Grandmother Moon, the Waters of Life, Coyote and the Marriage Renewal Ceremony

Grandmother Moon, Coyote and 

the Marriage Renewal Ceremony

Between Mother Earth and Father Sun

photo by A. Mondragon

There was a time when people in all their selfishness forgot to feed Grandmother Moon and she became very skinny. They forgot about how she nurtured seeds into blossoming and cared for the rhythm and the flow of Water and the cycles and seasons of Life. The people forgot that Grandmother Moon gave the caregiving of Life's Cycle's rhythm and resonance inside of women. The people had forgotten that she is Grandmother to Mother Earth and Father Sun, caring for a very special harmony and love between them. The people forgot that she was there when Earth and Sun were born and was midwife for each of their 4 worlds and their children to be born. With people's selfishness they tried to control her cycles and seasons, they polluted and abused water and no longer planted seeds or had children with her blessings. Grandmother Moon was concerned about the people's forgetting because the time was near for a New 5th World to be born from the marriage between Mother Earth and Father Sun.

So one night Grandmother Moon asked Coyote Oldman to help prepare for the marriage renewal between Mother Earth and Father Sun so that people would remember her teachings and come to the ceremony. Coyote Oldman was delighted and honored by the invitation to gather gifts for this wonderful occasion. With his acceptance of the invitation Grandmother Moon gave Coyote Oldman a pouch with tobacco to offer when asking others if they would like to share something for the marriage renewal between Mother Earth and Father Sun. 

Coyote ran up the mountains to Birch Woman's home and lay some tobacco at her roots.  "Birch Woman would you make a basket for the great marriage renewal ceremony of Mother Earth and Father Sun?"  Birch Woman rustled and swayed, uncoiling long wide ribbons of skin, and then asked the winds to weave the basket. The basket looked like a big oval canoe. Coyote Old Man was delighted, thanked Birch Woman, and then balancing the Birch Bark Canoe on his head and tail, headed down the mountain to Oldman Cedar.

Coyote lay some tobacco at Cedar's roots. "Oldman Cedar, will you share a gift to Mother Earth and Father Sun for their marriage renewal ceremony?" Coyote Oldman asked.

Oldman Cedar's leaf tufts fluttered and fell into the Birch Bark Canoe making a fragrant soft lining. "Thank you very much !" Coyote Oldman said smiling.

Feeling good about his preparations Coyote Oldman headed toward Standing Stones. Coyote came to the gathering of the tall Standing Stones and lay the Birch Bark Canoe down before talking to them.

photo by A. Mondragon

 "Oh Ancient Ones, it is me, Coyote. Would you like to share a gift to Mother Earth and Father Sun for their marriage renewal ceremony?" Coyote said, as he lay tobacco upon their feet.

There was a low deep moving rumble, and then seven round stones rolled out from within the Standing Stones and came to rest at Coyote Oldman's paws. Coyote thanked the Standing Stones, and thanked each round stone as he placed them carefully in a seven direction pattern at the center of the Birch Bark Canoe. 

Coyote Oldman once again carefully lifted and balanced the Birch Bark Canoe on his head and tail and then went to Meadow's Lake. Meadow's Lake lush, grass, fur, swayed and danced as Coyote Oldman approached sprinkling the tobacco offering. "Meadow's Lake, you are so calm and peaceful, i am on a journey to prepare for Mother Earth and Father Sun's marriage renewal ceremony. Would you like to share a gift for this great occasion?"

Meadow's Lake rhythmically rippled weaving sweet fragrant grass braids along her shore. Coyote Oldman gathered them, and placed them in rows at the back of the Birch Bark Canoe. "Thank you Meadow's Lake" Coyote said, and again balanced the Birch Bark Canoe on this head and tail.

The Birch Bark Canoe was getting heavier for Coyote, so he went down the ravine to Mountain River Woman. Coyote lay the Birch Bark Canoe on the riverside and gave a tobacco offering to river. "Greetings Mountain River Woman, will you share a gift to Mother Earth and Father Sun for their marriage renewal ceremony?"

Mountain River Woman's eyes twinkled as she sang and flow-weaved a song of a Waterbird that flew to the front of the Birch Bark Canoe. Coyote Oldman thanked her, and said, " Mountain River Woman, the Birch Bark Canoe is getting heavier for this Oldman, would you take me and the canoe to Grandmother Ocean?" Mountain River Woman agreed to help Coyote with bubbling laughter.

l-ross-gallery.com

Coyote Oldman carefully slid the Birch Bark Canoe into the river and leaped in. Mountain River Woman flowed slowly, meandering this way and that toward a far off horizon where Grandmother Ocean was beyond. The combination of river's flow and the fragrance of the cedar and sweetgrass soon put Coyote into a dream that turned into a path of stars and swirling rainbows spiraling within the Milk and Honey Galaxy. Coyote danced joyfully from star to star, dressed in a dark purple robe and a cap made from his favorite turquoise bandana. "wow!" Coyote Oldman said, happily sprinkling tobacco here and there on rays of starlight, "Starlight, starlight, would you like to share a gift for Mother Earth and Father Sun's marriage renewal ceremony?" 

Fireflies fluttered out from the starlight rays and gathered like drops of dew on Coyote's robe. Then Coyote jumped and floated on Moon's glistening petals of light that came to lay softly on  Grandmother Ocean. Splash ! Salty sweet drops of water awoke Coyote. Coyote sat up in the Birch Bark Canoe and looked around and was going to wipe the water off his face and instead found that fireflies were resting on his fur. The canoe was rocking gently with Grandmother Ocean as a Dolphin laughed and nudged the canoe. Coyote Oldman looked at Dolphin, wanting to shake his coat like a wet dog, but didn't and instead gave a pinch of tobacco in the direction of Dolphin. "Heya Dolphin, really good to see you. I'm helping prepare for Mother Earth and Father Sun's marriage renewal ceremony…. ummmm, i need some help, or rather would you like to share a gift to them?" Dolphin laughed and splashed Coyote again, then went for a long dive. Coyote really wanted to shake and roll now that he was covered with firefly starlight and ocean's waterdrops. 

As Coyote sat in the Birch Bark Canoe, he realized that he was in the middle of Grandmother Ocean, with no paddle, not sure where home is, covered in salty-sweet water and starlight fireflies …. aaannnnd the thought that he may not get back by morning for the marriage between Mother Earth and Father Sun began to caw like a hunger in his belly.

Dolphin emerged from Grandmother Ocean, tossed a Conch shell into the canoe, and laughed. "Thank you Dolphin", Coyote said a bit forlorn, and Dolphin went on another dive before Coyote could say another word. Coyote Oldman, sat in the rocking canoe looking at the Conch shell. Hmmm Coyote thought about his situation, and then he asked the Firefly Starlight if they would live in the conch shell just until the marriage renewal ceremony. The Firefly Starlight  spiraled off of Coyote's fur and filled the conch shell. 

photo by Kathrin Bacher of a Thailand Dolphin bringing up a conch shell

Then Coyote began rather slowly, "Thank you, all of you, thank you, for sharing your gifts for the marriage renewal between Mother Earth and Father Sun. However, am not too sure about where we are, or how to get to the ceremony from here." None of the gifts responded, so Coyote sat in the Birch Bark Canoe swaying and bobbing with Grandmother Ocean. Coyote took out the pouch that Grandmother Moon gave him and saw that there was not very much tobacco left inside. He took a small pinch and held it, thinking about what he would say on his behalf to Grandmother Ocean.  

"Grandmother Ocean" Coyote Oldman began, " please hear me, am giving you this offering of tobacco. Please make your waters take us to the shores of Mother Earth and Father Sun's marriage renewal ceremony".  Grandmother Ocean did not respond to Coyote, as she had begun to swell and pulse dance in her long curling shawl of oceanwave foam. Coyote now more concerned decided on a more challenging request. 

He took another small pinch of the remaining tobacco and offered the tobacco to the Winds. "Hear me Winds, this is Coyote Oldman,  will you share your winds for Mother Earth and Father Sun's marriage renewal ceremony?"  and then added 

" and blow me and our gifts to the ceremony?"

A warm firm breeze slowly rose, raising and stretching Grandmother Ocean's swells into vast round mountains. "Uh oh", Coyote thought as mountains and valleys of Ocean grew far and wide. He looked inside the small tobacco bag, only a pinch and a few morsels of tobacco remained. Coyote decided to lean over the side of the canoe and paddle with his paws …which only made his stomach caw and his mouth dry. Coyote sat back in the canoe feeling woozy as Grandmother Ocean's valleys were now so deep that he could only see a small window of the night sky. 

Feeling lost and hungry in the vast ocean beneath the sky Coyote had one last pinch of tobacco to offer. 

" Oh Grandmother Moon, Grandmother Moon, 

am now skinny like you, 

so here is the last of the tobacco 

am offering to you

and for me

to help the gifts get to the ceremony." Coyote said as the last pinch of the tobacco drifted from his paw. 

Coyote sat in the canoe still and quiet, waiting, watching, as Grandmother Moon's belly began to swell. As she grew bigger and rounder, Grandmother Ocean stretched and grew and grew until Coyote, the Birch Bark Canoe and the gifts were on top of a big Ocean Mountain that touched the Sky. Coyote could now see lavender and the first glimmer of the Morning Star that welcome the coming of Father Sun, yet there was no earth to be seen.

"Oh Grandmother Moon, Grandmother Moon" Coyote cried out as Grandmother Moon gave Ocean a huge swell and wave to the great Ocean Mountain, tossing Coyote the Canoe and all the gifts high into the night Sky. 

ocean by freeslideshow.com

Around and around, upside down, out and in, they all went. Everything went dark. Coyote could not see anything and felt cold, hungry and lonely. "Well maybe i have died." thought Coyote and he felt around for the small tobacco bag Grandmother Moon had given him.  He opened it carefully hoping that the few morsels of tobacco had not fallen out in the tossing of the canoe.  He tapped the bag loosing the last few morsels of tobacco into his paw. Closing his fingers around the tobacco and holding it to his heart, he said, "Oh sacred gifts that have been offered for Mother Earth and Father Sun's marriage renewal ceremony, here we are together. This old Coyote can't get to the ceremony alone, however maybe together we will find a way there." He opened his hand and let the few morsels of tobacco fall with gratitude for life, from his paw.

"Firefly Starlight bless us with your warmth and light !" Coyote sang out. The Fireflies spiraled out of the conch shell and swirled around. Coyote could now see the Stones in front of him. The Stones gave a low hum inviting the Firefly Starlight to join them. The Stones and Firefly Starlight began to glow and become hot. Where the Stones touched the Cedar a smoke began to rise filling the whole canoe with billowy clouds of smoke. Coyote picked up the Conch shell and blew it four times. The first time he blew to the west, and the cedar smoke turned into rainclouds , the second time he blew to the north and the sweetgrass turned into seven ancient ones glistening in the sky, the third time he blew to the east and the Waterbird sang, the fourth time he blew to the south … raindrops fell on the stones creating a great billowing cloud and lightning flashed from Waterbird's song and rhythmically thundered in coyote's heart. Then a great burst of of blue white light created a rainbow …. whoosh ….a doorway opened.

"Lelelele, welcome home Coyote Oldman!" 

Coyote crawled out from the upside down and turned around mouth of the canoe, stood up, and smiled at all of his relatives. The morning Sun began to bathe  Mother Earth and warm ribbons of green blossomed. Stones peered out from the bubbling stream and white billowing clouds danced in the turquoise sky where Grandmother Moon in her fullness could be seen even in the new day's light. A Tree laden with multicolored flowers stood in the center of the meadow surrounded by Cedar and Birch Trees. Coyote joined the big circle of his relatives singing, drumming and dancing the Waterbird song for the renewal of the marriage between Mother Earth and Father Sun.

~*~

May we remember that love, gratitude, generosity and our life ways are born with the heartbeat and rhythm with All Life. 

May we remember that the first water drum Creationing made is our Womb/Hara.

Louie Gonnie - Water, the Rain and the Oceans of Time

http://youtu.be/F8b91xMr-oE

~*~

Elementals of this story:

The following are my meanings to the elements of this story that have come with gratitude for living life, ceremony, listening and being with, the natural world... for All Life has voice, song and teachings to share with us. May you nourish your relationship with the natural world medicines that bring you joy, health and harmony with All Life.

Water is our first Medicine. Water is the caregiving, energizing and resonating element of prayers, feelings, dreams and visions. What we think, feel and how we relate with water resonates within and all around us. We are made of water, birthed from water and can not live without water, this is why we love, respect and caregive Water of Life. All of our songs and prayers permeate and continuously travel within water's cycle of life and forms, everywhere.

The Conch shell spirals like life and Conch's sound calls forth from the seen and unseen, and awakens our pineal gland, which is the receptor of being able to perceive life from an illuminated state of Being. The Conch energizes the resonance of the Breath of Life.

Dolphin journeys with joy deep within the realms of knowing and intuition.

Plant Medicines interconnect our roots with Mother Earth and Father Sky.

Sweetgrass is the medicine calling forth and offering to our ancestors and interconnects us with past, present and future simultaneously.

Cedar sends our present prayers to Creationing, and is healing medicine.

Tobacco is an offering to the spirit within all life forms. We never take without giving, or take more than we need. This is a balance that is to be respected. We also ask to enter and acknowledge where we are and who lives wherever we are…be whom is the forest, waters, plains, mountains etc... 

Birds are our prayer messengers, they fly between earth and sky, between the seen and unseen worlds. The Waterbird caregives our prayers of wise ways, protection, blessings, healing forgiveness and gratitude. They are also guardians of lightning, thunders and rain. In the southwest Rain comes to say our prayers have been heard and answered.

Fireflies are one of the "little people" or guardians of the spark, flame and spirit of fire and starlight. They give illumination to one's journey and are made from Stars.  Long ago the first firekeepers, were women Fireflies who made small pottery traveling houses to carry coals and sparks in them, to start the family fires wherever they traveled to.

Coyote is a trixster, helper and reminds us that humor is a great healer and teacher.

Rainbows are blessings of Joy, Peace, Beauty and Harmony

Thank you for listening.

A.M. July 2014

coyote in a canoe by wikipedia

Taosenos..... Agua de Vida y Milagros

Dear Taosenos,

Water is Life

Is it time that we respect our ancestors and those that are the original caregivers of these lands and Water…Taos Pueblo....  Hmmm, Taos Pueblo for some reason agreed to the recent Abeyta Settlement "plan". Is it time that we hear from Elders and children about our Water of Life, "progress" and deals being made on behalf of the next seven generations? Is it time for us all to be included in decisions about Water, and the perceived notion that Water can be owned and privatized, is contrary to Water being a birth-right we all share ~ 

for without water, there is no life.

This article may foretell what will happen here if we are not active participants in matters regarding land and water. Are the wells the El Prado Water Association wants to drill any different than the dams talked about in this article? Not really when you innerstand that with the drought, the aquifer is not recharging as it once did, and more wells further disrupt the natural water cycle.  http://waterandpeace.wordpress.com/2014/06/04/jon-m-fox-hiak-vatwe-yaqui-river-rio-yaqui/  And why is the El Prado Water Association on the County water advisory board, when they are the ones who will profit from the privatization of water? This is not a conflict of interest for the EPWA financial pockets, however it is to the poor gentes that will be paying for the privatization, for generations to come. 

Or maybe with wells that will run dry, we will have a mass exodus of people…and to keep the Town and Casino afloat, the new airport runway can be subsidized by the military's northern New Mexico training grounds, and the rich and famous visiting Taos Ski Valley… ? Ugh! What else is possible? 

"Progress": We now have 30+K people who live in Taos Pueblo, the Town of Taos and  County. We are no longer food and energy sovran. Without food, water and energy sovranty we are not free. Please read the prior sentence again.  Some of our best agricultural lands lay fallow. Instead of leasing the lands ( for a nominal cost or barter trade ) to those that would care and grow food, horses, sheep or cattle, for the health of our community, these lands may loose their water rights ( under the use it or loose it water clause ) and be subject to higher taxes, or sold off to developers.

Why don't we have a moratorium on building until we are food, water and energy sovran again? Progress as usual is a capitalist idea that no longer serves the greater good of All People or Mother Earth….Those that have and continue to get rich off of selling water, development, gated communities, buying and selling real-estate, building more homes, business complexes, etc … could be solarizing wells and converting current homes and building greenhouses throughout the county… starting with those that are the least able to do so. Would that be too much generosity? have we forgotten that we are only as healthy as the least fortunate…and what it means for a village to raise a child? 

If we are willing to go in debt to the County for a new Jail House, you'd think that food, water, energy and educational cultural sovranty would also be at the top of the list…

Is the village memory of being able to ride our horses and hitch them in town fading in the sunset of the metered rental spaces to park our cars? Is it fading with the Taos Ski Valley's fantasy to become a little Vail catering to the rich and this Vail Dream will somehow trickle down to the Town? Seriously, we have not seen great tourism sales in a long time.  Is the cultura cura fading with progress and the government corprotocracy,  treaties, laws and regs of the capitalist mentality that comes with it? Please innerstand this, treaties have been broken time and time again by the US government and it's corporations. And their agency laws and regulations are continually manipulated to serve profits over people … until the People rise again  ~ and get the spirit like Mora has.

All this said… this is an opportunity for Taosenos to stand up in unity for our water of life and lifeways we love, or loose them. Or maybe the current sub-urbanite sprawl that is taking over the county will run dry, leaving only the few along the Rios to survive. 

What else is possible?

Maybe it's time we ALL learn to Rain Dance.  

Am seriously praying for a miracle here ~ 

That we re-member the sacred nature of water, and to Rain Dance again …

this just may bring UNITY, healing and a sense of cultural gratitude for everyone who has chosen Taos as their Home and community. 

… thanks for listening.

Here is a compilation of recent articles of interest: 

La Jicarita has some of the best writers regarding the Abeyta and Aamodt Settlements: http://lajicarita.wordpress.com/

Taos News My Turn, Taos contributors: 

Taos County reshapes water advisory board 

http://www.taosnews.com/news/article_a4e5d7c8-e839-11e3-8cc7-0019bb2963f4.html

Who will and will not benefit from the airport

http://www.taosnews.com/opinion/article_ad325f46-e1ea-11e3-af7e-0019bb2963f4.html

Our land is worth more than that

http://www.taosnews.com/opinion/article_6a0b30c0-e1f5-11e3-9a9b-0019bb2963f4.html

Loosing Ag status

http://www.taosnews.com/news/article_e9230f34-bb64-11e3-9b57-001a4bcf887a.html

LaLama water supply o thin Ice

http://www.taosnews.com/news/article_2ea0f00a-9507-11e3-996b-0019bb2963f4.html

Meanwhile frackers circle Chaco Canyon. 

http://www.environmentnewmexico.org/programs/nme/dont-frack-chaco-canyon

Is nothing sacred? have you ever heard of the mysterious sink holes?

Here take a look at this http://boingboing.net/2014/05/22/hellish-desert-crater-has-been.html

Innocence, Courage or Judgement, Humor and Poetry Notes

We are always blessed to have young children in our ceremonies for they bring innocence and pure awareness in how they are naturally made beautiful.

As one species inner connected to all life, we have lost our innocence, and may seek to know this again.

Today i hear lots of people say,  " no judgement, it's all good". Yet, we make judgements everyday… from what we choose to eat, what to buy, what to sell, what to believe, what our spiritual practice is or is not, who to vote for, work for,  …and the list goes on. We even make a judgement some call "choice", to be conscious of the power of our words that comes from the Breath of Life through us, we make judgements or choices to become "mindful" about how we speak.

Some have been taught that "Power" or energy is a bad thing, simply because there is so much abuse of power in the world, or that it was mis-used to abuse and oppress women and children, people of color, and ravage mother earth. Some have been taught not to seek to know power, because humility is better or more altruistic. Some even mistake lack of self esteem for humility, when lack of self esteem comes from being abused. Let us not fool ourselves into thinking that we have no life power to create beauty with each other and Mother Earth. To wake up however, we may be faced with the stark Truth about who we are and how we behave with the power or lack of, we have as a species.

We are born with power, the power of life, the power to THINK, FEEL and make healthy decisions - judgements, for our selves and our families, communities and for any other endeavor we choose to do in life. Power, energy or consciousness is the life spark of our Beings. To seek to innerstand this power is to set ourselves free to Be our selves.

Courage or the Fearless Heart. 

It takes a lot of courage to have healthy boundaries, when Our and Mother Earth's healthy boundaries have been abused. These "healthy boundaries",  are embodied in the Integrity of a person's choice to walk a Spiritual Life. This "integrity" some say is the embodiment of  the precepts of Truth, Love, Respect, Honesty, Humility, Humor, Responsibility, Compassion, Courage, Wise Ways, take nothing personal, do the best we can each day and don't ass-ume …etc… because when one walks this Way, no man made laws are needed…. and social Culture arises from this Spiritual Way of Being, Mitakuye Oyas'in. Imagine a day when "forgiveness" is not necessary, because we are walking in Respect, balance and harmony with All Life ~ with our selves ~ this is an innocence we have all lost, and long to return to. Please note, that invoking "fear" was not named as a precept, even though for some, it is fear that gets them to change.

This Courage or Fearless Heart, comes from a place of spiritual sovranty - when a person no longer acquiesces or puts something between themselves and their relationship with their cultural -spiritual sovranty and the Source of All Life. Are some of us Spiritual Protectors? ~ those who stand between harms way and the future generations to come. Are our prayers and meditations good, yet actions for the greater good better - becoming Spiritual activists? My words for these aspects are "Being the Prayer in Motion".

Today - at this time-space we have all chosen to come here, for this epic change of the ages. Today we are the living prayer of our ancestors for the
One Great Peace.

Today we choose to resonate the Love, Peace and Joy that will heal.  With this choice may also come the Responsibility to live solutions, and determine, through "judgement" what is harmonious relationship with All Life. We are choosing loving kindness rather than fear and abuse to change ourselves and our reality. This does not always mean that it is not painful, and humbling to see what we need to change in ourselves and our actions, for a more loving reality.

This is something I have learned about Abuse. I know no woman that has not experienced some form of abuse in her life. The statistics of 1 in 4 women is a fallacy…why? because we are the birthers and caregivers of Life and interconnected to and made of Mother Earth and All Life… and because there are so many forms of abuse. Verbal, poverty, educational, warfare, ecocide, religious, government, racism, ageism, and perceptions of in-equality even between woman to woman relationships, etc….

Another aspect of abuse is the obfuscation of healthy boundaries for Self and for, or in relationship with others.

This obfuscation of healthy boundaries, leads to a lack of Trust in Self and others. When we do not have healthy boundaries, we loose Respect and Trust for Self and the abuse becomes self inflicted, we become participants of the cycle of abuse, and this is also the loss of innocence. Forgiving ourselves is a first step in healing.

If healthy boundaries become synonymous with "judgements of which we are not to have", then i see no reason to have leadership Councils. We should go back to the sewing circle, because if we do not have trust in the truth and wise that each of us  bring to the collective Hoop … trust in the discernment (judgement) about the health of our respective Cultures and Spiritual Life Ways we each have given our lives too …which Is an authority and expertise from our respective perspectives,  that potentially can nourish and strengthen us in this diversity… if we have no trust in our personal relationship with Self, we can have no collective trust.... and how then, will we be able to navigate, and walk for the greater good of all life?  

Will we stand idly by and let all of our Water be poisoned, or will we choose to turn a blind eye to the abuse of government leaders, or continue to support fear mongers who perpetuate the belief that we have No Power… our Power is in giving and focusing on the Solutions, and sometimes the Solution is to not support or participate in something that is not healthy…. oh - yet this takes some "judgement" to determine what is healthy or not for ourselves and how we choose to raise our children. 

We are told to never speak harshly of others, that this is judgmental. Are we speaking harshly of others when we protest or educate others about historical and current conditions, for example, missionary schools, genocide, terracide or government corruption? 

When we say "Rescind the Papal Bulls, because they are lies"? Or when we see an abuse of power in religious orders ? All this causes me to pause and ask, What is a Spiritual Protector to you? What would you protect if you have no judgement, knowledge, discernment, power?

In some situations we might say, "Not my Way" and have the power to excuse ourselves, without the need for justification, so that our energy can nourish positive solutions, avoid drama, or the situation just calls for the acceptance to agree to dis-agree, and not take things personally, or maybe someone elses behavior may speak more about them, than you.  Life is short, and we may choose to just cut off the cachingaderas.  

So ~ back to innocence… being inner-connected to this innocence is a Joy and laughter that is boundless within. Our inner child's eyes are the eyes of all children. I continue to be awed by Gurus who profess that hunger, rape, warfare and suffering is an illusion. Have we asked the children about this ill-usion? ...then again, it's all ok, we are going to wake up after 5K+ yrs of this illusion, and put on a different movie, right? oops, in "no judgment", there is no right and wrong, right?

Courage is sparked from a deep Love for All Life and Resilience, like Water, that flows around obstacles, Water ~ the first healer, and from which we are made, ~ Women are caregivers of Water, ~ Water that energizes and magnetizes our prayers, thoughts, emotions and Life Ways of Beauty. Water is a Truth, that we can not live without, Water is Love.

If discernment/judgement is a folly and not seen as truth's courage to see what Is in all Life's beauty and grief, let this folly bring peace for my innocence.

Part 2

When the Fireside Theater Came to Town

~ bringing the horned dog ~

A Seed , a Stone, a Tree's loveroots growing

from the river, Water of Life's knowing

of a Fireside Theater that would come to pass

and the green grass beneath all children's feet

would grow sweet  

along the Great Path of Peace

Fireside Theater preacher man's side kick

 stands up and says

" woman stop talkin 

and being a distraction 

to the job of the preacher man"

so She drifted off with 

eyes gaze only with beauty way's

heartbeat rhythm that made All Life

from this Love 

blessing all that Is

Then the Fireside Theater preacher man

 all dressed up in his  real-ized 

loudly conjuring up yelps yelling

"have you seen the horned dog?"

She said,  "you talkin to me?"

 blustered face yells "YEAH YOU! 

 HAVE YOU SEEN THE HORNED DOG!?"

"oh, you mean am not a distraction?"

wonder wondered if preacher man's rage

was terror's intention to invoke, invent

a smoky mirror

to bring woman into his do-man-ation

"sure i seen the horned dog,

that appears 

because Believe feeds it's energy. 

same as Quan Yin, 

she appears too - 

because of Believe's feeding

compassion… 

that dog… 

the one that feeds off indoctrination's 

conceived by the papal bull …

that dog…

like rats on the treadmill 

of it's battle between good and evil"

preacher man's face blood raged

and her Prayer Way left with all due respect  

to energize and feed 

Beauty Way's Life Ways 

goodness for All Relations

and the Fireside Theater's preacher man 

faded away with 

that dog.

When we let go, or something is removed from, or we choose - healthy boundaries, judgements or whatever you want to call it.... a space opens for us to nourish beauty, love and good relation with Self, others and All Life.

Thanks for listening.

Alis ~Itlatol

Two Poems and a Tale

"Lead Balloons", " Eyes of an Eagle Dancer Boy " and

"Bouncing around with mom, dad, and the man who visited Black Mesa"

LEAD BALLOONS

There are words like lead balloons

the words that just don't come out in a way  

that a particular audience can hear quite yet…

the lead balloons that still touch that place in me 

of self-doubt, that can still the quiet and big voice

that wants to come out

that wants to know 

one is not alone 

on this journey home 

every dis-ease that humanity created 

comes from their out of balance relationship 

with Mother Earth and the harmony  

with the feminine-masculine

dance of Creationing

Sometimes I remember 

to share that which has blessed 

and healed my Spirit and the heart brokenness .

Sometimes I forget that broken 

doesn't want to be heard or remembered or forgot

Sometimes forgot forgot to remember

and remember remembers to forgive

Is speaking of the suffering passing the trauma on?

I don't know, sometimes i feel that some things 

just can't be sugar coated anymore.

I want to see our children live free…

Mother Earth has healthy boundaries, 

her medicine is bigger than me 

EYES OF AN EAGLE DANCER BOY

Seven years old my momma took me to Hopi 

to visit some of our relatives in Arizona. 

That day, the hot and dry rippled  

the tourists blurred and faded, 

like ghosts on the northern side

wanting wanting a snapshot outta time

my mom and i 

were standing in the southern door 

quietly a mom held open 

her north east door like the morning star, 

for her son to enter 

the Plaza's heart.

The young Eagle boy dancer was a bit more than my size, 

he walked to the center, 

wings down at his side…… 

one beat drum…

and then the heartbeat rhythm 

lifted his wings

his flight took me with him

between earth and sky, 

we became inner twined

in that mystic where there is no time

when we came back 

to touch the earth, 

he stood so close 

the thunders gathered

arm wings stretched out between 

the unseen and seen 

like a river inner connecting 

the above and below, 

one leg slightly bent toward me, 

a respect and honor

our eyes embraced in a forever

love blossomed within us

never forgotten  

his momma told my momma 

that i was their daughter…

my mom freaked out….and I told her 

am ok am Home momma

this is home momma

there are some things that remember will never forget 

It took me 20 some years of Life's journey 

and rites to get back to Hopi, 

this is why i know what  it means 

when a woman and man's 

"eyes are the windows to the soul"

and all of us 

are Creationing's sons and daughters

~ A.M.  2014

"Bouncing around with mom, dad, and The man who came to Black Mesa"

cup the starlight you are made of gently

my great grandmother lived in the 1800's

when the vatican's conquistadores

beheaded anyone suspected 

or were, "mixed blood"

and deemed unpure

They also killed indios for practicing 

their culture 

and traditional healing arts. 

The Healing gift is what ended life

for my great grandmother

leaving 9 children

only three daughters we know of

6 disappeared never to be found

three sister seeds like Corn, Beans and Squash

were blown and scattered yet the

Resilience, the moving flow of birthing 

who of Ma's Matter

weaving worlds within worlds

of heart stretched drumsongs

of women weaves eternal love

hidden and rising to blossom, fruit

and seed again  

for love of land and life

sky and starlight

the rhythm and sway of 

seasons cycles

has no boarders and imaginary lines

of where and what and who makes you

Mother's daughters of the 

beauty that made us

>>>*<<<<

from birth to 11 yrs old

was raised in a village

born and made by our parents

who were from every nation

Red, Black White and Yellow

courageous fathers,  the US government 

called commie pinko faggot

momma's boys

and imprisoned them

Mamma's boyz they were

refusing to be fodder for wars

and lies and genocide

that has spread like a blanket worldwide

called the US Empire

their women resisted along side 

and eventually freed all their men

while still raising their children 

free and teaching Truth's Love and Peace

and refused and protected them

from vatican religion and indoctrination

this village made of

Red, Black White and Yellow

shared openly their teachings and spirituality

with all their children

this village a microcosm

of a great Council of Peace

each honoring and respecting the 

roles,  responsibilities and dedication 

for a Hoop of Peaceful Nations

one daughter learned the meaning 

for her… of the teaching given to all children

to travel from the 3rd world to the Fourth

there is only one language of Massau

and everyone can feel, knows and be this…

for we are made with Breath of Life's

language of the Heart

"Do not pledge allegiance to a flag 

without knowing what it stands for. 

Your allegiance is always with Mother Earth, 

the Peoples and all her children." 

is what daddy told his daughters

kiss the earth and dance with sky

we are related to All Life …

are what makes children fierce lovers

yeah there were the days

of protest and marches

with Cezar Chavez, King, AIM, Panthers, Nam war, 

et. all. 

Today i want Peace more than ever

this village was my water poured upon heart stone

coyote tales and playground 

and first sweatlodge at 5yrs old

a secret then and before

the 1978 Native American 

Freedom of Religion Act. 

My mom now 90 yrs old returned with me

to great granpa's ancestral Comanche land… 

which is really the treaty and reservation 

that all of us Nations

that have lived and traded for generations 

raided girls and sold them

to become the mothers of future generations

and resisted with Taos Pueblo

the Spanish inquisitions

Am i hear to heal past present and future?

or is this futures past remembering?

years later ...

<<<<< * >>>>>

 at Black Mesa visiting Rick who was doctoring with a family, 

I was sitting outside on the porch and a man came across the field 

and up the steps. 

He was repeating over and over 

" do you see them, they are going to get me… i need to see Rick"

This man was haunted by spirits and could not remember. 

I said  " here come sit, i will stay with you while you wait" and offered him a smoke and patted the seat of the chair next to me while he waited till Rick and the family were finished.

After being with Rick for a short while, the man left still haunted.

I asked Rick, why the man was still the same, and couldn't the man be helped.

Rick said that medicine is received by the capacity and willingness of the person to receive it, and as for the man still being haunted was because he was still not ready to set right what he needed to, within himself … and therefore could not set right with others.

Or maybe after so many doctorings when someone does not get better, this means this is just how they are made this time around.

   >>>>*<<<< 

 i had to "buy back" the land where i live

because after my great-grandmother's murder, 

and the Comanche did not pass land matrilineally and 

my great grandfather ran off and married a spanish woman leaving the 9 children to become tossed like seed by a storm of government dictation…. 

aren't these  "run-on" sentences of ideologies that need endings? 

When my son was 6yrs old, and with the little money i had we searched for a little land we could afford…my son picked this one…at the time i did not know it was part of great-granpa's treaty land track… 

like a genetic marker calling me home.

"We need you to remember" is what Rick told me when i finally realized he was teaching me. Humility has never been my problem, lack of self worth was wot i learned whenever i lived in the world of separation's isms.

maybe am color blind

or maybe i see all colors

some told me when you mix them all together 

it makes black

is the black stillness of night

where light is birthed 

from the great cosmic womb 

with the elements of creation?

"Don't mix medicine" and "If you don't know what you are doing, 

don't mess with it, there's ancestors that caregive for these ways"

"these are gate keepers for your protection".

Are we the Magpie's, Wongali and Humminbirds we are looking for?

Professor Delia taught me all the grammatical english rules, and then told me to break every one of them. Language that is whole cup of tea and then some. 

Thank you for listening.

Alis ~ Itlatol

A.M. 2014

Wild, Whole and Beautiful : healing the degrees of separation

image: Hozho.eu

'Spirit knows no color, Either your a haytah or a lovah' -India.Arie

 “Every mestizo is one less Indian — or one more Indian waiting to reemerge.” 

- Jose Barreiro, Taino/Guajiro

Wakan Tanka Tungasila, Kokyangwhuti Oonau

With gratitude for those that have walked before us, for those that walk today, and for the future generations - with gratitude for all who were, are, and will be caregivers of our teachings and original instructions, for those who have given, give, and will give their lives to insure that our teachings are passed on from generation to generation, so that we may Live. 

With gratitude for the those who taught me, "We teach you so that you will re-member who you are and will seed and nourish these teachings, live them the best you are able during this time, where you live, so that One Great Peace may be realized." 

With colonization wumyn and children were murdered, bought and sold, adopted and sent to missionary schools. Today our wumyn are still being murdered.  Colonial Laws now say that if we do not send our children to colonial type schools, our children can be or are taken away from us. Too many children are adopted to families that have no knowledge of our ways or teachings. If a wumyn marries outside federally recognized People, the children and families loose their ancestral lands. 

All of this is about taking of the lands, all of this is about genocide, all of this is about assimilation, all of this is to impoverish families and put them into the system of buying and selling land and enslave our Peoples to work for the colonial system. All of this is about incarceration of primarily our young MEN. 

It is about teaching our children to hate or deny one or the other part of themselves which fragments their minds, emotions and keeps them in a perpetual state of duality and separation within themselves. In this separation our children commit suicide or become addicted to drugs because they do not feel loved, are ostracized and categorized by both colonizer and the Peoples. This is called internalized oppression.

All of this is about forgetting who we are, that we are made of Earth and Sky and are Spirit Beings and Creationing made us.... Creationing made us....Creationing made us Hozho, beautiful whole and perfect. 

It is about creating separation and conflict based on this separation…all in the name of quantifying a Wumyn's eggs, her life, her worth and treat her like an object.

Wakan Tanka, my prayer is for our wumyn, to stand up in their Authority as Wumyn to let no man define our genetic eggs that contain our bloodlines and genetic memory of our ancestors. Our eggs, that are the future generations, Our eggs that are given to us whole and beautiful by Wakan Tanka.

My prayer is that this genetic memory awaken in our wumyn, and the  inclusive and loving WISE nature of the Great Mother Earth - that all children are her children will be realized within all hearts and minds of the Peoples for the One Great Peace. 

My prayer is for our Wumyn to rise as the teachers of our children to re-weave our Cultural Life Ways and Wise Ways of living in harmony and balance with Mother Earth, All Life and each other.

My prayer is for Unity and peace within the hearts and minds of all Two Legged Peoples because without Mother Earth, Water, Air and right relationship with Fire, and each other …there is no life.

My prayer is for our Nations to grow healthy and numerous, and our Life Ways nourish and educate others and become our Relatives. My prayer is for good health and gratitude for my relatives who choose to walk the Red Road of harmony with Mother Earth and the Blue Road of Spirit, for we now walk side by side for your blood is and has always been red - just like mine. And now, we have a common language that is born from our shared prayers and life ways together. 

My prayer is that no matter where our children are, walking gently and in harmony with Mother Earth, Father Sun and Cosmos that they always remember who they are, and no longer acquiesce their cultural spiritual relationship and soveranty with  Wakan Tanka, for it is Wakan Tanka who made us Wild, Whole and Beautiful.

May we continue to pray, sing, dance, and caregive the Life Ways and Wise Ways of our Healing Cultures, for now is the time of the One Great Peace to be realized. 

With gratitude for our Men who walk side by side with us, stand with us, and protect us. 

Aho Mitakuye Oyas'in 

Alis~Itlatol

Hena Wakan Pi ~ Itlatol

All Life is Sacred ~ Life's Voice, Song and Wise Story

Thank you Jose Barriero and India.Arie for your wise words and onkwehón:we scholar Jack D. Forbes 

http://onkwehonwerising.wordpress.com/2013/08/29/the-mestizo-concept-a-product-of-european-imperialism/

Voices from the Dreamseed Traditions

Wumyn around the world 

who fully innerstand their power

as daughterseed, 

mother moonflows, 

birthgivers, 

and innerflowers (crones) …

when they cycle together 

in their respective communities and cultures 

worldwide, 

during their Wumyn's ceremonies

they are mid-wives 

of the Birth, 

of Mother Earth's New Creation Story, 

woven from the tapestry 

of collective ancestral wisdom (prophecies)

and cultural cosmo-visions, 

of Peace.

Every culture worldwide has the knowledge of
how and where they are birthed from. 

These locations around the Earth Mother are real and tangible. Some are older than old, and have been cared for by the original peoples of those birth places. Some birth places no longer birth, they have become ancestral "crone" libraries of wisdom. Yes, Mother Earth has her own libraries and she has given birth to each new world, and each new world has had different eco-systems and shape of her skin.

This wisdom is also in the Cosmos. 

The Cosmos also has a Womb of Creation. 

This is why we are made of Earth and Sky.

Mother Earth comes from the womb of the"Milk and Honey Galaxy", 

which came  from the Great Womb of this Cosmos.

Wumyn are made as the feminine principle of Creationing. Our physical, mental, emotional and spiritual bodies are made with direct inner and interconnection to the Womb of Creation and the tapestry of seed, birth, life, and renewal - this Great Mystery is not just a "biological" definition. We naturally give life from the non-form into form, from the un-seen to the seen. Because of this ability we are considered sacred.

We cycle cosmologically with Mother Earth and her Nature in relation with Grandmother Moon, our Solar Tribe, the Milk and Honey Galaxy and the Cosmos - within the great spiral womb-hoop with seed, birth, life and renewal from the Womb of Creationing. The mayan calendars are a most powerful example with this cosmological relationship. We have come to know our lives in form as having the life stages of seed, baby, youth, adult, elder and renewal. We have ceremonies for all of these stages, and from this relationship comes our cultural cosmo-visions in balance and harmony with all Life.

The masculine resonance and energy is the spark and energizing, protective, nourishing, loving, activating principle of this cycle. We can learn everything from Nature or Natural Law. What is the most healthy environment for a Wumyn to mid-wife and caregive, seed, birth, life and renewal in harmony and rhythm with the Womb of Creation?

An environment that is nourished, beautiful, peaceful and loving.  When she is healthy, her family is healthy. Healthy families create healthy peaceful nations. 

In the traditions of the Dreamseed culture which we come from, wumyn are the caregivers of the Dreaming. The Dreaming is the dialogue with the Sentient Creationing Source of All Life. Dialogue meaning: listening-receiving, and response - which may be to give voice to the dreamseeds, dream-visions, create from them as in direct action or non action. These Wumyn are loved and cherished by their People's because their 13 senses, and nine physical "chakras" are highly attuned to Creationing and they are attuned to the dreaming life flow always in all ways.

The dreaming is inner-relational with the element of water. This is why in many matrilineal cultures around the world wumyn are also the caregivers of the Water of Life, which is our embryonic fluid, our tears, and our bodies are made of mostly water and we are birthed from water. Water is the most powerful energizer of inner and inter communication. One day modern scientists will "prove", that the dark between the "light" in the cosmos, is mostly water.

Wumyn of the Dreamseed Traditions are the caregivers of the personal, family, land, region, planetary and cosmological relationship with the Dreaming through their Life Ways and Ceremonies that are inner and interconnected with, the natural cycles of Wumyn, Mother Earth, Moon, Sun and Cosmos.
Elder, Ilarion Merculief explains this from his People's innerstanding
knowing: http://theforcesofnature.com/movies/larry-merculieff/  6minutes

At one time our roles were to share the dream messages that come from our ceremonies with the People's, via a Sacred Trust we had with our Men, who as protectors of our sanctuaries, would go out into the community to communicate and give the activating energy to those dream messages. 

Later when the patriarch came, our voices were considered beautiful, however we were harmed because these messages would dissolve the colonial patriarchal construct of ill-usions and the many religions and ideologies of god worship. So we became a threat to the patriarch's coveting of our power to life give, which it replaced with idolization of the gods of money, property and prestige. Many of our Men and Peoples have died for this Sacred Trust of carrying our messages of balance, harmony, love and truth. Now there are fewer peoples who re-member or know what the original Trust, or relationship was between man and wumyn and the Dreaming. 

Today women are speaking and sharing because too few men can speak for us anymore. Prana - breath, and sound being the first form of creation, can now be heard in our rhythmical prayer breathsongs in many forms, of giving birth to a new world.

We are grateful and blessed by the men that walk side by side with us,

help protect the sanctuaries of our nests, Mother Earth, All Life

and nourish the blossoming of feminine wisdom in balance with the masculine.

Part 2:

For many the colonial construct is understood Her-storically, in that wumyn were the first to be subjugated and murdered. For the survival of her children, some chose to align themselves with the colonial patriarch, which changed their alignment to competition with their sisters vs cooperation, and agreed to become objects of power vs sovereign caregivers of the wisdom that comes through the relationship of cycling together.  From this separation she separated herself from the power of collective mooncycling with her sisters and the wisdom of Being the guiding life source of right relationship with each other, Mother Earth and All Life. Wumyn also learned to create hierarchies, that are no better than patriarchs. Wumyn as the foundation of cultural health and well being, educate our children with Mother Earth and Cosmos as Being first teacher and we are interrelated in the same knowing as Mother Earth. All children, of all forms, are Her children,  and have the same birthrights.

The devastating effects of this has wounded our men of the colonial world because their mothers did not and could not protect them (because of their willingly adopted and unwillingly imposed beliefs and violence) from being birthed into a culture that demanded men's and humanity's slavery and servitude to creating oppression within themselves and a cycle of defending a patriarchal position and cycle of non-renewal. Look around at the lifestyles that have been created by colonial patriarchal thinking, these are life ways that are non-sustaining and non-renewing. This is the meaning of patriarchal "death" and is not the same meaning of wumyn's innerstanding wisdom of renewals part of the cycle of life.

Part 3

As wumyn are being asked to step into our roles and authority as leaders, lifegivers, provide solutions…etc. When we return to Our natural cycles, nourish, birth, anew, rejuvenate our women's councils and ceremonies, caregive  healthy self and families, re-member cooperation and let go of hierarchal thinking and behaving, we will become the midwives of cultures of Peace. We will reweave the ancestral Dreaming of Creationing with each other.

Beautiful Wumyn and Beautiful Man

with joy in sacred union

for you are the caregivers of

harmonious relationship with each other

and Creationing

With all the amassed "perceived wealth"

that the colonial construct has man- u-fractured life with,

remember that we have lived long before this was created

and we will continue to live when it no longer exists.

Wumyn re-member when we return to our original cycles and honor the sacred Days and Ways…the colonial construct will change because

it can not survive with out our participation.

This is one of the ways forward without violence, and 

our men will support this.

Feel this…potentially a minimum of four days a month for the New and 4 days for Full moons, of Bliss... and our men in total and complete non compliance and non cooperation with the colonial construct. No shopping, no driving, no work jobs, only creating beauty, health and well-being for our families and communities - worldwide. This is a good start for all of humanity.

We are also on the front lines of protecting and nourishing water, land, life and Life Ways, because without a healthy Mother Earth and wumyn… how can we have healthy births? Mother Earth will heal herself, and we will heal with Her, when we live in balance and harmony with her and each other.

Prayers and blessings, for all life and everyone,
thank you for listening.

ama, February 6th 2014    Huichol Artist ~ Unknown to me.

Mariposas, Butterflys ...

The Danza de la Mariposa came as a Vision 
from the Ancestors to a few of our Grandmothers, 
in Taos New Mexico...

Visions are not always personal, 

sometimes they are planetary, 

they are cosmic, and collective ... 

Visions are one of the languages 

of the inner and interconnections 

with and of the Dreaming consciousness
of Creationing. 

The wumyn and men who have received this same Dream 

or are called by this resonance 

are finding each other. 

What is the Medicine of the Butterfly?

Beauty, Creativity, Truth, Transformative healing, Wisdom,

Protection, Alchemic Knowledge, Generosity, Flow, Love, Peace

living the Dance of  balance and harmony with all Life

Eternal life, 

the Hunab Ku is the Galactic Butterfly 

High Majick with the Mysterious

the Butterfly is the Flower of Life

and so much more

Just like the Medicine Wheel of Life

so too, the Butterfly has these qualities.

Egg, Caterpillar, Chrysalis, Butterfly

Birth, Youth, Adult, Elder

Inner and outer, both masculine and feminine resonances

Let us come into the next realization as a form

of expression of Creationing's evolution ...

We are as old as the birth of this universe.

We are this living consciousness.

Please join us for our first Ceremony 

https://www.facebook.com/events/717715248262159/?ref=br_tf

ama 1.12.2014

P.S. Right now, am writing, painting, dreamseeding, transforming, giving, receiving... 

the energies are building for Love, Peace, Unity and healing change ... all births

are Life changing... as we walk together as mid-wives and wise-men, let us remember that each and everyone of us is important, that each of us has something to bring to the Hoop to make the changes necessary to live in balance with Mother Earth. There is no "one way" outta the mess"...it will take all of us (black, red, yellow, white, green, blue, violet...etc.) to re- weave and re-member our inner an inter relational Life Ways for the 

One Great Peace to be fully Birthed and Realized.