Pruning the Raspberries, and the Love for the Spirit of the Land!

Late winter or early spring is time to prune away the dead raspberry canes and any weak canes or canes that are in the pathway.  It is very important to do this to ensure a productive and healthy season for the raspberries.  We grow raspberries for their taste, their high vitamin content, and their medicinal properties.  Raspberry leaf tea is very good as well as a syrup that we will make this year from our black raspberry early spring shoots.  Anani is a big fan of the raspberry patch.  We also have in these rows grapes and strawberries.  Our Raspberries are Black, Red, Yellow and Purple!

This pile of debris came from just one side of one row of the raspberry canes.  It is very essential to remove all these old canes and debris because leaving them next to the raspberries can make the raspberries diseased.  Raspberries are very sensitive plants.  We ultimately burn the debris to ensure no disease is spread.  Spiritually it is also important to clean up and remove debris as this helps us and the Spirit refreshen for the Spring that is around the corner!  When an individual is involved in cleaning up, whether it be pruning, raking leaves, weeding the gardens, and so on, upon a Sacred and Ceremonial Land, or even within a small Monanso, the action of cleaning is an EBO for the individual and the individual's frame of mind is very important within this EBO!  When working with these things, one MUST be grounded in Love for the Earth from a Spiritual Perspective!

This is before the pruning, showing the chaotic appearance of the canes, many are broken due to wind and snow from the very hard winter we had this year, and many send shoots into the pathway.  

Left Photo:  After pruning, you can see the shift in energy and how clean and clear the raspberries now look.  Right Photo:  This is very important.  This is an EGUN TREE dedicated to a specific EGUN which stands at the lower end of one of the rows of the canes, right at the entrance.  We know that the EGUN associated with this tree is Observing the activity with the raspberries, and since there is an Egun Tree right by the raspberry rows we have to pay even greater attention to the physical and mental energy we apply when engaging the pruning activity!

Here Anani is participating in removing the debris.  It is very important for her to be involved in these activities and to understand and learn how to caretake the various gardens and spaces.  This way she learns from an early age what is needed to caretake this Space within ATABEY!

Left Photo:  The pile grows.  Right Photo:  The end posts of the rows are visible and next to them the Egun Tree.

Here you can see the walking path in between the rows which also gets cleaned of old dead grass and debris.  You can see the Egun tree's position in the left photo and how close it is to the raspberries. In the right photo you can now see that the raspberries are all in a  neat row and the path is easily accessible and clear.

Left Photo:  This is another Egun Tree of one of the Elder Egun of the Land!  This tree is just down the slope from the raspberry rows, and this Egun is also observing what is going on.  Right Photo:  While we were working a Vulture drew our attention to him/herself because she/he was making an unusual flight sound due to what looks like a missing wing feather.  The Vulture represents the DEAD as well as REBIRTH, which is relevant to the time of year and to the fact that we were engaged in working in close proximity to TWO EGUN Trees!  It may be that the Vulture is molting which is a form of renewal!

Here Thunder the Bull has just been re-captured.  We had found him next to where the fire pit for burning debris is.  This particular bull was originally brought to the Land for the benefit of the EGUN whose tree is right next to the raspberry rows.  So to see him loose on the very day we came to prune the raspberries was very significant!  Fortunately he was cooperative in allowing us to coral him once again in a safe field, because this bull is very fearless and bullish and will use his weapons without hesitation.

We also see this as the EGUN making himself known and bringing us a message!

From the Spirit of the Land- Two Worlds Merging

This was written back in 2004 and was an indepth description of what was required in the caretaking of the Land of the Sacred Heart of Life which is entrusted to the Koki Medicine Clan. It speaks of the internal transformation and purification that must take place. You can see that it was divorced from any fantasies or illusions. 

From the Spirit of the Land- Two Worlds Merging (9/1/04)

As we walk upon this Land, we must be willing without a struggle and misconceptions to open our Heart in experiencing the True Heartbeat with Our Mother within this Land. And in this journey to open our Heart, we must allow Our Heart to resonate in the awareness of our sensitivity and caring for this Land. Without Our Heart we will not be able to learn the multiple Teachings and Lessons that the Indigenous Spirit of this Land has been waiting for many Moons to release into receptive and willing ears, who have that Inner Ear connected to the Heart, which can only be seated in a thorough understanding of open-mindedness, which is the cleaver pathway of a Contribution that would in turns reward us with Sustainability.

In walking upon this Land, we should be willing to allow a thorough inventory of the placement of our thoughts, our concentration and especially of our selfishness which leads us to a place of carelessness of inner thoughts, which in turn reflects in the movement of our body as we walk upon this Land and in the embracement of the spirit of this Land. It is utterly essential to realize that a Spirit can be of humble nature or of a hostile nature. And so we must make an inventory so that we do not align a hostile natured Spirit to mark each step that we take upon this Land. So therefore we are encouraging each individual that walks upon this Land to consciously, wholeheartedly and Spiritually take multiple moments of looking within the stream of their thoughts. We must allow the humble natured Spirit to mark our paths, our steps within this Land for their Contribution is greatly needed and will reward our thoughts with the Seeds of Growth.

Here Our Concentration must be present at all costs to understand that this Land that we are utilizing for the Work of the Vision did not arrive out of thin air. It did not arrive through a mundane inheritance, it did not arrive out of selfishness, uncaring or a wicked heart, it did not arrive from confusion, distortions and horrors. It arrived from a Collective Body of Ancestors, who skillfully had been working with the Cycles of Time to bring forth a Contribution of Sustainability, Progression, and Reinstituting within the Minds the Stories of Caring, Nurturing, Growth and Harvesting, and the expansion of understanding the significance of Continuous Thriving in the desperate Need for Reconciliation which begins in the Internalness of every Dancer, who would be dancing within this Circle of the Vision, which has been entrusted to the Koki Medicine Clan. We must remember inside of Our Soul, inside of Our Intelligence and within Our True Essence that this Collective Body of Ancestors always was and will continue to be loyal to the Stream, Oceans of Progression. And because there was a skillful, bitter orchestration of the dismantling of the Sacred Hoop that allows a Healthy Human Experience within Our Mother, this Collective of Ancestors never surrendered their Love, Devotion to the Evolutionary Process that the Creator designed within Its Creations. This Ancestral Intelligence is free from stagnation, degression and dehumanization of a Spiritual Experience. 

This, without any doubt, places us to concentrate on the Two Worlds that we must confront intelligently, skillfully and with great effort to decipher its interpretation so one doesn’t overshadow the one of Progression that is the Contribution of the Vision within the Koki Medicine Clan. Let’s first look at the Unnatural World, that World which most of us are absorbed within and to a great percentage unaware of, it is the world of menticize, depression, oppression, grief, sorrowfulness, despair, the unhealthy struggling to survive, Spiritual backwardness or bankruptcy, Spiritual enslavement, the world of individualism, the world of greed, lust, gluttony, lies and paralysis of action, the world of destructive capitalism, imperialism, fascism, the world of marketing human beings in the arena of slave markets, the world in which the Global Community is being manipulated by corporations whose interests are in the destruction of the Human Experience and the dismantling of the Sustainer of Our Experience, Our Mother Earth, the world with an educational and medical establishment that is in opposition to the Evolution of Spiritual Progress and of Healing. There are many examples that we can cite, but at this point there is no need, for this opens the Trail for you to understand the world that we are talking about when we are talking about Two Worlds. It is without a doubt that we must recognize the need to look deep inside of the effects of this unnatural world on Our Morality, Our Spirit, on Our Soul and the ultra suffocation that it brings to the Spiritual Entity Our Mother Earth and the entire Universe that our experience is rooted within. 

For the Caretakers of the Vision of the Koki Medicine Clan, it is extremely important that without the understanding of your habitual behavior you will not be allowed to walk upon this Land as a Caretaker. Because we are not here to care-take the creation of the orchestrators of menticize, the orchestrators behind the dismantling of Our Mother’s limbs and organs. This is not by any means what the Vision is caretaking or nurturing. We are not religious fanatics, evangelists, atheists or agnostics or soul-less Human Beings. We are not here to entertain each other’s menticize or, if you like, lunacies. It is none of these things that we are here for. We are not here upon this Land to be caretakers of a mini insane asylum, that is not the significance, the reason for this Land, and without an understanding, and mind you a thorough Spiritual understanding, of the Declaration of the Land, Article 2 of the Declaration and Constitution of the Vision within the Koki Medicine Clan, you can only be a detrimental component of opposition to the principles laid out within that statement or document. So let’s be clear that unless you are willing to go through a profound internal purification of the multiple years that you harbored an imposed indoctrination, you will not be able to bring forth a healthy and profound contribution to the principles and ingredients that the Spirits of the Vision are looking to compensate you with for your Contribution.

This Land principally, first and foremost, is to establish the principle of sustainability through a Spiritual Foundation. This Land secondly is for the establishment of a Spiritual and Intellectual University of Profound Mental Growth, which will empower the Caretakers and those who would benefit from its contributions of Spiritual Progression and Development. With this being said, we immediately must focus our full attention on how we are to walk and think upon this Land. Because the Caretakers of this Land must be loyal and devoted to Self and Collective Progression. Without this devotion to Self Development and Spiritual Development through the expansion of our Mental facilities to critically assert Intelligence of Action, we will not be able to construct a Leadership of Progression that will institute the seeds of developing a whole Community to think in Leadership and Sustainability and One Mind, One Spirit, One Soul and One Heart. For the Caretakers must be rooted within themselves in the Ceremonial Strategy that will reinsure that all the points of the Land are secured Spiritually and the Nourishing of the Spiritual Collective. If the Caretakers cannot step into this World of Spiritual Progression through amplifying their Spiritual Mind to fully embrace and engage the Ancestral Collective, then they will not be able to be effective Caretakers of the Land. For here we must realize that the Land is no longer an idea, but a rooted Reality and Fact that can be seen with both eyes and the sole of our feet can feel the Spirit and Heartbeat of this Land. There is no doubt that the Caretakers must be rooted in the ability to think and act in multiple ways to be able to sustain the needs of the Land while it is in its developmental stages of being Self-sustainable. Caretakers that cannot be creative in figuring out a financial task that would allow Green Energy to flow consistently into its development can only hinder the process. As a Caretaker your willingness to go the distance in the pursuit of Creating multiple avenues of Resources has to be centered in your Consciousness through focus and through your willingness to continue the process of re-educating oneself and expanding on the historical Stories of the Ancestors. The Caretakers cannot and must not be rooted in ungrounded Spiritual Principles, they must know without a shadow of a doubt through basing it in facts. The Caretakers must be of sound Mind, of Sound Spiritual Facts, of Sound Spirit, and of Sound intermingling within the mundane operation of everyday Life for the benefit of extracting the nourishments that can be transmuted into healthy Energy that could be distributed within the ingredients and contributions that the Vision is setting in motion. Without this Process there cannot be any merging of these Two Worlds. The Spiritual Development must be first and foremost in every aspect and ingredient that we are in pursuit of. 

The Voice of the Land in Gratitude, in Harmony and Thankfulness to the Collective Energy.

Using Fallen Trees for more than just Firewood!

Our "wood lot" not only provides firewood for us but also beautiful wood that can be carved into stools and tables, and more.  This is a sample of some simple stools that we have made which we use in the Monanso and around the home for many purposes.  We never cut down a tree to make a stool, we always use trees that have fallen naturally or those who had to be removed because they had become hazardous or had to come down for the clearing of space for spiritual purposes or for pasture or gardens.  If we do cut down a tree we plant 5-10 saplings in its place.  This wood is 100% sustainably harvested.  

This stool is a three legged short stool which has one coat of linseed oil on it.  The stools can get saturated with linseed oil to bring out the natural beauty as well as preserve the wood.  By counting the concentric circles in the stool we can tell how old the tree was.    This was a slow growing Oak Tree that was 62 years old.  

Here are several views of two stools, one is coated with linseed oil the other is still raw.  The linseed one has more unusually shaped three legs.  The raw stool is currently used as a divination table.  These stools can also be coated with Tung Oil which will not darken them as much.  

Three views of a taller stool which has been lightly treated with linseed.  Notice the unusual and expressive natural design of its top.


We are able to make these stools in many different styles and make tables out of larger size trees.  Some of these things will be eventually sold in order to financially sustain the Land.  A goal of self-sustainability must always include the process of becoming financially self-sustainable which is the root of the Vision of the Koki Medicine Clan from the very beginning many years ago.  


By utilizing some of the trees from the Land in this way we also honor the Spirit of the Tree by creating lasting objects of beauty and functionality which will be handled by people for years, rather than just making the fallen trees into firewood.