Intern – Kiya Heartwood

My name is Ki Heartwood. I am very excited to find the EcoFaith Recovery Practicum. I am an Earth based Unitarian Universalist. I feel my call to be an Art and Earth minister. I have been a songwriter and cultural worker most of my adult life and the urgency of Earth ministry has led me to becoming an ordained Unitarian Universalist minister. I also run a no-audition folk orchestra called The People’s Orchestra of Austin. My ancestors are from North America. Some immigrated from England, Ireland, Scotland, and Finland in the 1600’s, the Cherokee relations have been here for much longer. I also recognize that all my relations are not necessarily human. The Emergent Strategy book says it best,

“Emergent strategy is a way that all of us can begin to see the world in life-code— awakening us to the sacred systems of life all around us. Many of us have been and are becoming students of these systems of life, wondering if in fact we can unlock some crucial understanding about our own humanity if we pay closer attention to this place we are from, the bodies we are in. The world is full of beauty, magic, miracles, and patterns that induce wonder.”

I have spent time around Dianic Witches and love reading Starhawk and others from the Reclaiming Tradition. My father’s family are Methodist ministers who have Quaker roots. They served rural Kentucky and Tennessee churches. I will be the fourth of five generations to go into the ministry. I look forward to making more connections and learning with other seminarians who want to work for a more sustainable and just future.

I have focused on community and public outreach through songs, stories and sermons about climate change, about changing our personal ethics to reflect a more sacred relationship to the planet.

I would like to organize Permaculture trainings and Environmental Activist trainings at my Internship congregation and through our U.U. camp U Bar U in the Texas hill country. I am interested in exploring intentional forest building for backyards, corporations and churches. (See Shubhendu Sharma’s Ted talk)

I have a great deal of passion for this work and I will work hard to create shared leadership and diversity to accomplish our shared goals.