Chloe Slattery on Creating & Connecting With Old Cultures and Nature

Chloe is the artist behind The Mojo Mecca, an expansive and inspiring media hub filled with practical tools, items and insights that help us tap into our beauty, gratitude, artistry and sovereignty. Branches of her work include poetry, photography, mentoring sessions, and, of course, her podcast.

Connect with Chloe at @TheMojoMecca on Instagram, or on her personal page @MojoMinx.

I'd love to start by jumping back in time to when you were a child. Would you say your interests today stem from this time of your life?

Yes, I definitely still connect to the things I was interested in as a child. I grew up on the beach and would swim before/after school a lot. I'm a total water baby to this day. I love the ocean. I also grew up dancing, and explored many different styles (jazz, tap, hip hop, acrobats, musical theatre). So, I feel like I've always carried this love of creative expression and performances. I love to move my body! When I travel, especially in Bali, I love doing Ecstatic Dance (free-flow movement) - it's a total therapeutic release.

I've always been connected to art too. In high school, I loved literature, art, and media classes, so it's no surprise that I've now combined these natural inclinations and inspirations into a project of my own where I can share/express/create from all of them freely.

I really believe we all come into this world with certain blueprints, certain artistic gifts, which we're drawn to and practice from a young age, when we're more connected to our essence.

Do you remember any of your early creations?

As I mentioned, I loved art class in school - I particularly remember the medium of sculpture enthralling me. I've also always been a great writer and enjoyed the writing process—yes even essays! I love piecing together words in a way that is inspiring and expansive.

When school ended, I would sketch and doodle things, particularly using fine-liner pens to create intricate patterns/designs/elements. It's a form of meditation for me, and I continue to create art in that way today.

Do you find yourself identifying more deeply with one medium over another?

Definitely the intricate fine-liner work. It feels like my most natural creative flow in terms of visual art.

And then there's the media! I love video, photography and audio creation. If I had to chose between those, I'd say video, as I love the impact a video interview can have in engaging people. But podcasts are awesome as people can be listening, engaging and absorbing the information wherever they are. I love their accessibility. So, totally different mediums for different moments! I follow inspiration. Right now i'm feeling most inspired to keep building my YouTube channel and creating video interviews / content!

I'm incredibly curious how your interests in old cultures and nature developed. What is it about these that you think draws you in so much?

As for nature, I think we all have an innate love for the natural world, especially if we've grown up immersed in some aspect of it (the beach/mountains/forests/bush). This I have recognised and expanded my love for more as I grew into adulthood and observed the ways that a lack of a connection with nature can impact humans, by way of numbness or dis-ease or mental patterns that aren't necessarily helpful. For me, I know from direct experience that being in a natural environment naturally brings the mind more quietness and the body more ease, too. We feel our nervous system relaxing and our breath deepening.

All of this was more innate to older cultures, pre-industrialization. It didn't need to even be spoken about, it was just a natural way of life to not take more than one needs, to be in energetic exchange and harmony with the animals/plants/resources on Earth, and with others too. There are many cultures that thrived like this, and many that still continue today - in certain parts of the Amazon, in the high Andes Mountains, and many other places where the industrialized culture has not infiltrated too much.

For me, it feels inspiring to look to these cultures as inspiration and hold their ways of ritual, ceremony and harmonious living as truth. Because they came from a place of just wanting to be and live in a good way.

I've lived in Peru and worked a lot with local medicines there in ceremony, which has impacted my world significantly. Also the Mexica/Native American cultures are ones I feel specifically resonant with and have experienced this through working with their traditional medicines and purification rituals too. So definitely ceremonial plant work has been a large part of my journey.

"Life is a ceremony."

— Chloe Slattery

I carry those beautiful experiences and remembrances with me daily, and they help me to remember that life is a ceremony and to continue to aim for harmony with the Earth in all choices I make. Easier said than done though! But I'm truly so grateful to be alive in this body on this beautiful planet, and really know and feel this love and reverence in the depths of my heart wherever I am.

Artwork by Luis Tamani

To be continued.

Cover Artwork: "Mother" By Victoria Topping