Whose Sovereignty is It?

Whose sovereignty is it??

In my short tenure as land researcher and farmer I have discovered that land access is not enough. In order to designate the land for nature study, grow in 7 layer forest design, conduct Indigenous ceremony or harvest mature trees, my name must be on the deed. Gaining this knowledge was paid for with painful experiences. Even with my name on the deed, there are external forces who determine how high the plants can be and what type of plants can be grown in the front yard or grown in the back yard. My dictionary says that sovereignty means freedom from external control, so whose sovereignty is it?  HMMMM…

I know that those who make human rules do not govern the sunshine or the temperature of the air which governs the cycle of plant growth, so whose sovereignty is it? From the beginning of times, humans have cultivated relationships with cosmic forces to ensure fertility of the land and community well being. From Asase Yaa to Al Lat to Pacahamama to Ho Tu, the sovereignty of Earth has always been attributed to a Divine Feminine consciousness. It turns out that during Medieval European times, the Celts called this force Sovereignty. Stephanie Woodfield tells us that 

“To the Celts sovereignty was not simply the right to rule over a clan or country; sovereignty was a divine power that was granted by the goddess of the land. The goddess and the land were one and the same, and thus sovereignty took on the guise of a mystical or divine woman. It was only through a union—either a marriage or sexual encounter—with her that the king could rule. By joining with the goddess of the land, he in turn became connected to the land and its people. It was believed that a blemish to a king would manifest in the land; if a king was disfigured in anyway, he could no longer remain king, lest he risk transferring his disfigurement to the land.” 

Other research noted that kings were marrying Sovereignty until the 1600’s. So it seems to me that somewhere along the line, the men who were given access and fertility to the land mistook that partnership for full sovereignty and kicked the Divine Feminine to the curb in their race for material wealth. Since humans do not have supreme control over the natural world, a battle dynamic was introduced into human relationships with land and all of us have been dragged into this battle whether we like it or not. 

I love Lorenzo Quinn’s gravity defying sculpture of Mother Nature giving Earth a good shaking up. Now THAT is supreme power–that is sovereignty to me. I love the way Mother Nature was given constitutional authority in the International  Rights of Nature document. One of the ways I am encouraging folks to re-engage the Divine Feminine is through my Coming Home to Mother Nature mini-course. Watch for announcements for the sneak pre-view on my Facebook Live session March 27. And in the meantime, keep thinking about coming home!

Apnemultis,

Rev Dele