Ancient Wisdom, Modern Solutions (Part 3): Dancing with Ntoto, Earth Changes

It is mid-summer and scorching heat, devastating wild fires, and storms are again threatening the conventional farming ways, and threatening a rise in grain cost yet again, and unfortunately the whole world is heavily dependent on conventionally farmed food for basic sustenance.  Our Ancestral Wisdom knew better than to create monocultures and to restrict the diet to a handful of crops (corn, soybeans, wheat and rice).  However, even though the failures are recorded in history (ex. Irish Potato Famine) it seems that the days of convenience stores and mega super markets have lulled us into a denial and a complacency, and banished even a discussion of this critical situation to the fringes of human conversation.  


However, evolution takes place at the fringes, those edges where diversity of ecology creates micro-climates and micro-conditions that allows different and new ways of living to emerge.  One of our Elders used to say "The Majority is not always Right!"  In this case the majority is utterly rooted in the narrow minded way of living that has been set out by those who are only interested in profit and power, and by a entity who is only interested in power over, gluttonous consumption of life, and which thrives on the destruction and disempowerment of life; a entity who is "trying to play god".  


In addition to the moronic agricultural practices that have been developed, there is other threatening practices of mining, including the mining of radioactive substances that should never have been taken out of our Mother Earth.  The day these radioactive substances began to be removed and refined from the Earth was the day a Spirit was set loose that cannot be controlled by human beings.  This Spirit that was contained by Mother Earth, now has the power and ability to poison all of humanity.  Indigenous People here in this continent are constantly fighting this evil.  See the blog post below concerning the uranium mining out west and the Indigenous People's battle against it.
http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2012/05/halt-uranium-mine-that-will-poison.html


We have to remember that we were "driven off" our many Lands, through outright conquest and genocide, through kidnapping and slavery, through economic manipulation, and through promises of a "better life" (meaning an "easier, softer way" life, which is also an empty life).   We have to confront the myopic mentality that considers gardening and farming to be lowly "professions", and consider that we have been forcibly taken away from our Mother, or we have been tricked away from our Mother, or we have been seduced away from our Mother, and we have forgotten how to live in harmony with all our Sisters and Brothers of Life, the birds, insects, bacteria, fungi, plants, animals, and fish.  We have misplaced the ability to find food and medicines for ourselves in the forests and meadows and by the rivers.  


However, that Ancient Wisdom is flowing right under the surface and on the fringes and edges where it was never forgotten.  Worldwide (especially now with the internet) there is an abundance of sharing that is going on concerning the many ways that we can reconcile with Mother Earth and once again live in harmony and abundance with her and honor and work with her natural rhythms, rather than wage this ongoing war against her with the pesticides, herbicides, and endless plowing and sawing.  People everywhere are bringing back diversity and common sense into gardens and farms and homes and are producing with Mother Earth and her whole Family (our whole Family), the best, most nutritious, most life sustaining foods in abundance, in conditions which also sustain wildlife, birds, insects and micro-organisms. 


In parts 1 and 2 of this article we shared the progression of our garden, and now it is shown in its height of growth.  At this point the cycle subtly shifts and we begin to see the browns and yellows of autumn creep in and the cycle of Great Harvest begins.  In the Fall, when everything begins to die back with the shorter day lengths and cooler nights we have the time of greatest harvest, but here we are having the time of Greatest Green which of course still gives us a very full harvest.

What now is termed "permaculture" but what we know as Indigenous Gardening Techniques utilizes a diversity of plant life that forms various layers within the Garden, like a micro forest.  Small plants are shaded by big ones, vines climb up tall plants, all the plants require different nutrients so do not deplete any one nutrient and the root systems are just as diverse from light surface roots to deep tap roots accessing all levels of the soil below and bringing various nutrients up into the leaves that will later be eaten or composted to create new top soil.  The insects that eat certain crops are confused by the diversity, and the beneficial insects and birds are attracted by the diversity.  Micro climates are created to allow things to grow that would not thrive in a monoculture at this time of year, such as lettuces which do not like the heat.  In the photo above our daughter picks herbs for cooking.  She also gets the opportunity to learn from the garden's diversity and because she is young, learning the various plants and their uses comes much more easily to her!

As Taino -Paleros we have also come to appreciate the diversity of plant life and their corresponding "root life" for use within our bilongos and medicines.  We strive to study the whole plant to understand the "part" of it that we generally use (the palo or the leaf or what have you).    Above we have a basket of heirloom tomatoes that we have harvested, around them are chives, oregano, thyme, a sunflower stalk, nasturtiums (yellow flowers and leaves that we eat in salads), and a red hibiscus flower.  You need to know what the plants really look like to know what you are harvesting in this garden!  

Chives above surrounded by oregano, a well harvested chard plant, and a plantain plant that most consider a "weed".  For a number of years we did a lot of "weeding" and could never keep up with it.  Then a moment of understanding came and we stopped considering them "weeds" and simply planted our beds very fully restricting the space the "weeds" could occupy and transforming the weeds into the medicinal plants they truly are.  Plantain is a great remedy for bee stings among other uses.  Now we rarely weed any more, we just plant and harvest.  Once in a while we weed and throw the weeds down as a mulch right where we pull them out.  We share this for those who resist gardening due to the requirement of weeding.  We did have to come to terms with our expectations of how a garden should look, and break the shackles of the image of neat rows of veggies and flowers.  We essentially let Mother Earth take the lead and simply plant our "requests" right within her ecosystem, instead of forcing a fake and devolved system on to her.

Tomatoes ripening.  These tomatoes will continue to fruit until the frosts come.  We will gather all the green tomatoes left on the vine right before the first frost and let them ripen inside over the next month and eat them also as fried green tomatoes!

Huge sunflowers grow at a tremendous rate pulling nutrients out of the Earth.  They grow so fast because they have a special relationship with the Sun.  They "follow" the sun to be able to gather more energy from the rays. When they are pollinated the drop their heads bowing down so that their seeds are protected from too much solar radiation!  What a magnificent design and example of respect for the Sun!  Sunflowers are Indigenous to this continent and provide us and the birds with edible seeds, as well as providing a trellis for beans or other vines, and flower heads (which are actually 1000-2000 single flowers clustered together) which light up the garden and are also favored by the Misterio!  We love them and plant them everywhere.  The seeds are also a herbicide which is why under bird feeders nothing grows! 

Winter squash (developed by Mother Earth and the Indigenous Ancestors of this continent) sends its vines in all directions.  Its huge leaves shade out any competitors and it quickly grows in the raised beds that we created.  

This is another crop that we grow everywhere.  We take the seeds and put them in wherever there is space because we know that in the Fall when they are ready for harvest that we will be able to eat them all through the winter!  We specifically grow winter squash that are not your common supermarket variety, we chose heirloom and Indigenous varieties which have the best flavor.  No Palero needs reminding of the uses of the winter squash or pumpkin in working with the Nkisi and Mpungos!!!

Again with the squash, "weeds" are really not an issue since they quickly come to dominate the area they are growing in.  

Our Potatoes are now ready to harvest as we need them (see future blog post).  The Earth will store them perfectly until we need them up until hard frosts in late Fall.  Again, Potatoes are the result of the genius of the Ancestral Elders of this Continent!!!

And Tomatoes as well- developed by our Indigenous Ancestors!!!  The little violet in the bottom right corner is also edible in salads.

Here rhubarb sticks out between tomato plants, we continue to be able to eat its stalks in pies and sauces.

Our daughter harvesting.  

Beautiful basil!

Horse radish with a datura "weed" behind it and arugula.

Our squash spills wildly over our wall, already forming small fruits that will grow into big squash!

What an architect and garden designer Mother Earth is!

We took the posts that had supported the cold frame lids and put a wire fence on them to support green beans.

Bush beans (dry beans) are growing within the diversity.  In the past when we had grown beans in rows, every year insects would come and destroy them, eat them completely, leaving a barren stalk.  This year we put them in with all other plants and they are lush with perfect leaves, not a bite in sight.  This truly shows the benefits of polycultures.  We look forward to a great bean harvest.

A view of our garden, the various layers are visible, what you cannot experience in the photo is the sounds and scents of the garden, the movements of the birds, butterflies and bees, the aromas of the various plants and the tastes of them.  This you have to imagine.  There are a multitude of insects both in the air and soil that are actively "working" with us in this garden!  We do not garden alone, we have our whole "Family" of Life gardening with us, including the Bakulu who inspire and bring forth ideas and understandings for the garden.  Our own Ancestors and the Ancestors that lived upon this Land all bring their contribution from the wealth of knowledge they gathered in their lives.


At the time of Great Harvest we will gather from all the various plants to awaken an Agricultural Nkisi to further empower our Gardens!

Wild Ageratum (native) will burst into a purple blossom providing an important late season blossom for the butterflies.  

Harvesting black raspberries.  These prickly vines give us easy picking for nutrient rich berries.  

Although we also grow red and yellow raspberries, these are easier to grow and more nutritious.

These ended up in black raspberry crumble with homemade maple whipped cream.

Our chickens with their protective rooster, Papo.  He graciously gives them the best food from his own beak and chases away threats.  

Our chicken eggs are the best!!!

Scrambled eggs in the making.

Having a diversity of crops encourages us to create meals that are very unusual and extremely rich in vegetables (and therefore nutrients).  We eat far more than the "recommended suggested daily servings" of vegetables.  

Here all these vegetables are going into one meal.  They include salad greens (lettuce, chard, arugula, nasturtium leaf), greens for stir fry scrambled eggs (rainbow chard, beet greens, turnip greens, a garlic, and roots for the stir fry scrambled eggs (turnips, beets and parsnip).

The greens not only taste great but they all have different strengths in terms of nutrients, and the various textures and colors are a joy to look at.

Our daughter's favorite salad is Tomato, Basil and Mozzarella.  Here we have purple basil as well as green.  Color, taste, texture, smell- we have become too used to the market varieties which are selected only for their ease of growing, harvesting and transporting and storing and not for their taste.  Home grown produce is a totally different product than its supermarket imposter.  When we can give the Misterios offerings that we ourselves have grown, it means so much more because the offerings themselves hold more vitality and our sweat and love is embodied by them.   

The garlic harvest!  This year our garlic is better than ever with our new raised beds.  Wow!  We have garlic for the whole year, for eating, for replanting for next year and for trabajos!

Our wonderful goat herd.  Here our daughter is the "goat whisperer" who does a great job in taming the goats.  They are all easily handled and the females will be no problem to milk.  We are building our goat herd.  We have two varieties of African goats, the Pygmy and the Boer.  Both are meat goats, however the Boers are much bigger.

This is our Boer billy, Nkongo, who is still a baby but growing fast.  

This is our Pygmy billy "Chife" who is already full grown and whose is the father of the kids that we are expecting this year.  

In front is our Milking goat we added to the herd.  She is a Alpine, and still a baby.  We will breed her to Nkongo to produce goats that can be milkers and meat goats.  Behind her is Nana, our pygmy nanny who is our daughter's goat.  She is expecting kids and we will milk her and use the billy kids for personal consumption and Misterio.  We also have two Boer nannies that we will breed primarily for meat.  As Paleros it is always good for us to learn about the various goats and their behaviors so that we can gain a greater appreciation of what the Mystery receives.  

Our goat herd is let loose from time to time but must be carefully monitored because they will devastate the garden and trees.  We have another nanny goat that we are adding to our herd once she is old enough to leave her mother.  She is a Kiko Boer cross.  The Kiko is a breed of feral goat from (Aotearoa) New Zealand.  They have a resistance to parasites and since parasites are a health issue for goats, this resistance is very good for our goat herd.

Our new compost corner for our chickens.  This allows us to contain our chickens when we feel predators are around.  Here we have problems with hawk kills, not so much at this time with foxes or raccoons.  We are finding the balance between free ranging our chickens and having a place to contain them and give them kitchen scraps so that the predators do not pick them off one by one.  

One of our hens has gone broody and we are considering letting her sit on the eggs to hatch them.  To a great extent broodiness has been bred out of chickens and most chickens are hatched in incubators.  When we have a chicken that is truly broody she becomes very valuable to us.  We will be building a separate broody hen house so we can have a place for our broody hens to be undisturbed.  Since our goal is sustainability, we do not want to rely on incubators or purchased chicks, ideally we want several broody hens who will raise their chicks naturally.  

As Paleros it is a blessing to see the various breeds of chickens and get to know which are more in tune with their natural instincts and which have had the instincts bred out of them and become extremely dumbed down.  We are seeking intelligent chickens because we want to consume intelligent eggs and meat and we want to use intelligent gallos for the Misterio.  

At the risk of being repetitive, we continue to share our way of living with our Mother Earth and our Misterios and Ancestors within our Spiritual Practices.  For us, all of life is within the space of the Munanso or Bohio, meaning that we approach the Spirit in a holistic way and do not keep the Spirit as a part time aspect of our lives.  We have taken our Tratos seriously and have followed the Ancestral Spirits in transforming our lives, and we continue to transform and radically change our lives as we learn and discover.  Through a long and difficult process we have come to learn that we do not need to chain our Misterios down.  Chaining comes from the process of colonialism which has brought us nothing but tears and poverty and menticize.  We have learned not to enslave our Misterios because we are not slave masters of our Misterios.  We are the Children of Mother Earth and we work hand in hand, with love and willingness with her and our Ancestors and the many Ancestors of our Munanso and Bohio to continue the process of Reconciliation and Thriving with Mother Earth.

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!

A Reality that Blinds Us: Earth Changes

A Reality that Blinds Us:

Earth Changes

February 21, 2010

Koki Medicine Clan

I want to place some concentration within this article on those who identify as “Taino”.  I begin, first and foremost, by asking the question: “What is a Taino?” and “What is it that is in our consciousness when we say out loud “I am Taino”?”  What does this actually mean inside of our conscious thinking, inside of our Spirit, and inside of the Life that is being lived upon the Earth within this very moment that our eyes are upon this article?  My question does not rise from the habitual response that has been born out of the Taino Resurgence which is “Tainos are the ‘good people’”.  If this is what we are holding in our consciousness as a Taino, then the description is astronomically out of balance.  If one is responding to the question by saying “I was born a Taino”  then what does this actually mean?  The way that many self-identified Taino today are living, in reality, is in total contradiction to the values, principles and focus of our Taino Ancestors in the Caribbean.  This is a fact that only through a dense denial can we try to avoid.

The facts are that our Taino Ancestors were master ecologists and master agriculturalists who had a pristine and prolific environment which they were care taking.  This same agricultural, botanical and ecological ability and sensitivity extended all over this entire continent with its gifts continuing to bless us in the form of the many foods (vegetables and fruits) which were selected, cultivated and developed by our Ancestors.  Our Ancestors were innovative in dealing with the wet and dry seasons and were far advanced in the practices of permaculture and working with the natural ecology to sustain themselves.  The Spirituality was a direct result of this intimate relationship, it was not something abstract or disconnected from the Earth.  Our Ancestors had profound principles and understandings and these revolved around “The Dead”, “Agriculture (or Sustainability)” and the relationship of the Living to the Dead and to Atabey (the Earth).  Not only did they revere the Spirit of the Earth as well as the Processes of Life and Death, but they also understood these things and gave intricate expression to them as can be seen in the myriad of petroglyphs and Cemis which continue to resonate today, although today they are much less understood.  The Myths (of which we only have fragments left) clearly are complex and profound expressions of geological, biological, astrological, cultural, spiritual, botanical, historical and ecological Truths.  

The definition of Taino as “good people” has worked against the empowerment of our people, often creating a feeling of passivity or victimization that has worked contrary to our process of reclaiming an identity.  When we say “I was born Taino”, are we referring to DNA, are we referring to a family identity as Taino or “Indio”, are we referring to a category on the census, or are we referring to a holistic approach to life which extended from the food we ate and the structure we lived in to the education we received and the medicines we used?  Or are we referring to a spirituality which revolved around the Dead and the use of Cemis, and if our Spirituality did revolve around the Dead and the use of Cemis, what were they used for? Or are we talking about Christians who acknowledged an “Indio or Taino” identity within the family line?

We must consider carefully all these points and reflect on our Ancestors understanding and value for these points and our understanding and value for these points today to see if truly there is a contradiction or if there is a breakdown within the typical definition of being a Taino today.

Taino burial practices were very spiritual, the understanding of the process of Death and  the world of the Ancestors was elaborate and profound.  Ancestral Remains were placed in Ceremonial Grounds and in gourds handing right within the home.  Ancestors were held very close and many of a Family’s Cemis represented certain Ancestors and were used as a link to those Ancestors.  Ancestors were important to every aspect of life including childbirth, agriculture, weather cycles, protection of the community, fishing, hunting and certainly Death.  The Cohoba Ritual also revolved around Ancestors/ the Dead.  Our Ancestors could “see” the Death that is biologically ever present within Life and constantly elaborated on their understanding of this phenomenon.  Without a doubt if our Ancestors were to witness a typical burial today they would be horrified and disgusted at the heartlessness within this process. The Ancestors never had dreamed of care taking the body of the deceased in such a barbaric and cold manner.  As Agriculturalists they would have been outraged at bringing a body into the Earth full of contamination of unnatural embalming fluid and encasing the body in a concrete box in a cemetery far from the center of the community.   They would have been outraged to see a body left to strangers to wash, to clothe and to prepare for burial, and a body left unprotected and uncared for overnight in morgues and funeral homes.  Traditionally our Ancestors always had full access to the remains of their Dead; the modern cemetery is the equivalent of institutionalizing the Dead and ensuring a growing breakdown in communication between the Living and the Dead.

As Tainos we must be focused and concerned about these issues of burial practices and we must run (not walk) to become engaged within the growing Green (Traditional) Burial Movement which will allow us to bury our Dead with the honor and respect that our Ancestors held so sacred.  Green burials, meaning home funerals, no embalming, full empowerment of the Family within the whole process and either bringing the body to “Green Cemeteries” or to Family Burial Plots in (usually) more rural locations can allow us as Tainos to fully express our Spirituality and Traditional Practices within what can be seen as one of the most important Ceremonial Moments of Life which is DEATH.  Not only is this “eco-friendly” meaning that we are not leeching the highly toxic formaldehyde in the embalming fluid into the soil and are not burying the metals and plastics of the caskets and cement of the vaults into the soil, but it also allows the body to go through its natural process of decay.  To allow the body to go through its natural process of decay is very important to the Spirit of the Deceased, and eases the transition from Life to Death, it is the process of the material absorption by Atabey (Mother Earth).  Ideally we can bury our Dead in Family Burial Grounds where our children and relatives can have full access to our Bones so that they can communicate with us unencumbered by the limitations of cemeteries.  For those who grasp for the excuse of not having enough money to go against the “norm” I will point out that Green Burials are a fraction of the cost of the typical american funeral and burial.  Our Ancestors were Muerteros “Workers with the Dead” and today we continue to be Muerteros.  To continue to allow our Dead to be placed in conventional cemeteries, poisoned with embalming fluid, and suffocated in caskets and cement, is insanity when we have a reasonable and available alternative which resonates deeply with our Spirituality and Traditional Values.

Knowing that our Ancestors were master agriculturalists who had a deep sensitivity for the ecosystems they lived in, again it is essential within the depths of our Spirituality and Tradition to examine deeply the use and abuse of food within our lives and the way this food is grown and processed.  The typical modern diet consists of a high percentage of highly processed foods, many of which are made from genetically modified crops, most are made from crops grown with chemical fertilizer and chemical pesticide and herbicide.  Animal meats are produced in horrific, terrifying and barbaric conditions with no concern for the Spirit of the animal who is giving its life to feed human beings.   Animals are inbred to the point that they are distorted in appearance and would not be able to survive in natural conditions.  The typical diet consists of a small variety of vegetables and fruits ignoring the vast array of vegetables, fruits, berries, nuts and grains which are available for human consumption, not to mention herbs and medicinal plants.  The result is undeniably failing health, degenerative disease, increasing weakened immune systems and emotional and mental issues derived from poor nutrition.  In essence a de-evolution of the human body, mind and spirit.  Crops and animals are grown as “monocultures”, crops in huge fields where the life of the soil is destroyed through compaction by large machinery, the constant planting of only one or two different crops and continual application of poisons (pesticides) and chemical fertilizers.  Animals are penned together in unhygenic food lots.  The soil fertility continues to decline and with it the nutritional value of the food grown upon it.  Spiritually food has become a wasteland, and as we see spiking levels of obesity and disease, it has become clear that (chemical) food has become an enemy of the healthy human body.  Many people have no idea of how to grow food and many are adverse to “getting their hands dirty” to reach out and touch Atabey (Mother Earth).

Our Ancestors were geniuses in their ability to work with the natural environment to create Gardens which produced abundant food for the People.  They would mix together different plants, all of which served the whole system, whether the plant produced food, medicine, useful fiber or substance or if the plant attracted a beneficial insect or bird which kept pests away from the crop plants.  They did not clear massive fields to plant only one crop in them but created diversified areas within the natural landscape.  Some of our Northern Ancestors (or Relatives if you will) perfected a still popular (to organic gardeners) and well known technique called the “Three Sisters Garden” which combined corn, beans and squash (as well as Sunflowers).  In a given space all three (or four) crops could be grown at the same time.  The corn provided the trellis for the beans, the squash shaded the roots of the beans and corn and reduced the need for rain or irrigation, and the beans brought nitrogen into the soil helping to “feed” the corn and squash, and all three thrived together.  More corn could be grown on the same area if only corn was planted but when all three (or four) crops are grown together the net result is more food within a more balanced ecosystem.  This same model was used throughout this continent including within the Amazon Rain Forest.  Our Ancestors worked with natural systems to produce food, they did not work in opposition to natural systems.  Our Ancestors recognized a greatness and a beauty and love within the gestures of placing ones hands upon the Earth to cultivate food, medicine and materials.  

As Indigenous Caribbean People (Tainos) we must overcome the mental incarceration which has separated us from the Earth we walk upon which we depend on for nutrition (the sustaining of Life), and we must once again empower this very important Ceremonial Aspect to our Lives.  Studying Indigenous Techniques, studying modern revival of those Techniques, studying the natural ecosystems we live in and mimicking and working with those systems is Essential to Our Spiritual Development.  Once again we must Re-member the healing properties of the plants which surround us, we must turn once again to Native Plants which can empower our immune systems and bring us much needed nutrition.  We need to return to thinking “Native”, not just as lip service but as actual practice.  Again for those who say finances limit ones ability to make these changes, this is not usually so.  While ideally we would all have a whole acre to make into a garden, through making a Garden using the modern revival of Indigenous techniques (permaculture) we do not need much space to produce food and medicines.  We may also be able to join a community garden, get access to a small garden plot, or even do some balcony, rooftop, fire-escape, or window gardening, or as one of my dear friends has done make a community garden in a median on the road (supported with seeds and compost by the local township).  The possibilities are only limited by our own mental limitations and our lack of thinking “Indigenous”.  Gardens are also a powerful way to bring communities together.  Those who love Gardening will tell you quickly that there is a deep Spirituality within this practice as well as emotional and mental cleansing and healing.

Along with the process of Death, the process of Birth was also essential within our Ancestor’s consciousness and spiritual practices.  The popular petroglyph showing a Frog Woman in a birthing position  (many call her Atabey, and we consider her to be the aspect of Atabey who is “Guimaco” Fertile Frog Woman) underlines the importance of the power of Female Fertility and Giving Birth.  Many aspects of the fragments of the Ancestral Myths that we do have refer to processes of giving birth.  Obviously our Ancestors gave birth in natural conditions under the care of experienced midwives, much as the global population has given birth until relatively recently.  Yet, somehow today many of our women (supported by us men) run to the hospital and undergo a very medicalized process of giving birth to our Children which is approached as a “disease” process and during which fear is instilled into the expectant Mother that she must rely on this over medicalized process or else endanger herself and child.  I do not advocate not seeking medical or hospital treatment in the cases of pregnancy and birth in which a genuine threat is present to the Mother or Child, as there are very real emergency situations and medical conditions which do require a hospital setting.  However the vast majority or births are normal and natural and do not require anything other than an experienced midwife or birthing center which provides a setting in which the Mother, Father and Child can be comfortable and can approach the whole process in a traditional manner or a spiritual manner.  (Midwifes and Birthing Centers are again a fraction of the cost of a hospital birth).  The vast majority of cases do not require chemicals be given to the mother for pain which then get passed on to the child.  The Mother being more comfortable is less likely to need “inducing” and is likely to be much more comfortable and able to deal with the contractions and intense energies of childbirth in a way that is empowering and not disempowering.  This natural process can then be followed by the process of breast feeding of the Child which has 100% benefits to both Child and Mother, including the transferring of antibodies from Mother to Child, bonding, and stimulating the Mother’s uterus to shrink back to its original size and removing excess weight from the pregnancy.  It also means that infant formula is not required and the money spent on this can be redirected into things that will support the Mother’s health and immune system for the time she is breast feeding.   For us Taino we can have a Cemi present during this whole process to empower it. This process, then leading to the education of the child, must be the domain of the Parents and Community rather than institutions if we are to truly see ourselves as Indigenous Taino People. It is the Birth, Nurturing and Education of the Children which lead to a healthy Indigenous People, and as the situation stands today few “Taino” of today are finding a way to break through this mental breakdown to be able to envision and carry out a new (yet traditional) approach to this Sacred and Essential Process of Life!  We have all heard the horror stories of how Indigenous Children were kidnapped from their parents and sent to western “boarding schools” where they were forced away from their traditions, beaten for speaking their traditional languages, and were subjected to mental (and sometimes physical) torture which created a profound breakdown within those communities just as the same root of brutality attacked the Africans who were kidnapped, tortured and deprived and enslaved within this continent.  Today this same process of the kidnapping of our children continues but now with our consent, which is given from a center of fear inside ourselves.

Our Taino Ancestors did not build grandiose structures made of stone, huge temples or vast pyramids, however they did build a type of structure that was perfectly adapted to the climate of the Caribbean with its Hurricanes, Earthquakes, and Volcanic activity.  These humble structures were natural, non-toxic, circular (to be less susceptible to high winds knocking them down) and healthy spaces for the Families to live in.  They did not take out high mortgages to build these structures and they did not pay rent to live in these structures.  If the home did get destroyed by a Hurricane, they were easy enough and quick enough to rebuild.  The largest stone structures our Ancestors had were their Sacred Caves and Caverns which were (and still are) deeply spiritual spaces and also very safe areas to go to during a Hurricane.  Their Bateys were marked out with large stones many of which were carved with petroglyphs, so clearly our Ancestors were familiar with Stone, skilled at working with stone but felt no need to build homes from stone.  Today many of us live in “concrete jungles” or as some say “concrete reservations” where we live in high rise buildings, encased not only by concrete but also by all manner of toxic material from the insulation used, the carpet glue, the adhesives within all the plywood and wallboard, the toxicity of the paint and the list goes on down to the toxic cleaners used to clean the homes.  Workplaces tend to be even more toxic as carpets are replaced more frequently, cleaning agents are stronger and more toxic, and in many cases natural light is even more dimmed.  The huge amount of electricity which powers all this comes from coal mining and nuclear power predominantly in this area which devastates mountains, poisons rivers and which accumulates nuclear waste which is a danger which is impossible to neutralize.  Indoor air is more polluted than outdoor air (even city outdoor air) due to all the toxins inherent in the way modern buildings are constructed, remodeled and the way all the furniture and furnishings are made and the chemicals used to clean everything.  

The “Green Building and Green Remodeling” is gaining in popularity as those with the money to spare remodel their homes or build new ones with natural and nontoxic materials, however this is a very expensive approach and for many of us it is very difficult to find the money to do this unless we roll up our sleeves and provide the labor ourselves.  Other options include the growing in popularity “small house movement” which can enable those of us who have the courage and adaptability to make changes, to find a way to live in a healthy home.   For many of us substituting our power source with “solar energy or wind energy” is a dream due to the large costs involved in buying solar panels and windmills.  Fortunately, the options continue to expand and wind energy is available as an energy choice on the grid in some areas and in others companies will rent you solar panels and charge you a kilowatt hour charge just like the power company, making this a viable option for some.  However, one of the first advice we received in our research concerning living “off grid” was “reduce energy use to 10% of what you use now”.  Since then we have, without changing homes, cut our energy use in half without much effort, switching bulbs, being more conscious of energy use, turning off lights, computers, foregoing outdoor lighting, and switching one appliance to a more energy efficient one.  We also opted to get 100% of our electricity from a local wind energy producer.  We are Indigenous People who find ourselves in a society which is in direct opposition to our Indigenous Values however the most obvious option is not the only option and as the climate crisis and energy crisis and financial crisis, food crisis, water crisis, healthcare crisis continue to get worse growing options are arising which are allowing us to make choices which are more in harmony with our Indigenous Spirit.  As Taino today we must be in the forefront of the changes which are occurring which allow us to lower our devastating negative impact upon our Mother Earth and allow us to extricate ourselves from this alien way of life that we have found ourselves entrapped within.

Many people are talking today about “Earth Changes” from Climate Change to Maya Prophecy and other Indigenous Prophecies and Cycle Transitions as seen from many different cultures.  Earth Changes are depicted as many different things from a series of devastating end of the world type catastrophes to changes in consciousness.  Seminars are being held, conferences are taking place, workshops are occurring and books are being written all on this general topic of “Earth Changes” and in terms of “Climate Change/ Global Warming” laws and regulations are being enacted, promises are being made (and broken) and protests are getting ever more vocal.  

As a Taino I fully recognize that “Earth Changes” are upon us, there is no doubt that we are confronting a reality that can only be denied for so long, and “so long” is already out of time.  However from my perspective “Earth Changes” include much more than a climactic change or a mystical “shift in consciousness”,  Earth Changes include everything we are interrelating with on a daily basis.  Our Mother Earth is responding to the behavior of human beings upon her and there is and will continue to be consequences to the dumping of mass toxicity into the Soil, Rivers, Ocean, Skies, and there is and will continue to be consequences to mining and quarrying deep into the Earth to exploit resources that are better left alone (such as Uranium) and the widespread destruction of ecosystems to feed the ongoing addiction to fossil fuels.  There is and will continue to be consequences to the manipulation of weather cycles through weather modification and the creation of manmade earthquakes to suit the agendas of a minority.  Our Mother Earth will always seek balance and will always seek healing, and the ways that this may come about can be catastrophic to human beings (as well as other biological life).  These “Earth Changes” are not “natural” as they are being cause by the “unnatural” behavior of a total disregard for life, for ecosystems and for the Sacredness of the Earth, Sky, and Waters.  These “Earth Changes” have occurred because of a “Consciousness” of greed, a epidemic of inferiority complexes and superiority complexes, a breakdown in the relationship to Mother Earth.  We also need to understand that the Earth is always transforming and changing and we need to be sensitive to those changes so that we can continue to survive and thrive within our experience here.  

Western thinking separates everything into its components and ignores the underlying wholeness of Creation.  Western thinking addresses symptoms independently rather than the underlying imbalances or weaknesses.  Indigenous thinking analyses the underlying issues, imbalances and weaknesses which once addressed will allow the whole system to thrive.  With the  “Earth Changes” that are upon us we must, especially as Indigenous People, look at all the “Changes” that we are confronting as symptomatic of an underlying disease (which we could classify as colonialism, imperialism, tyranny, power imbalance, feudalism, industrialization without consideration of natural systems, and a breakdown in the human mind or mental disease).  Our Climate Crisis is not a separate phenomenon from the Oil Crisis, Water Crisis, Food Crisis, Economic Crisis, Health Crisis, Mineral Crisis, Educational Crisis, Cultural Crisis, they are all interwoven and come from the same fundamental crisis, which is a crisis in Consciousness and Spirituality, which has been coming to a head for over 500 years.  What we do need to recognize is that we are at the point of “Earth Changes” where the crisis is reaching a point where it affects the whole organism (whole Earth and all her Biological Life) in a way that precipitates a massive “Change” which we have classified as “Earth Changes”.  It reaches a point where the current prevalent behavior of greed, disregard for the Earth and all her Life, is no longer able to be sustained by the resources of the Earth and change is no longer something to be sought out or hoped for, it becomes something that is inevitable and comes regardless of whether we have prepared for it or not.  Every empire falls when it becomes diseased and corrupted internally, this particular “empire” is a global empire which has conned virtually all people of the Earth into becoming totally dependent upon it.  Most of the time we do not even realize how dependent we have become upon the material (and emotional, spiritual and mental) (mal)nourishment that we live upon, we only get a glimpse of it when the power cuts out, we loose a job, or a “catastrophe strikes”.  

As Indigenous People and certainly as Taino (who have experienced this unnatural consciousness within our homelands for more than 500 years, therefore who have a very extensive resume of experience with this consciousness) we must see these “Earth Changes” as systemic and seek to prepare ourselves from a holistic point of view, taking the various points I mentioned earlier (Burial, Birth, Food, Heath and Housing) and others into consideration when envisioning a plan of action with regard these Earth Changes.  My concern today is not just regarding the Earth Changes but regarding the fact that many of us are in denial or blind to the reality of what is confronting us and what it is escalating into, which is why I entitled this article “The Reality that Blinds Us: Earth Changes”.  Identifying as Taino today has everything to do with this Reality and seeking to craft an identity as Taino which does not take these points and changes into consideration is an exercise in fruitless denial.  

Written in the Spirit of Our Multiple Grandmothers....