Story is so powerful, isn’t it? 

What life stories ignited my passion to create material which uplifts the heart, feeds the spirit, offer pathways to become whole and reconnect with the earth?

I would like to share a few memories with you, some of the pivotal building blocks in my own life story. (If you would like to view my CV, let me know and I’ll send it.)

• I was a kid playing in our nearby park. I was laying on the ground, under a tree looking up through its limbs, into white clouds floating against a blue sky.

It was a moment of bliss, pure bliss, and perfection. It was not a fleeting moment. It remains alive to this day, many decades later. And so it goes, being an earth lover.

• Another memory happened when I was even younger. I was watching a group of neighborhood boys play a game in the driveway next door. A new kid was with them. His build was larger and I don’t mean in height. My friends began calling him names. I could see the look of pain on his face. This group of boys, boys I knew, hardly looked like themselves anymore.

Oh, how a united group of people can do hurtful things together! But if we can do things together that hurt, can’t we do things together that help? I ached for the new kid then. I longed for doing right with like-minded people. I still do.

• I ‘came of age’ in the time of rights. Women’s Rights, Civil Rights, Environmental Rights. It all made perfect sense to me. It still does.
• College opened the pathways for this young woman to become a theatre artist. Here, I learned the power of story. As I studied acting, I studied breath. In the mix of art and breath, a doorway to Spirit opened. I walked in. Here I remain.
• Filled with some life experience and a burning passion for my artform, I moved to NYC, studying at a prestigious school. I had no inkling that after graduation what I now call an ‘artistic crisis’ would soon come my way.

NYC thrives with theatre seemingly on every corner, and yet for a long stretch all I seemed to find were stories of violence and misogyny. If my breath creates my voice, and if breath is spirit, I did not want to give my voice and spirit over to telling these same old stories.

Enough already. Surely, we humans can do better. Surely, we can do better living on the very planet that sustains us. I didn’t know then that my passion would evolve into a Quest for the New Story. It still is.

• In the midst of my quest to discover how I might be able to lift hearts and potentially make life better for self & other, I met Grandmother Twylah Nitsch, Seneca Elder and Teacher. Such an extraordinary visionary, with an understanding of the Shifts to come, and a goal to prepare us for the journey. Gram became my elder, teacher, mentor and friend and gave me permission to share her teachings.

For decades, I have been developing my own body of work based on what I learned from her. Her teachings of Earth Connection were deeply profound. They still are. 

I want to create, or help create, the New Story of Connection. Write it with me, won’t you?

SHOUTOUT DFW

Meet Beth Bando | Author, Eco-Artist & Wisdom Walker, May 14, 2025

We had the good fortune of connecting with Beth Bando and we’ve shared our conversation. Hi Beth, what inspires you? The Earth. Every day. Some blossom or breeze or gentle rain or glistening snow will offer a greeting and some words of wisdom. Learning to listen to the wisdom messages is my pleasure and my honor. It also serves as the cornerstone of much of my work. Read more…

I’d like to share a brief overview of my philosophy of Earth, Art & Heart as a process for transformation and wholeness.

I’m also including a brief description of this Great Shift into the 5th World according to my Elder & Teacher.

My philosophy of Earth, Art & Heart, begins with connecting/reconnecting with the earth.

The Circle, the ultimate symbol of wholeness, movement, harmony and the Earth, becomes our primary tool.

Grandmother Twylah called the Circle the Wisdom Wheel. It is the language of the earth and it’s revealed insights are stunning, profound and deeply meaningful.

Through this symbol, our gifts are illuminated, direction is revealed and what was once fragmented can become whole again.

I describe wholeness as “a juicy state when seeming opposites merge, yin and yang, masculine and feminine, intuition and thinking, our gifts and our flaws. In this balanced union, we are whole, valued and empowered.”

My teacher and Elder, Grandmother Twylah Nitsch, spoke of the history of the earth. She described the shift we are experiencing as the movement from the 4th World of Separation & Control into the 5th World of Unity & Illumination.

Elders also offer the perspective that we have all been living in the Story of Separation. It is now time to write the new story.

The 4th World

The 4th World of Separation & Control presented many difficult challenges, when all things became fragmented on the inside and outside of us.

Imagine a wagon wheel, with spokes disconnected from the center core. As non-functional as this seems, we adapted to the separation and learned to move forward with our broken wheels.

The Era of Separation & Control held vast rippling effects. These ripples affected how we treat the earth and women, our healing practices, educational & financial systems, how we grow food, art vs science, thinking vs feeling, receiving & giving, our sense of self-esteem and empowerment.

We didn’t like the wounding of the 4th World. However, we became it. It formed and shaped who we are and what we believe.

As we begin to see these ramifications within ourselves, we can now begin the powerful transformation into the new story.

The 5th World

In the 5th World of Connection & Unity, all that became fragmented, can now become Whole again.

In the 4th World, we learned to “fly on folded wing.” Now, our 5th World wings are stretching out. Oh, how freely we will move! Who will we become? We may not yet know, but we sense a glimmer of vast possibilities.

Becoming 5th World

Through conscious intention we can bridge the gap of disconnection, discern the old patterns and transform them.

The new Story of Connection is being written. Let us discover it, and write it, together.