Once more we see the depredation of Christianity in particular and monotheism in general on indigenous peoples. (and those of you reading this from Northern European ancestry..we were those indigenous peoples once too. Christianity came for us first). When are we going to wake up and fight this? When are we, as a world-community going to realize that the monotheism is not the answer, rather it is a huge part of the problem. 

Read this: http://indigeny-energetics.blogspot.com/2009/12/burning-at-crossroads-indigenous.html

WHY is this not considered a human rights violation? It is, on a massive scale. 
 
Restoration and the development of Pan-Indigenous consciousness

By L. Patsouris

  Indigeny is afoot. Around the globe as indigenous peoples fight to preserve their traditions and ways, many are beginning to turn their heads and look at how these groups, with their original instructions intact, are able to live respectfully and sustainably on the Earth. Many are beginning to realize that modernity as it is being expressed currently is not sustainable and they are looking to indigenous traditions to see how their worldview leads to partnership with the ecosystem instead of destruction. Moreover many whose indigenous traditions were sundered are taking steps to actively reclaim and restore those traditions.

  If you go back far enough, we all come from tribal peoples. We all had indigenous traditions and knew at one time how to live in balance on the Earth without destroying Her. Indigeny is the birthright of humanity and the hope of people who wish to restore the balance and live in harmony with the planet. While each culture is unique, there are 3 main themes that seem to be universal and can be found in all indigenous cultures.

1.       Ancestor veneration. All indigenous cultures have a sense of intimacy and continuity with their ancestors. They all have rituals around honoring their ancestors and understand that they are part of a line with obligations to those who came before as well as to those who come after.

2.       The Land. All indigenous cultures have a sense of belonging to the land and being caretakers of their land. There is a conscious sense of the holiness of the Earth and living as part of rather than as separate from nature and a sense of communication and interaction with the spirits of the land.

3.       The Gods/Holy Powers. Indigenous cultures have a sense of connection to their Deities or Sacred Powers and a sense of place and purpose within their own unique cosmologies.

By looking at the commonalities we can see that while each culture was unique, there are certain unifying principles behind the indigenous worldview.

  Recently I was fortunate to be a presenter at a conference where there were several speakers and attendees who are all working actively to restore, reclaim and to preserve their indigenous spiritual traditions and lifeways. Although we all came from different cultures, we had a strong sense of all working towards the same goal. There was a palpable sense of solidarity among us as we all wove this theme of restoration and indigeny into our classes.  We all knew and understood the need to break free of the modern, predatory power-over consumerist paradigm to reclaim our essential humanity. We all saw our indigenous paths as roads back to something vital and essential that had been attacked and ruptured and required healing to regain our own wholeness of spirit. In this light we were able to encourage and support one another and celebrate the steps each of our groups are taking to reclaim and carry out our original instructions. We came from different backgrounds but had a common language and desire: indigeny. Reclamation. Renewal.

  Thinking of how Native Americans of all tribes and nations worked together in the American Indian Movement and how Pan-African consciousness spurred the fight against colonialism in Africa and the Civil Rights struggle, I hope to see the emergence of a Pan-Indigenous consciousness. Colonialism visited us all and the beast was successful because it picked us off individually as tribes. It happened to the Gauls, Celts, Saxons, Yoruba, Igbo, Mende, Lakota, Navajo and Cherokee. I do not have space enough and time to list all the tribes and nations who were visited by conquest and whose traditions and lifeways were viciously targeted for eradication by the machine of conformity and obedience to Church. This machine rolls on today, bent on consuming and destroying the resources that could sustain us all if we would dare to walk in balance and take only what we need.

  Indigeny calls for us to realize that we as humanity are all in this together, this fight for redemption, reunion and sustainability. It reminds us that we are our brother’s keeper and we have an obligation to each other, the four footeds, the winged ones, the trees, the waters and this Earth that we all call home. We are all related. What impacts one of us impacts us all. It allows us to celebrate the diversity and beauty of our cultures while acknowledging our shared humanity so we can work together to bring healing to our world. Our ancestors, the spirits of the land and the waters and our Holy Ones are calling out. This is the eleventh hour and humanity has hard choices to make. Do we continue our descent into alienation, greed and destruction? Or do we rise up to meet our challenges in the spirit of reconnection and community? Which side are you on?

 
Well, dear readers, technically today marks the culmination of the Turtle Island 42 Initiative. Thank you all for staying with us for the past forty two days. Thank you to all those who contributed articles, prayers, invocations, and other useful information. We appreciate your support throughout this project. 

 Indigeny is essential, it truly is and it's right there waiting for us to open up our eyes and claim it. It can be terrifying work. You are all being asked, as we were asked, to let go of the filter of conquest and monotheism, to drop it and stand vulnerable and naked before some unknown thing that people you've probably never met before tell you is a blessing. But claiming it requires a radical shift in everything you thought you knew, in your entire outlook, in the way you relate to every single thing in your world. Moving from one state of being to the other can involve a seemingly insurmountable chasm.

Your ancestors can help bridge that chasm. Remember them. They're there for you and want you to be healthy, engaged, and whole--something the post-conquest filter will not foster.

Moreover, you have the capacity to do this. It requires courage, yes, but each and every one of you is capable of making this leap. Do it for your ancestors. Do it for yourselves. Do it for your children. Do it for their children. They (and you) deserve a much better world than what you've been given. You can each make a difference. It may seem insurmountable but it begins one person at a time, one single mind, heart, and soul committed to the struggle at a time. You can all do this thing because that indigenous filter is not out of reach at all. It's right there, your birthright; and readers, it changes *everything* for the better.

Once you've seen through indigenous eyes (and we all have indigenous roots. Our people come from somewhere.) you may become angry. In fact, you may look at the world and become enraged. Good. That is the appropriate response. Understand that: how can anyone look at this world awash in the depredations of monotheism and its children and NOT be enraged. Use that anger. Allow it to inspire you, fuel you and move you into a deep committment toward healing our world. It needs healing, and that call to arms is also our birthright.

Even though the TI42 Initiative is over, we shall continue posting here over the next few months. We still welcome contributions, and this archive will remain up and active. We won't be posting every day as we did through the initiative, but we will still be active here. So check back and keep on keeping on. Every single one of you is needed in this struggle.

May the ancestors inspire us.
May they strengthen and guard us.
May they help us remain firm in our committments;
and may we, in our words, our hearts, our actions,
ever do them honor.
 
Today, we're posting a call for assistance. Peter Dybing, a Wiccan clergyman who has done amazing work in trying to further the rights not only of Wicca, but of all polytheisms and Paganisms as well, has been working with the earthquake relief efforts in Haiti. Here is his link: http://paganinparadise.blogspot.com/2011/11/pagan-request-for-help-in-haiti.html?spref=bl. This is a worthy cause and Peter a man of absolutely integrity. Please consider helping him if you can.

For every predatory evangelical missionary, of which there were many, who went down to Haiti in the wake of the earthquake trying to bully, shame, terrorize, and harass people away from their indigenous ways (namely Voudoun), consider making a donation.

Then consider this: why isn't missionary work of that nature, the type of that aims not to provide food and build houses but to destroy indigenous traditions and co-opt people away from their native Gods, considered a human rights violation?

it is you know, a human rights violation. Why is it tacitly sanctioned?

 
Indigeny is about celebrating the dignity of every living being on this planet. It is about recognizing that we are indisputably connected to the earth and the land. It is about recognizing that we are our ancestral lines walking -- for good or for ill--and owning the responsibilities, sometimes great, for doing that in a healing, healthy way.

The indigenous mindset rests on acknowledging our own responisibility for every thing we do, every interaction, every foot that we place upon this earth. It is about rejecting that which would poison and corrupt our connections with the land, with our dead, with our Holy Powers. The indigenous mindset recognizes that sustainability will not be found in the dubious wisdom of disconnected governments and corporations but in listening once again to the call of our ancestors, and the admonishments of our Gods. ..our Gods, not the malignant presence behind monotheism, a creed that seeks to sever all healthy connections with the holy, with the world, with each other, with ourselves.

reclaiming indigeny means confronting priviledge. It means actively engaging with difficult and tremendously uncomfortable ideas and concepts. It means engaging instead of play acting. It means accepting the discomfort of the process and forging ahead mindfully, respectfully, instead of  the sham of pretending a committment to some nebulous idea of diversity simply so one can feel good about oneself...without ever actually confronting or changing anything.

most of all it means never giving up, no matter what the hostility or what the pressures we might face. We are warriors in a struggle that has spanned generations. We have inherited the medicine of our ancestors. We shall pass this on to our children. We will not be legislated, 'educated,' starved, murdered, shamed, or prayed out of existence. Many things can be taken from a person through the generations long process of conquest. Indigeny however is not something that can be taken away. It flourishes in the soil on which we walk. It is hidden in our skin and blood and bones, in the connection from parent to child to grandchild and beyond. It is there. All we have to do is wake up and claim it.

that time is now. We do not do this alone. We have an army of the dead at hour backs. Those who would underestimate this do so in foolishness. We shall indeed overcome. Because this world cannot afford another generation or two of monotheistic "enlightenment."
 
"THE SOLUTION DEMONSTRATED:
•Widespread repentance among the clergy and church leadership of our nation, undeniable by
pagans and reported by news organizations, resulting in pagans coming into the fear of God. "

No.

As we said in words or in action when predatory christianity and forces of colonialism and cultural destruction reached for all indigenous peoples, we will not capitulate.  We have sound, strong and grounded traditions that our Ancestors have passed on to us from time immemorial....time before time.  And now so many years after the tragedy of force, rape and pillage have successfully torn the garment of our Ancestral traditions and allowed the disjointed energies of missionary religious imperialism to destroy culture and peoples...but we do not look away from a future with our Ancestors at our side.  There is no future without the indigenous world, strong, empowered and living its Ancestral mandate to move forward with those traditions in unity and harmony with All That Is.
 
Several of us recently saw a documentary called "The Language You Cry In" and it occurred to us that the dominant theme of this film is something that connects very strongly to the Turtle Island Initiative's goal of raising awareness about the importance of indigeny.

This documentary profiles a Gullah woman, the grand daughter of a slave woman. Her grand mother kept alive a song that we later find out is from the Mende tribe in Africa. It was the only fragment of heritage and ancestry that she had and none of the descendants knew what the song meant. It was just something grandma had passed down to them. Through the course of the documentary, we find out that the song is a tribal song meant to connect one to one's ancestors. It was the one thing that the first of their ancestors to be sold into slavery brought with her, the one thing she passed down to her children and her children's children and beyond: a song, a piece of medicine, with the power to connect one to one's tribe and people.

the documentary traces the work of linguists, anthropologists, ethnomusicologists, and Mende tribal members as they unravel the mystery of this song (which isn't a mystery at all to the Mende woman who recognizes the song). In the end, the Gullah woman, a descendant of people ripped away from tribe and culture, returns to her ancestral soil and is greeted by her people. It's a powerful example of exactly what our ancestors can do, and how even if we do not know from where we come, they do and always, always if we reach out, they will bring us home.

the documentary may be purchased here: http://newsreel.org/video/THE-LANGUAGE-YOU-CRY-IN.

we highly recommend it.
 
Remembrance

You tell me to forget
That the past can only hurt me
And I should get over it
And move on.
How can I forget the past
When that would erase my story?
Rob me of my ancestors
And their power?
The past is present today
Alive and well.
I will not be complicit
To your genocide.
What else would you call it
When you seek to destroy
The roots of my humanity?
Our earth is wounded
Soaked in blood and tears
The cries of Her martryrs.
You tell me to forget the past
Oblivion is the only comfort
For the Guilty.
Rebellion is a gift,
A token of remembrance
I give my Dead.
I will not erase my life
For your convenience.
Come hunt me
On my own terrain
And test my mettle.

-Manaya Aracoel

 
Below are two links of interest to those involved in restoring and protecting indigeny. The first is an article from the Irish Times about continuing depredations by white politicians and culture against Native Americans and the second link, a wrenching documentary. The documentary is rather long, but we encourage folks to take the time to watch it. Most of us did not learn these things in school.

Educate yourselves. Education isn't just a priviledge or a right, it is an *obligation.*. It is a path to freedom. Educate yourselves by any means necessary. Only then can you wake up and truly set about educating and changing your world.

anyway, here are the links: 

 

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/world/2011/1029/1224306728718.html

http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2011/10/treatment-of-native-americans-explored-in-documentary/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_content=treatment-of-native-americans-explored-in-documentary&utm_campaign=fb-posts

 

 All of the genetic diversity found within humanity across the globe stems largely from our environment. We are designed as human beings to adapt physically to the land on which we live. We are in ongoing relationship with the earth. This gives us the breathtaking physical diversity found in our world, from Africa, to China, to Scandinavia, to the Americas and beyond. It is a mark of our engagement with the land. It is a magnificent example of partnership in action and has, over the past fifty thousand years, made our world a richer and more beautiful place.

 So, if we are patterned to respond to the land, and we have desecrated, abused, and genetically modified our land, what kinds of adaptations will that breed in us? If we are slowly killing the land on which we live,  (and we are) and weakening it, what does that mean for us, who, whether we wish to acknowledge it or not, depend upon the land and its fruits for our survival?

Since industrialization, and especially within the last generation, we’ve seen a tremendous growth in cancer, learning disabilities, autism, allergies (severe allergies, enough to imperil children’s lives) and many other diseases and issues. 25% of society suffers from some form of mental illness (a percentage simply not seen within indigenous cultures). We have seen humanity grow weaker and weaker as they engage less and less. We have seen humanity embody and adapt to a diseased environment, one of its own making. This is what we are bequeathing to our children. We feed them poison as surely as if we were putting it in their mouths with our own hands.  What we do to the land we do to ourselves.   

Fundamentalist Christianity does not care about the land. They believe that their scriptures teach that Jesus will not return until no trees are left standing. They have enshrined destruction of the natural world into their dominant creed and have set about seeing that destruction brought to fruition with a vengeance. This is the birthright that is being left to our children and our children’s children. It goes beyond having abandoned our ancestors’ relationship with and obligation to the land, and into active destruction.

We must open ourselves to the agony of our world. We must learn again to hear the pain of the land as it is slowly being poisoned. We must learn to hear its cries and to re-develop the type of compassion that spurs us to respond. We must stop pissing on this treasure that was left to our care. ..not just for the earth itself but for ourselves, our children, and their children’s children too. Because in the end, that’s who we’re harming the most.

What we do to the land we do to ourselves.