Another important point to share is that we always make sure that the offerings that we give to the Misterios are in the spirit and energy of ABUNDANCE because that is what we are invoking from the Spirit (Thriving and Abundance) and those are energies desperately needed upon our Earth at this time. There is a tremendous amount of waste upon this earth, as well as malnourishment, we do not want to bring these energies into our spiritual offerings. We offer the best that we can with offerings that are both Traditional Taino offerings (Yucca) as well as what we grow in our gardens (much of which is also Indigenous to this continent), such as potatoes, squash, amaranth, peppers, tomatoes, and fruits.
The WEST spoke of the Ancestors and the Sun, bringing to our attention THRESHOLDS which include doorways including the doorway of DEATH which leads to the world of the Ancestors. We do know that at this time the Sun is going through some intense and unexplainable changes, and it is the Sun that drives the Cycles of the Seasons. We are utterly reliant on the Sun to be gentle with us and maintain our climates at temperature ranges that can sustain life. The Misterio is speaking strongly of not taking these Seasonal Cycles for granted, and the Ancestors are bringing their voices to this concern as well. We are experiencing extremes in our climate that are only going to escalate. The Ancestors are also reminding us to live our lives taking into consideration that one day we will pass through that transition to Death, because very often people today live in a deep denial of this inevitability.
In the direction of the North, the Misterio speaks of the Oldness of the Mountains, of the Ancestral Elders, and of Elders, and also of "Hot Winds". The Ancestors and the Old Grandfather of the Mountain are cautioning us concerning these "Hot Winds" and how these hot winds can affect our Mental Bodies. Hot Winds can be seen as diseased winds in a literal sense, infectious disease, viruses, (natural or man made). Hot Winds can also be seen as the mental diseases of denial, of obsession with materialism, of mis-information or dis-information, and of confusion, doubt and indecision. We are at a time when the toxicity directed at our mental bodies is very intense, especially as much of it is "dressed up" as something positive. Take for example "new age spirituality" which on the surface appears to be positive (if not a little passive). When we dig to the root of this new age spirituality we find deeply poisonous and deranged theories on white racial supremacy and yet again the stealing of Indigenous symbols and concepts and the total corruptions of them. To understand the true ugliness and evil of new age spirituality we have to look at its founders and practitioners (check out Blavatsky and her followers, Thule Society, and the Nazis). These are the kind of toxic "hot winds" which we are being bombarded with, in addition to the shear amount of nonsense being discussed by layers upon layers of highly educated "experts" and the people who listen to them, not to mention the obnoxious advertising that assaults us from 360 degrees, dawn to dusk.
Finally the East and South spoke with one voice, emphasizing the Indigenous Traditions of the Earth which have sustained Human Communities for hundreds of thousands of years, but which today are either isolated, fragmented or outlawed. The Misterio emphasized the need to return to these Traditions which are Rooted in Mother Earth, her Cycles, her Plants, her Animals and the Mysteries of Birth and Death. The Root of a Healthy Experience is Indigenous Tradition, because the facts are that the Ancestors did understand Life, and understood the need for restraint in our behavior, the need to consider the needs of ALL in order to ensure the continued long term fulfillment of our individual needs.
Looking at these Divinations as a whole we see that the Ancestors are calling strongly for a regaining of our "senses", especially of our "minds" and the redirecting of our energies back towards the Roots that truly feed life, rather than the wasting of our energies within a global system built upon the exploitation of Earth and all her Peoples. As People who have the opportunity to be able to obtain resources, who are able to grow food upon the Earth, we are very much responsible for consciously directing that opportunity and focusing on what is truly important which is Mother Earth, the Spirit, the Ancestors, the Misterios, and our interrelation and reconciliation with them all.
Continuing with our Divinations we did readings in every direction in order to understand more profoundly the Changes taking place on Mother Earth.
The West spoke about the Diversity of Animal Life upon the planet and the psychological breakdown that western society has when it comes to relating to the Web of Life. We can track the root of western society's Fear of the Natural World and attempts to dominate, control and exploit "Her" to european christianity, which explicitly taught the people that "Nature" was malevolent and filled with demons to be feared. This created a deep mental disease among the european christians which they brought through imperialism and colonialism and now fascism to the rest of us. There is a mental allocation of all animals, birds, insects, even bacteria to "good or bad" status in the western mind. "Good" gets tolerated under certain controlled conditions, "wars" are declared against the "bad". Most of science and technology has been developed to war against the "bad", be the "bad" certain animals, bugs, bacteria, environments, climates, or even people. The Natural world is considered only in terms of what it can be exploited for, examples are animal feed lots, chemical agriculture, and western medicine. The result continues to be a Massive Extinction of Species which in these Earth Changes we are facing means very real, very dangerous threats to human sustainability on our Mother Earth. Sadly one can enter any zoo and see Bird Species there that are extinct in the Wild. Clearly the Misterios are saying that the only way forward is to transform the "fear of the other" into an embracing of the Web of Life, with an approach of acknowledging the rights Animals, Plants and Even Insects and Bacteria have to Life and Coexistence upon this planet. When we step away from seeing things as "pests" or things to eradicate, we come to realize that something acting as a pest (for example an insect eating our crops) is actually giving us critical information concerning the lack of Health of our Plants and/or the lack of Diversity within our Gardens, just as "Disease" is giving us critical information about lack of harmony and balance in our physical-emotional-mental-spiritual bodies.
The North spoke, continuing and deepening on this understanding, turning to the developments in agriculture made by the Indigenous Nations of this Continent. These Indigenous Nations utilized intensive gardening techniques and a Spiritual Approach to Cultivation that enabled our Ancestors to develop all kinds of foods, materials and medicines that allowed the development of modern "agriculture". The Misterio spoke of potatoes, corn, cotton, tobacco, rubber, beans, squash, pumpkin, tonka beans, tomatoes, chocolate, peanuts, strawberries, pineapples, avocadoes, sunchokes, yucca, quinine, maple syrup, chicle, vanilla, cashews, peppers, and coca- all of which were developed by Indigenous People. Western civilization utilized these developments to enrich the elite of europe and satisfy the appetites of europeans, refusing to give credit to the the Indigenous People who developed the knowledge of these plants. Even today with a renewed interest in plant medicines (which is positive) there is a refusal to acknowledge the Indigenous People behind the knowledge, much less reimburse them for their thousands of YEARS of research put into this knowledge. By focusing in on just a few of these products we can see how western society took positive developments and turned them into systems of exploitation of Earth and People...
Cotton: A wonderful crop that produces soft fiber, easily made into clothing that does not itch (unlike wool), this was eagerly embraced by european society when it became easily available. However, this cotton was produced on plantations utilizing slave labor... In 1850, cotton had become the number one cash crop of the US south,
a full 75% of slaves (1.8 million) were exploited in order to make this cotton the cheap fiber it became. The way the plantations grew the cotton meant that it depleted the topsoil of the South and created a desire for more land on which to cultivate cotton, which fueled the continued stealing of Indigenous Lands. Cotton today continues to be an industry exploiting virtual or actual slave labor from the field to the mill to the clothing sweat shops. Cotton also is a crop which although it is only grown on 3-5% of the worlds cultivated land, uses 10% of the pesticides and 25% of the insecticides, making it a very toxic fiber. This wonderful development (cotton) was turned into a product produced through violence, intimidation, and misery.
Corn: Corn (Maize) is an amazing agricultural feat by Ancient Indigenous People of the South. It is still unclear how exactly the breeding of modern day corn occurred. Corn became a major product of this continent and secured great wealth into the hands of a small minority of europeans. Corn was a staple of Indigenous diets, and was bred in many colors and adapted to many different regions. We are still blessed to be able to grow various Indigenous strains of corn in our gardens. However corn is yet another Sacred Crop that has been perverted and abused. Today we see various abuses of corn, from its use in feedlots for animals (who should be grazing on pasture), to its use to make high fructose corn syrup- destroyer of health. Indigenous People chewed corn, which when combined with saliva became a sweetener, but this was very different from the synthetically processed corn syrup plaguing our health today. It has even become apparent that the colony collapse disorder devastating the bee population today is partially associated with the high fructose corn syrup that commercial (and many private) bee producers feed their bees during the winter. Corn syrup has been shown to stimulate, or suppress different genes in the bees than honey, and has been shown to reduce their immunity, and to make them more susceptible to pesticides. This combined with the use of commercial bees to pollenate single crops, rather than diverse crops, is thought to lead to colony collapse disorder. Finally corn is one of the most genetically modified crops in the world, adding to its negative effects on our health and food supply.
Chocolate: Tree of the Gods to the Ancient Civilizations of Central and South, cultivated by Olmec, then Maya, then Aztec, revered, utilized as "money" and for Spiritual Ceremonies. This bean was unheard of in Europe until Hernandez Cortes established the first evil plantation to cultivate Cacao (after murdering the emperor Montezuma who first introduced him to Cacao), and imported cacao beans to Spain. The Spanish King put the Cacao in the hands of Monks who created additional recipes with which to prepare it. It became a guarded secret of Spanish royalty and the spanish church, until other regimes (Dutch and French) also created plantations in the Caribbean and Brazil and Indonesia. Still chocolate was expensive and therefore was food only for european aristocracy. It is said that Charles II sipped chocolate while watching the Inquisition murder its victims. Early 1800s chocolate as a drink became cheaper and available to the european and american masses. At this time slave ships would come across the Ocean bringing African Slaves to work on these plantations and returning to europe with cargos filled with Cacao beans and other crops. Time has passed, however the vast majority of chocolate consumed in the western world (whose appetite for chocolate ranges from US-12 lbs/ year to Swiss 22 lbs/ year (2004 figures)) continues to come from slave labor, especially from child slave labor and torture of children, most significantly in West Africa (especially Cote d'Ivoire). Even those children being "paid" are exposed to pesticides and given machetes to work with (very dangerous for children). The average cacao farmer earns LESS per year than the average Westerner spends per year on chocolate, and cannot afford to purchase chocolate, being very unlikely to ever have tasted it. This is what happens when a Sacred Food is perverted. 500 years have passed and effectively nothing has changed in this industry. It is significant to recall that Montezuma greeted Cortes with open arms and warm hospitality, presenting him with chocolate drink in a golden cup, thinking that Cortes was an individual with honor, however Cortes only saw both chocolate and gold through the demented eyes of ultra gluttony, and Montezuma was betrayed and his son kidnapped and taken to Spain. Chocolate is very popular today, and is associated with all kinds of positive and lustful associations. While chocolate was considered an aphrodisiac by Montezuma, it was perverted by europeans (to this day) to be associated more with prostitution energies.
These are just three examples of Sacred Food Developments of Ancient Indigenous Culture that have become tools of empire, exploitation and oppression. What the Misterio is calling forth is a returning to a healthy, loving and respectful cultivation of these and the many other wonderful developments that have come out of Ancient Cultures of this Continent. The Misterio is also making the point that Blessings (such as Corn, Chocolate, Cotton, Tobacco etc) can turn into global Curses in the hands of maniacs and gluttons.
The East spoke clearly of the WEB OF LIFE and called for a return to Indigenous understanding and approach to Life and Earth, which is a radically different way of thinking, knowing and living. Western science has long looked down its long nose at Indigenous Mythology, thinking of Myths as humorous stories for "naive" populations. This arrogant view is perpetrated unfortunately among some of our own (Taino) with obscene renditions of our Creation Myths. However it has come to the attention of various westerners that Indigenous Mythologies are actually Scientific Archives, holding all kinds of information pertaining to Evolution, Geology, Biology, Genetics, and the Story of Peoples movements and developments upon the Earth. Western science tries to portray itself as "rational and objective" however, it, like any philosophy or science, is subjective due to its development from a particular perspective. It attempts to put down and undermine all other perspectives on the Earth, however the facts have become clear that western science lags far behind Indigenous Science. The Misterio made it clear that there is a direct dependence that Humanity has on the health of Mother Earth, humanity is not the exception in the Web of Life, is not the weaver of the Web of Life, but is an expression and contributor to (or we have seen destroyer of) the Web of Life. We need to regain our senses and return to the central focus and purpose of our lives which is Spiritual Growth, Creative Expression, Harmonious Evolution, the respectful use of resources, and the pursuit of wisdom rather than obsession and appetite for consumption of material goods at the cost to all Life.
South: Continuing on these understandings the Misterios in the South spoke further of Indigenous ways of Thinking, Indigenous Philosophy if you will. Indigenous Stories (termed Myths, Legends etc) are descriptive narratives concerning Natural Phenomenon, Sources of Life, People, Language, Migrations, Cultures (Traditions), the movement and evolution of People through time and space. Indigenous Understanding does not separate and draw convenient lines through stages of development, as Indigenous Understanding grows like a Root of a Tree, deep to its Source. Indigenous Traditions recognizes the organic growth of Life, not the separation and sterilization of Life. There is no intrinsic hierarchy among Traditions, and there is no "rational or logical" basis to the widely held assumption that western science is more accurate and advanced than Indigenous science.
The Earth Changes that we are facing REQUIRE us to return to our Traditions and Roots, and if we lack a Tradition or Root, it requires us to humbly seek a Tradition and Root that is grounded in love, respect and understanding of Mother Earth. It requires a return to Indigenous Agricultural Methods (modern day "permaculture" utilizes many of these methods, but unfortunately does not alway give credit to the Indigenous Root of the method). The Earth Changes require us to come to a more holistic view of the Universe that we find ourselves in, and give acknowledgement that the animals, plants, and even insects and bacteria also have a right to life upon this planet. We need to re-examine what is "beneficial" and what is "bad", we need to re-examine what we consider "sweet and bitter", and we need to find a way to overcome the corruption and perversion of the amazing Indigenous Knowledge that has been stolen and utilized to make a minority wealthy beyond imagination. Mother Earth is telling us clearly that the ABUSE CANNOT CONTINUE.... and is giving us very clear Directions on how to find our way "Home"!
To be Continued....
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