A work of creative non-fiction by Brazilian writer,
lawyer, climate scientist and social
anthropologist Fernanda Gebara
Chanting Spring:
Indigenous Wisdom
For Ancestral Futures
A path beyond our “starvation of being”, to re-animate our lives, transform our relationships, and find renewed hope in times of crisis.
A compelling response to a search for meaning and a growing disconnect in the modern world
For the ones concerned about our planet and future generations, for those living a loss of meaning or belonging, climate anxiety, or the quiet exhaustion that comes from constant crisis, Chanting Spring offers a pathway for being in this moment without going numb.
Rooted in nearly twenty years of academic and land-based climate research, and shaped by deeply lived encounters with the transformative resilience of Indigenous wisdom, Fernanda Gebara traces a grounded, spiritually attuned path forward. She shows how practices of listening, relation, and repair can help restore orientation-within the self and within the living world-and guide the transition into a renewed era for humanity and for the planet: ancestral futures.
Profound academic insight and lived ancestral wisdom for a planet in crisis
An interweaving tapestry of academic discourse and lived Indigenous wisdom and cosmologies that offers a connective eco-philosophical theory with relational, embodied transformation.
Re-animates our being by transforming how we relate
A journey through spirituality, consciousness, and the many forms intelligence can take, drawing on Indigenous perspectives to rethink our place in the world and imagine ancestral futures.
A hopeful lens for difficult times
An uplifting invitation to view past years of crises not only as disruption, but as a planetary rite-of- passage which we are to cross.
A collective chant for change
Empowering visionary piece that strengthens and amplifies the voices of those who chant for more reciprocal ways of being on the planet.
“A beautiful and moving book that draws readers into a sacred world of spirit and nature. Guided by the wisdom of Indigenous voices from the Amazon, it challenges the assumptions of modern life and calls for a deeper, more profound relationship with the living world around us.”
PROFESSOR TIM FORSYTH, PHD DEPARTMENT OF INTERNATIONAL
DEVELOPMENT, LONDON SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS AND POLITICAL
SCIENCE
“Chanting Spring is a forceful and enchanting reminder that we are wild, but not yet wild enough. It invites us to act, to chant, to recover Indigeneity, and to re root our relationships in the living world. This is not another manifesto or creed, but a call to re-land ourselves in a world that has forgotten how to belong.”
PROFESSOR GRAHAM HARVEY, PHD RELIGIOUS STUDIES, THE OPEN
UNIVERSITY
AUTHOR OF ANIMISM: RESPECTING THE
LIVING WORLD
“At its heart, this work speaks to the most vital calling of our age: a sacred, urgent reconnection with the natural world-a bond that reshapes not only how we relate to the earth but also to one another and the
diverse cultures that share it.”
LUIS EDUARDO LUNA, PHD
AUTHOR OF VEGETALISMO: SHAMANISM AMONG THE MESTIZO POPULATION OF
THE PERUVIAN
AMAZON.
A chant for hope
Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring was a warning: when we poison the living world, we contaminate ourselves. Long before COVID-19, we had already forgotten how to breathe, how to listen to what keeps us alive. Then a virus forced the planet into silence, and for a moment we could hear nature’s chant again. But whilst we heard, we did not listen. We rushed back to “normal,” louder than ever. Now, as the crises of 2026 escalate and we approach another threshold, Chanting Spring asks a single question: Will we keep silencing the living world or finally change course?
The book invites us to see the past years not only as disruption, but as a collective rite of passage: a liminal space humanity has entered, whether we chose it or not. The question is how we move through it: how we metabolize fear and grief, rebuild hope, and emerge with different ways of living.
About the author
Fernanda Gebara is a Brazilian writer, lawyer, climate scientist and social anthropologist whose work moves between forest worlds and global debates on climate, health, and the future. Raised between the Atlantic and Amazon forests, she has been working with Indigenous peoples in the Amazon and beyond since 2005, learning how cosmologies, ritual life, and shamanic teachings carry ethical knowledge about healing and co-creating with ancestral beings. A central thread of her work is understanding ancestral intelligence through Indigenous perspectives and how this intelligence can help guide societies through breakdown and toward more responsible futures. She is the author of Chanting Spring and an Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Exeter.
She collaborates with the Yorenka Tasorentsi Institute and the Runyn Pupykary Yawanawa Institute to support the continuity of biocultural knowledge and defend Indigenous and nature rights related to traditional medicines and cultural appropriation. Based in Rome, she lives with her husband, three children, two cats and different plants.
Not only a literary reflection, but also an action to support the worlds from which this knowledge emerges
Chanting Spring is connected to a broader initiative:, “Troca de Saberes” – the Ancestral Knowledge Sharing Gathering: an Indigenous-led, women-led gathering dedicated to the
sharing and preservation of ancestral medicines, knowledge and practices.
As part of the book’s commitment to reciprocity, all proceeds from book sales until the next Troca de Saberes will go toward supporting the gathering and creating an archive book of Indigenous medicines.
Chanting
Spring
Events
Spaces of Integration & more…
SEPTEMBER 25, 6-7PM CET
Beyond the Brain: Embodied Consciousness, Indigenous Medicines and Ancestral Intelligence
HARVARD COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE, US
SEPTEMBER 21-26
Re-membering to Belong in Disenchanted Times: Starvation of Being and Transitions to Ancestral Futures
HARVARD DIVINITY SCHOOL, CAMBRIDGE, US
Monday, September 28 • 12 PM – 1 PM
Remembering the Future: Ancestral Intelligence in a Time of Crisis —Fernanda Gebara x The Earth Elders
Pace University New York, NY