Remembering Who We Are: Chinese Botanical Guides

Remembering Who We Are …

Bekah gets to know the plants of her grandmother’s village in Guangdong, China.

As part of our studies in the Cecemmana program, we as students are encouraged to study our ancestral medicines. We are encouraged to ask questions like: who were the healers in our families? What plant medicine did they use? What healing foods did they eat? What healing songs did they sing? In the first two years of Cecemmana, we as students researched the answers to these and other questions and then presented our findings. In my first year of Cecemmana, I looked forward to learning more about the herbal medicine practices of my Chinese heritage.

I found that before I could get to know the plants, though, I had to better understand my family. Growing up in a mixed race household in a predominantly white community, my sister and I grew up feeling disconnected from our Chinese…

View original post 1,270 more words

Fat Goddess

Fat Goddess …

Self-care Sisterhood: Folk Medicine Making for Women of Color

By Ancestral Apothecary

Ancestral Remembrance: An Introductory Weekend

by Ancestral Apothecary

Indigenous Mind: Remembering Who We Are

by Ancestral Apothecary

Ancestral Apothecary

Much of the vision of Ancestral Apothecary is inspired and informed by my experience in the Indigenous Mind Program. As the founder of Ancestral Apothecary, I, Atava Garcia Swiecicki, received a graduate degree from from Naropa University in the Indigenous Mind Program in 2003. The Indigenous Mind Program focuses on reconnecting to one’s indigenous ancestors, no matter what their cultural or ethnic background. The program was founded by Dr. Apela Colorado, who also is the founder of the Worldwide Indigenous Science Network.

Heidi Corning, of White Tigress Ancestry, was also a student in the Indigenous Mind Program and created a short film to document the process of the Indigenous Mind students and they reconnected to their ancestral ways of knowing.

View original post

Healing Ancestral Trauma with Plant Medicine

In these days of DNA tests one gets through websites to trace your family tree … Is it truly appropriation of traditions or culture if the DNA of your ancestors come from Nigeria, Romans that conquered Germany, Britons, Eastern Europe, North Africa, etc. Skin color maybe white, but the ancestors that traveled to colder climates were not. Those ancestors often provide guidance to practice their indigenous traditions. Through many of the traditions of my ancestors, I have learned to revere and elevate ancestors that had been ignored for generations. As anthropological research and DNA tests trace our origins back to the area of ancient Egypt … As ancestor reverence once again comes to the forefront and people learn to listen to the messages from their ancestors, it is my hope that terms such as cultural appropriation become obsolete because it’s not appropriation, but a rediscovery of our ancestral roots.

Ancestral Apothecary

By third year Cecemmana student, Kara Wood.

Several years ago I had a lightning bolt message from my ancestors that I needed to live my truth and combine all the things that I care about (plants, ancestors, genetics, herbal medicine) and really live who I am. That is when I found Ancestral Apothecary School and the Cecemmana program. I am in the third year and what I have learned and experienced surpassed any possible expectations. So much of what I had always been doing, that I didn’t yet recognize, was preparing me for this.

In this life do any of us really escape trauma? It can affect us at any time in our lives from in utero on. We also experience ancestral trauma, sometimes referred to as transgenerational trauma. This trauma is the one that inhabits each of us in some way. Each generation before us imprinted information and trauma…

View original post 1,739 more words

Ancestral Reading ~ Astrorisa Moon Forecaster

EGUNGUN MONTH

Weekly Ancestral Reading

5/22/2018

AstrorisaMoon Talk Ancestral Reading May 15 -21, 2018

Astrorisa Moon Forecaster / Moon Talk

May is Egungun Month

An ancestral reading for our collective consciousness

each week for the month of May.

www.Astrorisamoon.com| astrorisa@gmail.com|

Birth Place Elements On Your Altar

by Slavic Witch

An American Ley Line Network: A Ritual of Creation

by The Druid’s Garden

The Druid's Garden

This past weekend, we had a delightful time at the 2nd OBOD Mid Atlantic Gathering of US(or MAGUS). It was a wonderful weekend full of positive energy, community, and celebration of the land. I was involved heavily in the ritual planning and work this year and was the gathering’s keynote speaker, and we once again did a Galdr ritual (a chanting ritual) using Ogham (sacred trees). This year’s theme was “Sacred Time, Sacred Space” and as part of this work, we decided to re-enchant the land by establishing a new ley line network. We are co-creating a new ley line network across the land.

Motherstone at Four Quarters Interfaith Sanctuary

The overall goal of this ritual was to re-enchanting our landscape, connecting sacred spaces and creating sacred spaces across the landscape, and connecting our broader druid community. The work involves empowering, connecting, and eventually, dispersing a set of stones…

View original post 2,892 more words

Want to go Lucid before the next full moon? A new Lucid Ignition community is gathering

By Ryan Hurd

The moon is waning and maybe your own lucid dreaming practice is too.

I can help with that. Well, not so much with the moon, that’s a celestial body apparently beyond my powers of influence.

But if you are looking to go deeper into lucid dreaming, or if you have hit a wall trying to become more self-aware in your dreams, the answer is probably not a new miracle technique or sleep hack. Sorry/not sorry.

Successful lucid dreamers are those who learn how to leverage motivations into strong intentions, and then build what I call the “lucid sanctuary.” This is soulful mindset that doesn’t command the dream, but invites it forth.

Since 2015, I’ve been running seasonal online workshops that provide a supportive community so you can do just that: build your lucid sanctuary, learn how to put to use the most scientifically-validated techniques, and construct a strategy that not only invites lucid dreams but also impactful and transformative dreams.

It’s easy, it’s holistic, and most importantly, it really works. Once you learn this strategy, it grows with you, and you’ll be able to dip back in whenever you are ready for more.