Ancestral Honoring Ceremony 2011

Working With Mother Earth!

Our Chicken Flock

 Back in October we got about 40 assorted large chicken and rooster chicks, who have grown rapidly through the winter, first protected from the cold in the basement under heat lamp and then in a coop.  Recently we built them a new chicken house utilizing some holistic principles and design.  The new coop has lots of light from windows, and lots of ventilation.  The floor is a dirt floor which allows a healthy culture of micro-organisms to develop in a deep litter system that has been shown to enhance chicken health.  We also have a small screened in area that will be replaced with a larger one that will hold kitchen and garden scraps that the chickens will make into compost.  Our chickens are much more than egg layers or meat producers, they are our garden partners and recycling partners!

 When we completed the larger chicken run, where the chickens could get out and stretch their wings and legs, scratch in the soil, look for bugs and eat greens, their joy was evident.  The roosters immediately began posturing with each other, fluffing up their neck feathers and dancing, and the chicken clucking showed how happy they all were.  As the weather warms these chickens will be instrumental in keeping pest levels down (as they love to eat bugs) and keeping our gardens clean, all the while giving us eggs that are far better than any from the market.  And when we do eat the majority of the roosters, we will be eating birds that lived a happy natural life, not birds that grew up in 10 weeks confined to cages in a building.

 In our new chicken coop we used many left over materials that we happened to have around our home, including doors and windows that we had salvaged.  The coop itself is cedar which is a much better material than the typical pressure treated lumber and plywood with all the chemical additives.  Chickens like to peck around and we wanted to make sure that they would not be pecking at any toxic materials that could then get passed on in their eggs and meat. 

Like any animal, when you have the opportunity to observe them over a period of time, you get to know their personalities and characteristics.  Children tend to love chickens, and our daughter was instrumental in building the coop and caring for the chickens.

 We also added the feature of nesting boxes that are accessible from the outside of the chicken house.  This allows us to quickly and easily gather eggs by simply lifting the lid up.  We put any dry material such as straw or leaves as bedding material both in the coop and in the nest box.  It is essential to keep a clean dry layer in both coop and nests for the health of the chickens.  Contrary to popular opinion, chicken coops should not smell, and the disgusting stench that emanates from battery chicken farms is certainly a big red flag.  While you may not want to sit down in your chicken coop, it should not be a smelly unpleasant experience to walk into. 
In the tradition of our Ancestors we seek to work in harmony and partnership with Mother Earth and all her Relations, our chickens are just another aspect of that.

Ancient Wisdom, Modern Solutions!

 Our Ancient Ancestors understood the wisdom of gardening using permanent or semi permanent "beds".  They utilized the Conuco, mounds and of course did not use plows or tillers that continually turned over and disrupted the Soil.  We do have some Conucos on the Land that we care for but what can be seen here is a different sort of Conuco, same concept, same benefits, but different application that suits the slope of the Land and our needs in a temperate climate.


All around rural areas we see fields being plowed, some of these fields are flat (which does minimize the damage done in terms of erosion) but most have a slope, and when it rains, streams of muddy water wash off the fields into the rivers bringing all the chemicals applied to the fields into the rivers and eventually into the oceans.  Since we are on a hill and have almost no flat areas, we use "swales" and raised beds (or elongated Conucos) that are formed "on contour".  Being "on contour" means that the pathways between them are level and catch the water that comes down the hill.  This water slowly sinks into these "clover walkways" and becomes available for the plants in the elongated Conucos to take in over a prolonged period of time.  There is a lot of attention these days given to catching rainwater off house roofs to be used in the garden, however we can take that concept to a much greater area through the use of the swales and Conucos.

 Very low impact, these beds do not require timbers, or other framing structures but involve a re-shaping of the natural hillside.  We also have here the challenge of rocky soil that does not have very much top soil (something that is not unusual, most gardeners are challenged with either very compacted soil that has been abused for many years, soil that is very high in clay or other soil challenges).  We created our elongated Conucos by layering manures, composts, straw, leaves and other beneficial substances such as wood ash from our fire, and other special things, including some Ceremonial ingredients.  Then we simply left the beds alone over the winter for the Natural Magic to take place, as they formed in place compost heaps.

 As the weather warms we checked the beds and found this beautiful rich soil, filled with worms (always a good sign), which has a beautiful soil structure (fluffy, easy to work with, easy for roots to penetrate).  This soil absorbs more water from the rains and retains more water for longer periods of time.  This soil is a solution for Earth Changes that can involve periods of either extreme rains or extreme droughts that are unpredictable and can devastate crops or require the use of huge amounts of precious water to be irrigated onto them.  This soil drains water better when there is "too much" rain and retains water better when there is "too little" rain.  These beds will never see the ravages of a plow or tiller and so will continue to form a microscopic world of wonder of Fungi, Micro-organisms and beneficial animals that will year to year allow our plants to thrive more and more.

 "Dirt" is seen by too many in this society as bad, negative, ugly and to be avoided, but there will come a day and there is here a day when people in general will need to once again come to appreciate and love the Soil as our Ancestors did.  An important point in this sharing is that we "did" relatively little and Mother Earth responded with so much.  We gathered up our bits and pieces of cardboard plus ones gathered from the local food co-op, layered them on the Earth then cleaned up our horse fields and put the manure on, raked some leaves, put them on, put more manure, put some straw on, and then watched.  We saw the rains fall, we saw the Sun shine, we saw the frost freeze the beds solid, we saw them thaw, we saw the snows fall, and now we see the result of all those elements combined.  


In many ways our journey in honoring the Spirit and the Ancestors through cultivating the love and caring for Mother Earth that they lived every day has involved more mental transformation than anything else.  We have been led by the Ancestors to discover so much, and so much of the wisdom has been to embrace creative thinking and the wisdom of the Ancestral agricultural ways.  In the photo below you can see the beautiful soil that has been formed in just one winter by working with Mother Earth rather than against her!

Winter Gardening and Eating!

 As Fall becomes Winter, there comes a time when rather than leaving our potatoes in the Earth to be harvested as needed, we do a final digging and collect everything that is left rather than risk the potatoes freezing, or needing to mulch them heavily and dig them up in colder weather.  We leave this to the last minute, sometimes because we are so busy with other things, but also because the Earth is the best "refrigerator" for the potato.  In the bucket above is a potato called "Purple Sun" with a Purple skin and yellow inside,  below are fingerlings, which are a delicate potato that grows in amazing shapes with a distinctive flavor.  As of today (mid February) we are still eating and enjoying these potatoes.  Potatoes along with winter squash, and other root vegetables are excellent winter garden produce.  In fact we still have our carrots and beets growing in the garden since cold weather makes them sweeter and they are resistant to freezing.

We have been described in past with negative connotation as "Subsistence Farmers" scratching a living out of the soil.  Not only is this inaccurate, but it is also arrogant.  There is a prevailing concept among many people, including, sadly, urban and suburban Tainos, that working with the Earth to produce one's food is somehow a "lower class" activity or an activity that modern people have happily been able to move away from.  Most are aware that there was a time when the majority of the populations of the Earth were involved directly in gardening and farming activities on either part time or full time scales.  We know that our Taino Ancestors were master Gardeners along with our Relatives to the South, West, North and East.  We come from a continent of amazing botanical, agricultural innovation.  The permaculture movement that is very popular today among Europeans as well as many others, does come directly from our Indigenous Gardening Traditions.  Although our Ancestors are rarely credited, they are the genius behind this "new" movement that actually is our Cultural Legacy.

We do not come from a Cultural Legacy of Fast Food Restaurants and tasteless cooking that creates dis-ease and disease and shuts down our mental bodies.  Our Cultural Legacy involves eating fresh, local, sustainably produced foods.  Our Ancestors did not go from doing the Ceremonies to visiting fast food venues and sipping soda.  Our Ancestors did not shop at the supermarket for "offerings".  Our Ancestors cultivated the offerings with love, ingenuity, knowledge, wisdom, and sweat.  In this way our Ancestors knew the value of the offerings on a profound level and the Cemis, Spirits and Ancestors received those offerings on a profound level.  

While we have access to books, artifacts, papers, internet and so on today as sources of how our Ancestors lived, we cannot overlook who was the master Teacher of our Ancestors, and that master Teacher was (and still is) Mother Earth in the greatest concept of what Mother Earth really is with the Sun, Moon, and whole Universe embodying Mother Earth.  Mother Earth cannot teach through books, internet and so on, although humans can exchange ideas, concepts and discoveries in this way.  Mother Earth teaches through direct contact, direct communication, and it is up to us to learn her language.  Maybe we may start by only knowing a couple "words" but as we explore further we do realize that her language is profound and embodies wisdom beyond what can be captured by our human words.  

Many speak of the "Taino Resurgence" movement as a time when so many of us woke up to being "Taino" and came together to form communities.  For sure today many more of our people are including "Taino" as an aspect or central core of our identity.  Many of us began our awakening with false romantic notions on what it is to be Indigenous, what is an Indigenous Identity, and many took it upon themselves to define that for the rest of us with varying degrees of accuracy or integrity.  However, to truly embrace our Traditional Essence there is a profound and lengthy process, which is largely mental, of detoxifying from the colonial, western, materialistic mentality that has oppressed us for centuries. We must not underestimate the damage that has been done to us, and the distance we need to travel in truly returning to our Indigenous Identity in reality rather than in fantasy.  We also do need to recognize that Life is constantly changing, Earth is constantly changing, and what we are seeking is our Indigenous Spirit, whose expression may be significantly different that we know of from 500 years ago.

 Our Ancestors knew of the true taste of foods, but today many of us have become reliant on false flavors rather than true flavors.  A simple example is the chicken, which is a very popular food among our people.  The chicken that is factory farmed (all chicken from the supermarket) is a chicken that is raised in conditions that are similar to those of a slave ship.   This abusive way of raising chickens produces chickens that are not only flavorless but who also embody all the desperate, greedy, abusive, Earth-hating energies of those factory farms, and it is those energies that we are consuming when we eat those chickens.  This is made even worse if we go to a fast food venue to eat chicken.  This can only have impacts on our bodies, minds and Spirits.  


We raise chickens, and although we typically avoid the "boiler" chickens who have been bred for rapid weight gain and low intelligence, in error we received some in a shipment of chicks that came to us.  Above, our daughter is holding one of these "boilers" that we needed to slaughter for the table.  As a side note, it is important for us that the children gain an appreciation for the origin of their food.  It is a hypocrisy for people to simultaneously shy away from the idea of slaughtering a chicken, yet consume huge quantities of chicken on a yearly basis.  The children need to understand the value of that chicken they are eating, and can only truly understand that when they see and are involved in the process of raising that chicken, slaughtering and gutting that chicken and cooking that chicken.  When we slaughter our chicken we make sure that no part of the chicken is thrown in the garbage, every part is used one way or another, either to make stock, or to compost, the guts go to the dog or sometimes to the wildlife who also appreciate them.

 The chicken above becomes roasted chicken (actually here are 4 of them roasted for a gathering).  Unlike factory chicken, these chickens have a full flavor, a stronger aroma and a different texture.  Even the raw meat smells different- cleaner.  Within hours they go from walking around to the table.  Those that have never tasted fresh chicken may find the flavor strong, others taste the chicken and reminisce about their grandmother's flock, or how they used to slaughter the chickens in their homelands.  Once tasted, it becomes obvious that the factory chicken and home chicken are two very different meals, one comes from a total disrespect for Life, the other comes from Respect for Life.  We can all agree that our Indigenous Ancestors held a deep respect for life.

In our cold frames we pick salad greens all winter long, in sun, rain or snow.  The greens reach their best flavors during the winter as the coolness brings out their full flavor, while the heat of late spring and summer brings out their bitterness.  We not only grow the typical lettuce (although not iceberg- the fast food favorite), but also various other greens such as arugula, mizuna, tat soi, asian cabbage, chard, radicio, parsley and more.  These greens give us a full flavored nutritious salad that could not be any fresher.  From these simple cold frames we grow enough greens to never have to buy any lettuce or greens from the market all winter.  Our first harvest began in October and will continue until the greens begin to become bitter due to the heat, or set seeds.  We harvest the seeds to plant the next season's crop. 


As we have evolved in our own understanding and expression of re-embracing our Indigenous Roots, we have learned that there is a natural cycle of eating that has a direct relationship to the foods that are naturally available during the cycle of the year.  Once the greens become bitter, we enjoy salads that are made from green beans, peas, tomatoes, cucumbers, corn, and greens that can handle the summer heat.  We have learned to avoid the tomatoes available in the winter from the supermarket as they are always a flavor disappointment and a sorry substitute for the fully flavored tomato from the summer garden.  Living as Indigenous People, re-Embracing or re-Discovering our Indigenous Essence is not at all "subsistence farming or scratching a living", it is a return to Sanity, a return to Thriving, and a return to Truth, including a return to the true Cycle and Flavor of the foods we eat and the foods we use as offerings to the Spirits.

Moon Ceremonies (Part 2)

As we continue with our sharing of the Moon Ceremonies, and in particular of the Full Moon Ceremony that we engaged, we want to emphasize that timing is very important.  If we are to do a Full Moon Ceremony, it is of vital importance that the Ceremony be done when the Moon is actually Full; we need to sacrifice our daily schedules to prepare for the Ceremony to take place at the time appropriate in the rhythm and cycle of Mother Earth.  This is an expression of our humility towards HER and an acknowledgement that our LIVES depend on her BLESSINGS!


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.

On July 14th we continued with our Divinations, going to each Direction and allowing the Misterios to speak and emphasize different energies.


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.

As night came and the Moon rose, we noticed that the sky which had been mostly clear, became filled with chemtrails (chemical "clouds"), reminding us of another aspect of the "hot winds" that we face, the toxicity which is being layered between us and the Sky, which has not only a physical effect but also a psychological effect.


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....

MOON CEREMONIES (PART 1)

Very intense energies have been moving over the summer.  The new Moon at 5am on July 1st was also a Solar Eclipse.  Our Ancient Ones understood the power of Eclipses very well, and utilized Ceremonies to ensure that Eclipses brought about positive change and not negative change.  More recently it has become increasingly spoken of that Eclipses "cause" an increase in Earthquakes, Volcanos, and Tsunamis.  They create an increase in the volatility of our Mother Earth.  Common Sense also leads us to understand that when alignments occur between Sun, Moon and Earth (eclipse), Cosmic Influences are amplified upon our Mother, and just as these cosmic forces have a greater influence on Mother Earth, they also have a greater influence on Our Spirits, Our Minds, and Our Bodies.  Although we may spend a lot of time looking at the "ground", we are spiritually very open to and influenced by the movements of the Cosmic Bodies (planets, Sun, Stars), which is why every Ancient Culture has been able to gather Wisdom from the "Stars" and the movements of Moon and Sun.  

We spent the day of the Eclipse (and preceding days preparing) deeply in Ceremony, specifically Purification Ceremony.  We worked with the elements of Fire, Water, Light, Dark, External, Internal, we worked with the Plant Medicines, with Invocation, and with Divination.   After the Ceremony we Divined utilizing the Ashes from the Fire and focused on several key energies.  It also became clear that the Spirit wanted to bring attention to two specific energies that were counter-progression.  The illumination of these "two energies" continued to occur over the next couple weeks, becoming very clear by the time of the FULL MOON at which time we did another Ceremony.  


The Divination spoke of the importance of cleansing with the Sacred Waters (River and Ocean), the importance of keeping an eye on the economic situation globally and one's "work" within that economy,  keeping an eye as to what is going on in the "south" and "globally" over the next 28 days and utilizing WISDOM and RESPECT, especially RESPECT for Indigenous Traditions.


Without going into details or revealing names we will briefly describe these two energies that the Misterio (Spirit) was shedding LIGHT on.


The first is an energy carried by the descendants of the oppressors of our Ancestors.  This is an energy seen in any aggressive, invading, stealing, raping, killing, group of people who come uninvited into another People's homeland bringing terror, sickness, and barbarism.  This is an energy seen in the "vikings", in the "romans" in the arab invasions into Africa, and specific to this continent in the "conquistadors" and the colonizers of this continent who brought their barbaric ways to our civilized societies.  (NOTE: These barbaric ways- now a global plague- are fast bringing this global society to famine, disease and insanity and utter destruction of our natural resources which were once clean air, clean water, healthy soils, intact mountains, healthy foods, and health giving medicines.)  


In this specific case the Misterio was bringing up an important behavior of these "descendants" that on the surface looks harmless, yet is anything but harmless in fact.  The particular descendants that the Spirit utilized as "examples" or "case studies" were frequenters of "spiritual circles".  One case study in particular had traveled to sacred lands of the South, taken the sacred Ayahuasca ritual, was in possession of all manner of jewelry, arts, and rattles etc, from Indigenous People (including items taken from Indigenous graves) and had been in "relationship" with a jungle "shaman" with desires to be the "medicine partner" of said "shaman".  While it may seem strange that the descendant of a brutal legacy can be found on a so called "spiritual path" speaking about "progression", the reasons for this become clear when one looks more deeply at this phenomenon.  When looking underneath the surface of this individual's psyche, one finds a tremendous amount of guilt and a tremendous amount of awareness concerning this ugly legacy.  There is a desire to escape the consequences of this legacy, however when a genuine pathway of Reconciliation and Healing is offered, it is quickly rejected, because the individual is actually seeking to HIDE inside of Indigenous Medicine Circles, and when the individual and individual's tree realize that the light of Justice is shining on them and revealing the truth, and that the Medicine People they are interacting with are actually openly speaking about their spiritual trail and not engaging in flattery and validation of weaknesses, a paranoia arises inside of the individual and they run, run, run to attempt to hide once again.  There is an aggression, anger and hatred that quickly takes the place of the words of "love light and peace" and flattery that they had been uttering, and very often the finger is pointed at the Indigenous Elder in anger.  We have a term that we have used for this behavior and it is "Circles of Utopia".  This behavior is actually a behavior of "hatred of Indigenous Cultures" at the same time it is an attempting to avoid the consequences of an ugly and evil legacy by "dressing up" in the garments of "progression".  It is the behavior of what we term a "renegade soul", a Soul who has been dodging and avoiding the Spirit of Justice and who is determined not to go through the transformations required to experience Healing and Reconciliation with the Essence of Life.  It is what we term "Maboya" or "Ndoki".


The other energy is an energy of ultra-selfishness.  It is a selfishness that is applied towards other people but also a selfishness that is applied to the Spirit.  There is an over-riding agenda of "me, myself and I" at the cost of everything else.  Again this energy is often hidden behind a friendly appearance, but makes is true face known very quickly when in the presence of Indigenous Medicine.


Both energies are in direct opposition to the Spirit of Gentleness that we invoked during this New Moon Ceremony, and both energies were operating under the behavior of passive-aggression.  

Our preparation for the Full Moon Ceremony began immediately after the New Moon Ceremony.  We planted 4 Ceremonial Trees (White Oak, Willow Oak, Maple, and Hornbeam) in the four Directions or four Moments of the Sun of the Central Batey.  There were many Medicines that came also into this Sacred Space in the Various directions.  We utilized both white cornmeal and yellow cornmeal within the space.  


During the preparations we Divined numerous times concerning the meaning and significance of the Ceremony, the Earth Changes that are occurring and the significance within the Taino "Community" at home and in the Diaspora.


To begin with the Misterios spoke from the direction of the West, of the christian mindset that infiltrated our Continent, making points regarding the christian agenda to separate "Nature" from the Divine (Misterio, Great Mystery...).  This separation (mental) served the church to increase the "devils" power over people and therefore empowered the church.  Another point is the "seven deadly sins" which again served to give the church more power over the people.  

The Misterio spoke in the direction of the North concerning the  views and behaviors that Indigenous People had towards women versus the behaviors that european men had towards women.  The Misterio reminded us of the massacre at "La Navidad" (one of Columbus' first "forts" where he left a number of spanish men while he returned to Spain).  These men insisted on raping Taino women, and the Taino found this intolerable and to make a long story short ended up killing every last one of the spanish men at the fort.    The evil behavior of european men towards Indigenous women is well documented, as is the evil behavior of european men towards european women.  European women were kept under the control of "their men" through the fear that any rebelliousness would get them labeled "a witch" which would mean torture, and death by hanging, drowning or burning alive.  European men and specifically the european christian church demonized women as "evil".  This is in sharp contrast to the Taino view of Women as the Mothers of Life, as the Goddesses of Fertility, Protector of the Seeds, and as Central and Revered figures within the Taino world.  

In the direction of the East, the Misterio brought up a profound point that the existence of the Indigenous People of this continent posed a theological problem for the christians, because it contradicted their "Noah story" putting the legitimacy of the bible and christianity at question.  Various writers grappled with the issue, coming up with a theory that the "Indians" were the lost tribes of israel, which was believed by such evil persons as Bartolome de Las Casas (predator among the Taino and destroyer of Taino Spirituality).  James Usher is the fool that decided to "calculate" how old the world was and came up with a date that "god" created the world 4004 bc, which meant that the "Indians" must have arrived in this continent around 500 bc.  This was a widely accepted theory for years and only was destroyed when OLD BONES were discovered pre-dating this beginning date.  This story illuminates the confused and psychopathic state of mind of these europeans that invaded our Ancient Cultures.  It is also significant that this foolery continues to this day in the fields of pharmaceuticals, agrochemical food, GMOs, and economic "solutions".  There is a fundamental lack of understanding of what is HEALTHY and SUSTAINABLE, and it happens that our Ancient Cultures were geniuses in the understanding of both of these principles.  

In South, the Misterio took us to the underlying weaknesses that allowed the "european" behavior of violence, rape, witch hunting, theft, genocide and massacre of our Indigenous Ancestors.  The Misterio pointed out that the european society (which is global today in its infection) was/ is actually controlled by minorities (small number of elites) and that the power over the "masses" was effected through "fear of the christian "god"", this same christian god who is a case study "himself" in psychopathic mentalities.  A god who created all his "children" to be "bad" and to have to struggle against "sins", who created his children unhappy, miserable, who invented "hell" to cap off a life already plagued with struggle, who created an earth for his children to live in which was filled with evil temptations, who preaches all kinds of ethics yet is vengeful and destructive (do as I say not as I do), then who demands adoration and worship.   To fall for these LIES indicates a profound mental illness and a profound Self-Deception.   And for those who just "went along with the crowd or the times" it indicates a powerful lack of self-respect and principles and a profound "self betrayal".

The Misterio lead us to some essential points concerning the historical trail and the mentalities that have lead us globally to this crisis that we are facing on EVERY LEVEL of our LIVES.  It is not just one aspect of life that is in danger, it is every aspect.  As we continue with the next "part" of these writings, we explore more deeply what we are facing in the here and now, and how we can approach the Earth Changes that are occurring from a grounded and holistic Spiritual Root.    In the photo above the fruits and roots are all vegetables that we grow upon the Sacred Land, and this is vital within this Ceremony.  Below a TOAD appeared, living in the Conch shell upon the Mound.  All this is significant within the trail and we will explore these things further.

As we continued in our Divinations over a number of days leading up to the Full Moon, we witnessed the Moon put on many faces or expressions within the night.  Some nights she was bright casting shadows like the Sun does during the day, other nights clouds passed in front of her revealing many Misterios.  Ceremony is not something that can be "scheduled" or confined to a convenient time slot.  Ceremony is constantly shifting and changing, and no two Ceremonies are the same, ever, because no two days are the same, even no two moments are the same.  To mindlessly repeat the same ceremony over and over again (think church or some misguided new age ceremonies masquerading as Indigenous) is to be totally insensitive to the movement of the Spirit.

TO BE CONTINUED.....