The Oracle is All of Us

"In times of hardship, distress, and pain, we need oracles," says healing-centered composer and musical researcher Molly Sturges, who is also staff at the Bakken Center. "They are guides who help us navigate challenges and traumas of all kinds by revealing insights and wisdom."

Humans have turned to oracular knowledge for guidance for thousands of years. The Oracle of Delphi, for example, was the most important shrine in ancient Greece. People visited the site from all over to have their questions about the future answered by the Pythia, the priestess of Apollo.

Other forms of oracular wisdom include the I Ching, Norse runes, and the reading of coca leaves in Peruvian shamanism. 

"Oracles may be people but could also be trees, animals, and anything depending upon how we perceive and relate to it," Sturges says. "We all have access to deep wisdom within, between, and around us."

Sturges' project, Waking the Oracle, is an immersive arts-based experience blending music, creative expression, storytelling, and science. "Waking the Oracle experiences are designed to raise awareness, mutual understanding, and ultimately enhance personal and community well-being," explains Mary Jo Kreitzer, PhD, RN, FAAN, Founder and Director of the Bakken Center.

While Sturges conceived and created Waking the Oracle at George Washington University in 2019, “it’s a culmination of lessons I've learned working at the crossroads of music, participatory arts, healing and health, community organizing, spirituality, and science for nearly 30 years," she says.

"Over time, whether working in hospice, detention centers, with intergenerational community groups, or in research settings, I have learned quite a bit about how we can personally and collectively work with the pain within ourselves and in the world around us to grow, learn, heal, and evolve," Sturges says.

Exploring the Sound of Reciprocity

Autumn Tree Whispers: An Immersive Sound & Poetry Meditation for Resting and De-Stressing was an hour-long Waking the Oracle pop-up experience held at the University of Minnesota in October 2023. 

 "The oracle is an ancient recipe – consisting of listening to ourselves, each other, and the Earth – while coming into spaces of creativity and reflection," Sturges says, "There's immense power in it." 

The unique artistic "soup" allowed participants to explore live and recorded sound compositions inspired by trees. "We're able to live because of trees. Inhaling and exhaling — we breathe with them in a constant cycle of give and take," Sturges says. "Many of us have forgotten this fundamental relationship."

The tree sounds blended with poems to create a unique meditation designed to engage participants in a special reflection for resting and de-stressing.

"I expected to have a guided meditation and then time for performers to share their poetry," says attendee Ricki Williams, Public Engagement and Learning Coordinator at the Weisman Art Museum. "I didn't know the poetry would be a part of the soundscape of the sound bath.”

“I also did not expect the sound bath to have live instrumentation and vocalization,” Williams says. "I was surprised by how beautiful the room was and how many people were collectively finding their own versions of calm," Williams adds.

In addition to relieving stress, research shows that arts-based, immersive environments are a powerful antidote to loneliness.

"Art can open space so people can feel expressivity and agency," Sturges explains. "When there are participatory elements that bring art to life, the discovery of self and one another, and empathy occurs."

That's important because social connection is an essential social determinant of health. Insufficient social connection increases the risk of heart disease, stroke, and dementia. 

Social isolation significantly impacts community well-being, affecting resilience and safety, economic prosperity, and representative government.

"What we seem to lack now more than ever before is the connection to community and each other," Sue Nankivell, Director of Business Development and Community Relations at the Bakken Center. Nankivell's team, including Molly Buss and Amy Jensen, produced the event. 

Public health experts are also sounding the alarm about a growing epidemic of loneliness and isolation in the United States. Approximately half of U.S. adults report experiencing loneliness, with some of the highest rates among young adults.

"This event was open to the University community, and we invited students, faculty, and staff through various channels," explains Nankivell. "For example, we invited the University's Diversity Community of Practice members to join us."

"We would have loved to have the entire campus join us, but the space only comfortably holds thirty participants, and we couldn't accommodate all who were interested in participating," she says. 

While the Center regularly connects people through virtual programming, the Waking the Oracle pop-up created a uniquely immersive, intimate experience that wasn't conducive to a virtual format. "For this same reason, it was not recorded, and we did not take pictures of participants," Nankivell says.

The Power of Art and Science

It was an opportunity to collaborate with University of Minnesota professor Hubert Lim, PhD, in his lab focusing on sound, music, neuromodulation, and healing that brought Sturges to Minnesota, where she is currently an artist in residence at the University of Minnesota School of Music.

"After I arrived, I met Mary Jo Kreitzer and the team, who have been doing amazing work for decades," Sturges explains. "We decided to start working together, and Waking the Oracle ended up being one of the initiatives that has seemed to really fit." 

The relationship between the science and the arts has always been really important (at the University of Minnesota)," Sturges says. 

"For decades, the Bakken Center has offered academic courses that focus on music, the creative arts, and healing," Kreitzer adds. 

"Courses have drawn students from many academic disciplines interested in ways to support health, healing, and well-being beyond conventional care," she says. "Waking the Oracle events are a fantastic way to engage the broader community — beyond academic courses."

The unique partnership also includes Immergent, a community-based organization with a rich history of creating interactive, intergenerational music and artistic experiences that help people connect and heal.  

"Immergent is a group of artists and change agents who share the Bakken Center's concern around planetary health and our vision of advancing health and well-being within people, organizations, and communities," Kreitzer notes.

"Our goal in collaborating with Immergent is to leverage our strengths to learn from each other and to advance the emerging field of the neuro arts collectively," she says.  

Neuroarts is a transdisciplinary study of how the arts and aesthetic experiences measurably change the human body, brain, and behavior. It seeks to understand how this knowledge can be translated into practices that advance wellbeing.

"Through research, we now know empirically what we have known intuitively — that the arts contribute to preventing, managing, and recovering from health challenges, enhancing well-being, and building community," Kreitzer says.

"It was wonderful to take time in the middle of my work day to reconnect with the earth around me, connect with my breath, and be affirmed in my light," Williams says. "This event encouraged me to take more intentional breaths and find other ways to connect with people on campus who are looking for the same space in their lives.

"Oracle shows us that we can meet what's present in our world, including all the pain and trauma, and process and integrate it," Sturges says. "It shows us that we are whole; we have this wisdom," she says. "Instead of saying we need to do this work, it says we're already doing it together."

Waking the Oracle is more than an initiaitive; it's a collective journey of healing and growth. Your support amplifies its positive ripple effect. To learn more, contact Virginia Kaczmarek at [email protected] or make a contribution to the 'Arts, Healing, and Wellbeing Fund.