Our Yearly Divination begins on the Winter Solstice which leads into the solar New Year and soon into the Lunar New Year which is approaching. Our Yearly Divination tells us a great deal on multiple levels, some are personal and others are communal and definitely global. It is a year of the "Egg and the Snake" and a year of issues of Disrespect of Mother Earth coming to a head. We will continue to witness an increasing response from the Misterios, Mpungos, Cemis, or Forces and Phenomenon of Life/ Death who are responding more and more strongly to the abuse and misuse of the Blessings of Mother Earth (Earth's Resources). It is a year to seek Consciousness and Awareness rather than to live in the complacency of ignorance, denial or fantasy. It is also a year to put into action those "plans of action" that have been collecting dust! These plans of action do need to address the reality of Earth Changes and the reality of the breakdown between the relationship of the Living (Two-leggeds) with the Dead and the breakdown between the relationship of the Living (Two-leggeds) with the Living (Life, Earth). Ceremonies and rituals need to be bringing forth real solutions and not to be blind repetitions of empty fantastical rituals. It is a year to look into the mirror with truthfulness and take action.
Earth Changes are undeniably upon us, and as this arctic cold sweeps through our homes and lives, it serves as a serious reminder from the Misterios that the time for taking Mother Earth for granted has passed. Simultaneously, extreme heat is scorching other places upon the Earth, such as Australia. In our home we prefer the term "Earth Changes" rather than "global warming" as the actual experience of this phenomenon is of changes, extremes, unpredictable seasons and increasingly strong storms. This particular deep freeze is termed an "arctic vortex" however how can we understand this on a more profound level and what message does it bring to those who are seeking a greater awareness and consciousness?
The interesting interview below addresses various issues, however the video in it showing the global jet stream as seen from beyond the Earth is of particular interest.
Weather Whiplash: As Polar Vortex Brings Deep Freeze, Is Extreme Weather Linked to Climate Change?
The jet stream is a current of high winds very high above our heads that encircles the Earth. This current of winds is very strong and powerful and holds the weather patterns in balance so that we have fairly predictable weather patterns. The video shows the movement of the jet stream and how it holds the cold weather in the poles, protecting us from experiencing extreme cold. However the video also shows how the jet stream is becoming more and more erratic and is twisting and turning more deeply. This arctic vortex is a deep twist in the jet stream's motion. It is clear from the video that the jet stream can be seen as a SNAKE who is encircling the Earth. The erratic movement of the Snake is like an angry snake whipping its tail around.
We know that traditionally our people had many powerful understandings of the snake and egg, and globally the snake is a powerful symbol of the force of Life. The snake is particularly important to the Ayahuasquero and within Cohoba ritual.
From our Divination we know that the snake is bringing a year of raw energy that will shake apart weak foundations, destroy complacency and denial, reveal hidden truths and unlock energies that have been in potential forms to transform into kinetic forms. This shaking and rocking will reverberate up and down the Ancestral Trees and be felt from the Physical World into the Ancestral World and from the Ancestral World into the Physical World.
As the fabric between the Living and the Dead continues to fall apart due to lack of respect and lack of nourishment and lack of alignment between the Living and the Dead, we continue to see a breakdown within our Spiritual Communities and we continue to see the dilution and prostitution of Ancestral practices. This is nothing new, as this breakdown was introduced into our homelands 500 years ago, however it does continue to progress like a chronic disease. Urbanization has had a devastating impact upon our peoples, and the disconnection from the Earth herself is creating a psychological alienation within the people and within the Spirituality and Spiritual Practices of the People. Although there has been a "Resurgence" among the Taino, this has also created a great deal of inaccurate representations of our Traditions, especially through the internet by those who are uninterested in historical accuracy, who have no spiritual principles or integrity, and those who harbor dangerous fantasies concerning our Ancestors.
One of the critical issues that are arising this year is "Death", the approach and handling of "Death" within our Families and Communities. While our Traditions are deeply rooted in the relationship with the Dead, and we are commonly termed "Muerteros", this relationship stops short when it comes to Death as experienced in the immediate Community and Family. There is a greater comfortability in working with the bone than with the flesh becoming bone, and many of our people conduct themselves as if they are never going to face Death, and the Raw Justice of Death. There are those mis-named "elders, leaders, healers" of our Communities who are consciously creating and distributing fantastical lies concerning our Ancestral Traditions that are taken by those who are ignorant as fact. They are taking modern pop-psychology concepts and applying them to our Ancient Stories in disgusting perversions of our Traditions. However the Life we Lead, leads directly to the Justice of Death, and the conscious propagation of fantasies and lies about our Ancestral Traditions can only lead to to a spiritual abyss at the moment of Death. Our Traditions are not "games" or "play acting", our Traditions are serious, relevant and profound processes that ensure harmony and healthy relationships between the Living and Life and the Living and the Dead.
Above all the reading of this year reminds us that there are consequences to every choice or path we take in life. There are unescapable Ancestral consequences and then there are the consequences we create for ourselves and our Future Generations. In ignorance and under desperate conditions, many of these choices were forced upon us. Through spiritual-mental warfare many of our Ancestors found themselves making harmful choices that have affected the generations into the future. However, to consciously chose to follow and empower a fantasy and distortion is a disgusting betrayal of our Bakulu and Ancient Ancestors as well as a betrayal of the recently "departed." To use our Spiritual Traditions as an "ego trip", to obtain "power over", to utilize "fear tactics of control", to empower degenerate behavior, will create consequences that cannot be avoided or placated. Emerging from this same principle, we see that to continue to abuse our Mother Earth, and to harbor fantasies, illusions, denial and endless rationalizations and excuses regarding the nature of our relationships to her, is bringing us consequences that do not have a cure that lies in the domain of "science" but that lies fully in the domain of Spirituality which then can utilize those techniques and practices that are biologically, ecologically and socially harmonious to adapt to the Earth Changes that are unavoidable.
