and held manner that I can no loner resist subscribing. Your words touch my soul and I thank you immensely." —Peter Webb, Canada
“I just love our work! I learn so much, I go to as much classes I can and want to support you really simply. I love learning about the lore and old ways, spiritual practices, woman history, I haven’t been to a monthly event in a long time but I will again at some point. In the meantime I enjoy listening to your poetry and research. Sending you love and thank you for being so brave in all you share.” —Amelia Oliverio, France
"I supported your work because I love it and you and because you share the sweetest honey for us to taste remember and join you in its making <3 " —Mariam Daher, Lebanon
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