Returning to Wholeness
The land holds story in its fields and folds,
harboring the energy of cultures that carved a canvas of trails, danced their
histories beneath the trees and grew their families and food supplies
throughout seasons that marked the passing of their lives. These people that
came before embodied the flow of the waters they fished from and the rugged
strength of the forests and rock that sheltered them. Knowingly or not, we
continue to draw wisdom from these ancestors and how they found sacred comfort
in the rhythms that connect heaven and Earth.
This month we celebrate
Indigenous People’s Day, honoring the communities that continue to gift us with
the legacy of life lived in tune with nature and the privilege to know
ourselves as both human and divine. It is an opportunity to not only
acknowledge our country’s first inhabitants, but also pay gratitude and respect
for their creativity, rich cultural contributions and ongoing lineages of
caring for their environments and each other.
Rituals and traditions
were lifelines passed down through the generations, weaving together fortitude
of craft and faith and ultimately making way for resilience to shine. We can
now acknowledge the harm done by past violations of territories and work to
transmute divisions with a spirit of unity. Bearing witness in solidarity, we
offer a more restorative justice through community truth-telling and choosing
human dignity, equality and non-violence.
A return to wholeness is
a nonlinear discovery in which we learn about each other and ourselves best in
the spirit of non- threatening inquiry. Whether we share DNA or just a
respectful desire to learn more about these earliest native Americans, there
exists a true opportunity to observe and experience shifting patterns and
awareness, attuning us to the multidimensional concepts of health and recovery.
This month’s issue is
also a tribute to the healing traditions of other world cultures. We invite you
to explore a colorful array of practices that span continents and past
centuries. A successful navigation involves an open heart that leads the way
into a paradox of understanding how stark differences can also include overlap
of basic organic principles. Vitality is found again and again in the simple,
yet profound practices of clearing, discerning, renewing and uplifting of mind,
body and spirit.
Each cross-cultural link
in our web of life is a beacon of transport into another world, a threshold
where avenues of timeless knowledge intersect and an opportunity to listen,
watch and feel the vibrations that echo eons of sacred work. Sound, light,
energy and plant medicine are a few of the transformative realms that often
eradicate disease, sharing boundaries
with the mystery of all that is.
Onward dear readers; may
your paths meet you where you are and take you where you want to be on your
healing journey.
Jacqueline
Mast and Kendra Campbell, Co-Publishers, Executive Editors
For further exploration of specific territories, visit Native-Land.CA, an educational resource site created in 2018 by Native Land Digital, a Canadian not-for-profit organization, that is Indigenous-led.
