Toko-pa Turner had a deep yearning to belong beginning at an early age. At 14 years old, she ran away from what she describes as a volatile and violent home life. “I ended up living in the system and essentially not really having parents after that. And I think going through that kind of initiation meant that I didn’t have any of that external guidance in my life… it turned me towards my inner life,” she said during an interview on the For the Wild podcast.
She recalls having vivid dreams in that stage of life, which she said served as a guide in the absence of parents. This revelation would inspire her life’s work as an author and dreamworker who blends mystical Sufism with a Jungian approach to dream analysis.
Toko-pa is Ashkenazi Jewish and Polish on her mother’s side and British on her father’s side. Born on a farm in the south of England, she and her family immigrated to Montreal, where her maternal grandparents settled after surviving the Holocaust. She grew up in a Sufi spiritual community, which she describes as fundamentally nourishing amidst the turmoil of her youth. After a brief stint in the music business, Toko-pa returned to the mystical teachings of Sufism and the study of dreams in her late 20s. In 2018, she released the award-winning book “Belonging,” which explores exile and the search for belonging through the lens of dreams, mythology and nature.
Toko-pa Turner will participate on a panel entitled 𝙈𝙤𝙫𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝙀𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙚𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙏𝙤𝙬𝙖𝙧𝙙 𝘽𝙚𝙡𝙤𝙣𝙜𝙞𝙣𝙜 during the Festival of Faiths (Nov. 12-15, 2025, in Louisville, KY), where we will explore the theme of “Sacred Belonging.” Learn more, see the full lineup, and get your all-access pass: https://festivaloffaiths.org/