STOLEN ANCESTORS”

"STOLEN ANCESTORS”

A couple weeks ago there was a discussion that took place during our Koki Warrior Circle Teaching Weekend which triggered a thought and insight within my Mind and Spirit and inspired this article.

There are several points I want to cover:

Christianity’s theft of our Ancestors.

The imposter Eguns (Ancestors) they put in the place of Our Ancestors.

The incarceration of the burial process, “taking the bones out of the Bohio”.

The so called “founding fathers” of this country including those whose mugs are found on paper money.

As Muerteros, and as Paleros and Paleras, the subject of Ancestors is all important, as is the subject of their bones via which their Spirit is continued to be present with us. The health and vitality of the Ancestral Tree and of the immediate Ancestors is of vital importance to the Living. And that concern and love for the Ancestors extends in a stream through to the Living descendants, Our Children. In our interrelation with our children we can understand the connection, Love and utter devotion that is the very essence of our Ancestral Tree.

For a moment we can seek to envision the health of the Ancestral tree before colonization, or we can look deeper and envision it before ‘chrisitianity’ because not only was christianity an alien doctrine but it was also a direct action of division of the Ancestral Trees, it created division between the Living and the Dead. In the division it created (often forcibly) between the Living and the Dead, all manner of sickness, self-alienation, false identification, mental and emotional sicknesses, spiritual sickness, weaknesses, disturbances, and degeneration was able to take root. Within the process of de-indoctrination, (freeing ourselves from mental slavery) it is essential to recognize the true magnitude of the division and theft that christianity brought to the People of the Earth.

In envisioning a Healthy Ancestral Tree, we can recognize that the strength, clarity, and vitality of the Living is a living expression of the strength, clarity and vitality of the Tree. Relationships with Family and Community did not end at death but continued with even greater depth and love. Ancestors were not forgotten, tossed to the side, counted out of the equation but were instrumental in council and actions by the Living. An individual who is strong inside of his or her healthy Ancestral tree cannot be dismantled, and cannot be fooled into various alien identities.

Christianity’s theft of our Ancestors

We all know of christianity’s legacy of bloodshed and murder, and this violence was an integral part of its penetration into Indigenous Cultures world wide. A certain atmosphere of fear and ugliness were the forerunners to the later spread of the fantastical stories of christianity bearing beautific smiles of so called “peace and love” with promises of “heaven” upon their lips, and murmurs of “hell” at the slightest sign of resistance or independent thought. We all know this ugly story and the devastation it has and continues to create around the World. We know that Christianity is intricately involved in colonialism and we have a situation now that many people simultaneously identify as “Indigenous” or of practicing an “Indigenous Spirituality or Way of Life” yet simultaneously are actively christian (even catholic) or while not identifying as “christian” continue to see the world through the lenses and prejudices of christianity.

Halloween was originally a pagan “European” festival which involved a basic belief that the Spirits and ghosts (ancestors) came back to the world of the Living for a “visit” on November 1, and they needed to be addressed and placated at this time. (A basic conception of Ancestor “worship”). THEN, Pope Gregory III and Pope Gregory IV tried to christianize the day by turning it into All Saints Day around about the 9th century.

This is very interesting and a seemingly small “so called evolution” of the festival... what may seem like a small shift (Spirits/ Ghosts to Saints) is in fact a MAJOR SHIFT taking the consciousness and attention of the People away from Ancestors and focusing it onto “ancestors” (some real individuals and some fictitious) who are within the DOMAIN of the church. THEFT OF THE ANCESTRAL TREE AND REPLACEMENT WITH ANCESTORS AND DEMONS OF THE CHURCH.

The imposter Eguns (Ancestors) they put in the place of Our Ancestors.

Who are these Egun (Ancestors) that christianity forcibly and by mental, emotional and spiritual trickery, use to divide the Living from their Dead? The most famous would be Jesus, Mary and the “Holy Ghost”, three “fictitious” characters implemented in the most extensive destruction of family trees and the orphaning of the Living that has ever occurred. We have to look carefully at the “erasing” of the identity of FATHER, meaning that this ancestor “jesus” did not have a human male ancestor himself. He did indeed allegedly have a mother, Mary, but she was a virgin mother who had never engaged the ceremony (tratado) of unification with the male principle within a man, and the subsequent ceremony of conception (to look at it in spiritual terms). This automatically takes these “characters” out of the realm of real ANCESTORS and into the realm of “something else” or indeed a “phenomenon” because remember that jesus and mary are described as being “human”. Among the Living this represents DIVISION of FAMILY, Mother and Son are separated from Father, father is in fact negated. Among the Ancestors this is a direct theft of an Individual’s true sacred Mother and Father (parents, grandparents) and imposition of imposter “foster” parents (church and its saints/ demons). Who exactly is this ‘holy ghost’ ? What entity, what spiritual entity, and what is “his” objective/ agenda and how is the church using him? Food for thought.

In addition to these three “ancestors” there are a plethora of various ‘saints’ some were real individuals associated with the church, some are totally fictitious, many of these saints were martyrs and died horrible deaths, suffered abuse (ie. died in pain, confusion and torture) or were perpetrators of said abuse or of self-abuse, masochism (ie. Loyola). These “ancestors” are the imposters forced upon Indigenous People and used to push the rightful Ancestors out of the consciousness and culture of the People.

Reflecting back to the obsession of Las Casas of getting “Souls” for the church, we can see that he was in the business of CAPTURING Souls (preferably through their “consent”) for the church to be under the domain of ‘jesus’. Las Casas writes in a legalese type style showing a full awareness of the “contract” he is writing and “case” he is arguing. Las Casas also wrote about killing the Cemi in the heart, in other words eliminating the Ancestors from the Heart.

The incarceration of the burial process, “taking the bones out of the Bohio”

Not only was there a process world wide of attempting to kill the Cemi (Spirit/ Ancestor/ Mpungo/ Misterio/ etc) in the Heart of the Living, but also there was and continues to be the systematic repression and attempted demonization and slandering of Indigenous Ceremony in general and in particular any Ceremony associated with funerary rites, Ancestors, Ancestor possession, Divination and so on. Bones of Ancestors are today literally incarcerated in walled, gated graveyards and within concrete boxes, bodies are taken to morgues and families function only to pay the bill and show up at the funeral. Bodies are poisoned with various noxious chemicals which interfere spiritually in the process of decay and recognition which takes place during the natural process of Death. Or, bodies are burnt and the ‘ashes’ are very often scattered leaving no ‘remains’ to be found or focused upon. Bodies are depersonalized and often humiliated during this process. And of course as we know older Cemeteries or burial grounds are often built upon or looted. Bodies are also incarcerated and “displayed” in museums. Very often Ancestors are oceans away from their Living, and the Living are unable to even visit the graves, ancestral bones are sometimes scattered world wide. Sometimes Ancestors are buried nearby but are forgotten days after their passing, ignored by the Living. Even if the Living still retain the consciousness of interrelation with Ancestors access to the Ancestors are severely restricted and traditional ceremony with those Ancestors is literally prohibited. The assault upon the Bones of the Ancestors continues to the present and the attack upon the Cemi of the Heart simultaneously continues. By taking the Bones out of the Bohio and the Burial Grounds out of the Heart of the Family and Community the church has disempowered the Ancestral Trees of the Living and taken that power for themselves with each “soul” they “commit” to jesus.

The so called “founding fathers” of this country including those whose mugs are found on paper money.

The so called founding fathers of this ‘nation’ are by all accounts 100% christian, and to this day political statements made by american politicians often contain references to christianity and “god”. This is obviously significant to this discussion in terms of understanding this whole theft of the Ancestors. Additionally these ‘founding fathers’ and their subsequent ‘descendants’ are featured on the paper money that we use everyday. Their faces are given more importance and more power within families than the Family’s rightful Ancestors. By far more time and energy is put towards getting hold of these paper faces than towards interrelating with the rightful Ancestors of the home. Relationships form and break up due to them, murders are committed due to them, lives are destroyed and fantasies are built upon them. Every time they move from hand to hand they empower and enrich those who are actually working with these Egun (Ancestors). More than even this, people are indoctrinated to actually say “our” founding fathers. But these founding fathers and their ‘descendants’ were slave owners, colonizers, alcoholics, many were (and are) mentally ill, they were and continue to be perpetrators and financiers of war and genocide, exploitation and destruction of natural resources, and involved directly in the impoverishment of the People. None of this is “coincidental”. When the Ancestors are stolen, the whole tree begins to disintegrate, and inevitably the Living become disempowered at all levels, physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual, perfect candidates for control, bullying and manipulation. Standing in a fragmented identity due to this loyalty to imposter Egun allows the individual to be given any carrot, any propaganda, easily “herded” in whatever direction desired.

It is vital on all levels to claim once again our Rightful Ancestors, no matter who they may be, and begin to bring health, vitality and harmony back to our Ancestral Trees, for the benefits of our Families, most especially our Children, so that we may no longer “lose” our loved ones when they “pass”, so that all the love and teaching that is expressed among families and communities is not disconnected and discontinued upon “death”. The recovery of one’s true identity is totally contingent upon the recovery of one’s Ancestors. Communication with the Dead must be cultivated, and most definitely appreciated by those who do have methods to communicate with the Dead in clear and precise ways. It is contingent upon the Living to bring the Bones back to the Bohio, cultivate once again the Cemi within the Heart and embrace once again the Ancestral Tree.

(By Kao)