An ancestral remembrance of the witch burnings and persecution of heretics, healers and medicine people by fire and a culture antithetical to life…..
Vocals recorded at Church of Storms, Lizard & at Zennor, West Penwith
(Tho I Burn) Fire, Be My Ally
The Names Of Stars
when I was small
the oaks spoke
in
ancestral tongues
of the
Forest Mother
spinning twig
and branch
trunk
and root
leaf
and seed
from
the names
of stars
lightning cracked
spirit tongued
blue flamed
thunder rooted
words of power
sap and blood
we shared
rhizomal dreams
and songs
of wind
and rain
of Sun
and Moon
and deep Earth
we knew
let not
these memories
fall
with the
last tree
but live on
in each
of us
children
of
the Forest
…………………………………….
image : ‘Forest Spirit’, Rob Purday
Steven Newcomb on the Doctrine of Domination
This is a brilliant and important talk, from both Tessa Lena and Steven Newcomb (Shawnee, Lenape). As one of the world’s most prominent scholars of the Doctrine of Discovery and Manifest Destiny, Steven’s insight and knowledge is especially valuable to the entire process of decolonisation and cultural healing in all parts of the world where western dominance has brought subjugation to its lands and people. He is able to get right under the skin of the root problem, expose the linguistic drivers that perpetuate its doctrines and brings a depth of perception that was never the more important to our well being than right now.
He is the author of a best-selling book Pagans in the Promised Land: Decoding the Doctrine of Christian Discovery (Fulcrum, 2008), and is a co-producer of the documentary film, “The Doctrine of Discovery: Unmasking the Domination Code,” directed and produced by Sheldon Wolfchild (Dakota), with narration by Buffy Sainte-Marie (Cree).
For Lonnie
There is hope in care
There is hope in
The discarded things
This is your Earth
This is what you have
To learn and to care for
Wake up one thing
Respect
show love
give love
through
your creative power
To the discarded
Things, People
Earth
This is your Earth
“…the harvest is plentiful
The harvesters are few….”
In respect and honour of a beautiful soul,
Lonnie Holley
Counter Mapping
Beautiful and rich, these films and article reintroduce the inner world of mapping, inhabited by memory, living spirit and the stories of who we are….
“The Zuni maps are, first and foremost, for the Zuni people. But they hold a powerful message for a non-Zuni audience as well: we are all part of a greater process. We would not be here if the sun did not rise every morning, if the rivers stopped flowing. The maps are in many ways an invitation: How would you map the places that live in your memory? What are the voices of the land that are forgotten, unheard? To ensure the resilience and well-being of the places where we live, we cannot assume that land is simply ours for the taking, a means to our own ends. The Zuni maps remind all of us that we, too, must take the time to deeply listen, to hear and share stories in which we and the land have equal voice.”
Follow this link for the full article and films >>>
Dakota 38
A powerful film.
Healing and reconciliation.
Much humanity.
In the spring of 2005, Jim Miller, a Native spiritual leader and Vietnam veteran, found himself in a dream riding on horseback across the great plains of South Dakota. Just before he awoke, he arrived at a riverbank in Minnesota and saw 38 of his Dakota ancestors hanged. At the time, Jim knew nothing of the largest mass execution in United States history, ordered by Abraham Lincoln on December 26, 1862. “When you have dreams, you know when they come from the creator… As any recovered alcoholic, I made believe that I didn’t get it. I tried to put it out of my mind, yet it’s one of those dreams that bothers you night and day.”
(Now), four years later, embracing the message of the dream, Jim and a group of riders retrace the 330-mile route of his dream on horseback from Lower Brule, South Dakota to Mankato, Minnesota to arrive at the hanging site on the anniversary of the execution. “We can’t blame the wasichus anymore. We’re doing it to ourselves. We’re selling drugs. We’re killing our own people. That’s what this ride is about, is healing.” This is the story of their journey- the blizzards they endure, the Native and Non-Native communities that house and feed them along the way, and the dark history they are beginning to wipe away.
The Valley
The utterly awesome Emma Ruth Rundle and Thou, summing up the zeitgeist….
“Circle down to the mouth of the valley
Kneel now down at the face, at the gate
As every footfall crumbles so fast beneath me
Under the weight of this eternal shame
And to you who’ve given up in the valley
And to you who’ve given all to its wake
Just another endless night falls around thee
Just another grey landscape to face
I want to step into the armor of another, stronger
I want to look once through the eyes of someone good
So I can gather up the names of our mothers
And wash away the shame and lift them to sainthood
But if you have given up in the valley
And if you have given all to its wake
It’s just another endless night fall around me
Just another fucked up thing I can’t save
But always run forever miles, does it end?
Then another wall rises in the distance
Their horizon parts for none, where mothers failed
To carry all their weight, I will be brave
Yes, I will be brave
You see them?
All those who have fallen
Stacked up like stones in a pile
You see them?
A tower of failures
So twisted and vile
You see them there?
Ancient and seething
Get them out of my way
You see them?
Those who have fallen
Get them out of my way
You see them?
All those who have fallen
Stacked up like stones in a pile
You see them?
A tower of failures
Get them out of my way
You see them?
Ancient and seething
Twisted and vile
You see them?
Those who have fallen
Get them out of my way
You see them there?
A tower of failures
Get them out of my way”
Become
Everything is
passing through,
pierced by
invisible arrows,
memory
and
the imaginal,
whose flight
we chase,
to learn
the meaning
of
the right
to be
We
are born old
entering life
through death
to
become
new
Chalk
Speak of your exile
of how
you don’t belong
or fit in
– its the key
that unlocks the door
to the way
Home
This fragment
of chalk
nesting
on all my journeys
in my breast pocket
nesting
on all my journeys
holding you
in my palm
I saw
a form
in my mind
Felt ancestors
around me
their whispers
issue from
my fingers
as
I sought
the form,
a form,
a way of speaking,
an invitation
both given
and received
and heard you say
speak of your exile
of how you don’t belong
or fit in –
it is
the key
that unlocks the door
to the way
Home
Treeline – A Story Written In Rings
“Its not me, not my power that heals the trees. I receive teaching from the trees before I allow myself to touch them. I am very grateful for that”
“Our lives are made possible by others, both humans and nature. We don’t live in isolation.
Kodama. Kodama. It is a spirit that lives inside the tree. There can be one in each tree. The form of the spirit is something that cannot be seen. But one can feel their existence there and appreciate it.”
“…..you get that sense of history, of many spirits have been here before, not just human spirits, but many creatures have lived here and they still live here; I get that sense that I am not alone, ever.
The forest is a holistic place, a place thats connected. They’re like treasure chests full of biodiversity, genes of species that are really, really old. This is a special little heartbeat, where these things reside….”
A stunningly beautiful film that follows ‘a group of skiers, snowboarders, scientists and healers to the birch forests of Japan, the red cedars of British Columbia and the bristlecones of Nevada, as they explore an ancient story written in rings.’
owlmirror 