Thursday, December 10, 2020

A Chance Back to Conscious Health

"Merging with the Redwoods" 

Umpa Walli! Winter Blessings to you during this very mystical season.  In addition, many apologies for this very long delay.  I can blame it on Covid19 but I am grateful for the prescribed time out.  At least at this time of year.  When one chooses to live in a more isolated region, (and I only speak for myself), there is a tendency to pay attention to the seasons or what some would call climactic changes, than to the commercial constructs of proclaimed holidays or social and jurisdictional observations. When we turn the attention to nature and its spiritual attributes (as we are also natural and possess spiritual inclinations) the Church then labels us pagans or what Owen Davis has termed "religion of the peasantry".  Way back then those of us with such predispositions were outsiders to the colonial elite. 
I could get into a historical and political treatise here, however, I am not trying to make a point pertaining to human rights because I basically live in an environment where I don't find the need to proclaim who I am. I found when I chose to participate in such a climatic regional discourse, I was a very unhappy and angry person.  It's not easy to remove ourselves from it all, but we can.
I do not have to identify myself as an Indigenous person, I live my life as an indigenous person and we all know that indigenous peoples have been on the outside looking in within the colonial paradigm.  Contrarily ... I believe we live our lives not from the outside looking in, we are In.  From an indigenous perspective, all the rest of the contrived notions of colonial society are literally not from a perspective of a periphery of life, but a fantasy.  Labels and constructs that we accept are when we become completely lost within the confines of our minds.  We have an incredible amount of resources to look into instead of immediately accepting what is placed in front of us because "friends" and family condone it.  Again that is my personal perspective and my perspective gives me the opportunity to live a natural and normal (what I define for myself as normal) existence. 
Perhaps because I have found my place in my Elder existence.  I work hard at being a human being, the species that the Creators held such value and love for, and I seek to support all those who are striving for such a reality as well.  And,  the ancestors have left words of prophesy that when the settlers finally have settled into the structured society they designed on Mother Earth, is when great healing will take place for everyone.
So we approach the holidays.  Some of us have experiences founded within an observance or holiday that have marked our lives within that segment of time and each year that spirit of "time" returns. Like a broken record it plays upon our consciousness and instead of living in cheer, joy, and celebration, we are riddled with anxiety and depression.  In order to deal with all the energy of the holiday season that is quite ubiquitous, our emotional state reaches for outlets and we turn to anything that will remove the constant sequence of inner disturbance the social scene brings. 
I don't observe Christmas for many reasons.  It basically started with my mother leaving us on Christmas eve.  Every year after that it became more and more difficult.  I am the eldest of my siblings and after my mother left I took on the role of carrying out our birthday celebrations and holidays for my immediate family until my ex and I divorced.  I found us an empty lot, going through the motions like so many others.  During the years traveling through the colonial observances, I embraced the goodness of what I can find from the Earth and now celebrate that perspective.  And that celebration all returns to the indigenous peoples' honoring of the land and the gratefulness for living here. 
From an indigenous perspective, this time of year is a chance to return to the  Creators together with our families and close loved ones.  For many California Indigenous communities in the summer months, our ancestors (and still some of our communities) came/come together with our community at large for world renewal ceremonies, but in the winter it became much more intimate with our connections to the Creators. We held/hold our ancestors closer to us and relieved stories about them, and children were able to ask questions and learn the songs for traditional observances as well as work on regalia.  However, my siblings and I were not part of our living culture then.  We tried to walk in the world like everyone else.  I have been the only one of us that made the journey back to the ancestors because of the calling of Spirit.  The Spirit Call changed my life and has continued to heal me and has given me the strength I have needed all of my life. 
You don't have to be indigenous to hear the calling of our ancestors.  I must say that it is much harder to hear them if we are too attached to the fantasy of colonial society.  Some of us may finally find that social scene too toxic and desire a way out.  Desire is the most important ingredient in finding our own pathway.  I truly know that each of us has a pathway waiting for us.  And for many folks that come from a journey of recovery, they know it takes a lifetime of conscious emersion into the ways of spiritual direction.   That emersion for some is very difficult but rewarding, and for others, it is a joyful and spiritually practical manner of living on our planet each and every day.  There is no longer a need to find something out there that will bring happiness.  And even prophet Jesus has been quoted in saying "Nor will people say, "Here it is" or "There it is", "Because the Kingdom of God is in your midst. - Luke 17:21.
Our indigenous ancestors already knew they were living in Paradise.  There is no other place to be but here, now, and with God/Creators. It is up to us to bring back that paradise within our midst and that starts from within our hearts.  
Once again I must interject that we must have that desire for the calling to pull us out of our complacency.  Once we are on our pathway out of the smoke screens of delusion, we must continue to pray and ask the Creators for guidance.  When we do, people will come into our lives, situations, circumstances.  Remember, what is real is from the Spirit of the Creators not from the social mindset of the colonial scene. 
Laura and Diveena

Very recently I was invited to join a very dear indigenous friend and Yurok Elder, Laura Woods to a documentary filming of acorn processing.  It was a welcomed honoring for our acorn relative's recultivation into our indigenous communities.  Laura has hopes to bring the films out to indigenous communities so that they may regain our acorn relative back into our lives once again. It was an amazing journey as we traveled from the Klamath coast inward, sometimes on one-lane dirt roads to Weitchpec, the Yurok Tribal offices to attend the event.  It reminded me of the times I'd drive through the magnificent Alexander Valley onto one lane roads out to the Pomo Kashia reservation at the coast to attend the healing ceremonies that I participated in.  For Indigenous people who make themselves ready, attending ancestral ceremonies rivets one's journey profoundly into the consciousness of the ancestors.  If you would like to listen to our conversation that pertains to Laura's journey back home to her Yurok community from living out of state and leaving the dominant paradigm, please visit our podcast meet up on Our Ancient Lands.

My final note on returning to the Creators is ... know that many of us have been there, and want to urge you on.  Contact us and drop a line as well as look into our online talking circles and wellness programs.  
As we put our gardens to rest this season we also recently closed our programs and talking circles through the end of the year.  If you are interested in attending our talking circles we plan on hosting them again in mid to later January 2021.  If you would like to find out more about our wellness programs give us a call at 530-419-4827 or email us at info@lutea.org and visit our website.  Let us know you are interested in any program or event, and we will send you the information to register and join us.
We have plans to open another 16-week Mending Broken Hearts workshop in 2021 spring, either online or in person.  If you are interested please give us your input, it will help determine if an online or in-person workshop is favorable. 
May the Creators guide us all towards a healing consciousness of health and well being into the winter. May the ancestors from the depths of winter's knowledge give us the strength and courage to find our pathway of life so that towis hinaak weyyatto (we can do good in the world) 

Walli Ka Molis

Diveena Marcus