The winds of change are blowing. We hear her call as we descend mountains and cross many waters. The winds of change have a persistent voice. She sends a swarm of ticks to drive a Mi’kMaw out of the forest in Virginia to settle in the Hudson Valley. She whispers to a Muisca, you must work in the United States as well as your homeland in Columbia. A Charrua crosses many rivers and works throughout the Hudson Valley in New York. A Mohawk listens at the place where paths meet.
At the foot of the Ramapo mountains is Mahwah—the place where paths meet. Individually, we had already crossed paths, while learning the business of farming, while nurturing mutual aid gardens, and sharing mutual aid seeds. Stolen land and continuous displacement are the physical reminders that we need to revive our collectives and work together. Four women, from multiple generations and lineages express determination to rematriate land for future generations.
Indigenous Mothers: Rematriation
Rematriation includes not only returning land to original caretakers. Those on the land must also return to Mother Earth to receive healing for their souls, learning for their minds, and ascension for their spirits. In this way rematriation becomes healing for society so that we ALL may thrive. Rematriation returns us to a spiral of life that lifts us out of competitive social circles so we may flow with harmony between visible and invisible worlds. We circle our territories allowing room for Earth Mamas to organize physical realities; Fire Mamas to inspire our hearts and liberate our consciousness; Water Mamas to flow into our lives rinsing out waste and leaving refreshment; even allowing room for Mothers of the wind who fully embrace the winds of change and refuse to be tied down. We are weaving new social fabrics appropriate for the Golden Age that we are currently living in.
Speaking of spirals, the vision for our land was seeded in 2012 in the Virginia Piedmont. Riel Huaorani and myself spoke of our mutual frustration with continuous pilot projects and agreed to work towards an ecological project. Where L’nu wisdom becomes part of a lived reality. The vision includes sacred ecology being embedded in growing practices. And, retreats to share that knowledge with the young adults who are so hungry to receive it. My role was to find land where this vision could take root. I have faithfully held that vision seed as the climate crisis continues to shape my movement. I finally realized that land sovereignty was a necessary component to plant the vision seed and protect our cultural practices. I remembered that we are stronger together and invited other women to join in holding the land. We are a federation moving the spiral of communal thriving.
Community LAND
Community land trust laws were originally written to protect the interests of urban dwellers living in houses/apartment buildings within a specific area. The laws give a community the right to collectively manage their land so that people will not be at the mercy of investors. And can afford to stay in their homes. The Indigenous Mothers Community Land Trust is expanding the preservation of land. To include cultural communities that practice traditional land conservation measures. We have even identified a piece of land to plant our vision seed in Middletown New York. You can see pictures of the land HERE and join our fundraising efforts HERE.
This type of sovereignty brings us back to the original meaning of the word from its Celtic origins. In the 16th century Earth goddess Sovereignty required that kings have intimate knowledge of her if they wanted to rule other humans. In the 21st century, our land trust work demonstrates an interesting movement of the Spiral. Those of us who already have intimate knowledge of our Earth Mother/Sovereignty. We are now requiring that knowledge be protected so we may share with other humans. Sovereignty has called for Indigenous Mothers and here we are!