Héctor Aristizábal Speaks at the University of Melbourne

Join the Wattle Fellowship, Institute for Deep Ecology and the Rainforest Information Centre for an evening with Héctor Aristizábal. Please arrive at 6:30pm for a 7pm start.

All those getting a zoom ticket will receive a recording of Hector's talk.

The Soul’s Mycelium: Ritual, Reconciliation, and the Healing of the Story of Separation

Through stories from Colombia’s Truth Commission and the community rituals of Re-Conectando, Héctor Aristizábal explores how theatre, spirituality, and ecology can weave a path of healing in times of collective crisis. Drawing on The Work That Reconnects, Theatre of the Oppressed, and ancestral forms of ritual, he invites us to remember that reconciliation is not only between victims and perpetrators, but between humanity and the living Earth. This talk is both testimony and invitation — to reimagine community as a sacred space where grief, beauty, and belonging intertwine like the threads of a great mycelial network.”

Learn more about Hector here and his TEDx talk: How to Transform Your Wound Into the Medicine the World Needs.

We’re invited to understand our personal wounds—not as shameful secrets to hide, but as potential medicine that the world needs. The idea is that the same pain, vulnerability or trauma that threatens us can become a source of healing and contribution if we consciously bring it into the service of others.

From the deep ecology and activism perspective, his message resonates strongly. He suggests that grief, rage, fear, despair—when metabolised rather than suppressed—can become powerful fuel for ecological transformation. The wound becomes medicine not just for one person but for the community and the more-than-human world. It legitimises vulnerability as a strength and invites integration of emotional truth with ecological action.

Ticket sales will go to defraying the costs of Héctor's trip in Australia.