Dreaming with the Ancestors
One way I have been applying my training in Indigenous Mind is to lead dream groups that focus on dreaming with the ancestors. Dream work was a central part of the Indigenous Mind experience and we were blessed to be guided by some incredible distinguished traditional elders, including Dr. Apela Colorado, Mr. Hale Makua and Auntie Mahealani Poe Poe. In much of the western world, dreams are viewed mostly from a the perspective of the individual’s psyche. In IM dream work, we also viewed dreams as a major means of communicating with the ancestors. Many of us had dreams of ancestors and were able to recover lost bits of family history through our dreams. I personally had many dreams about the Polish land and Polish people as I began to explore my Polish roots. You can read more about my ancestral dreams in a paper I wrote called “Dream Journey to Poland.”
Vasalisa the Brave, from Slavic fairy tales of the Goddess/Witch Baba Yaga
Starting on March 18th, I will lead a 8 week dream group that focuses on Dreaming with the Ancestors. In this facilitated dream group, we will focus on how our dreams can help us connect to the ancestral and spiritual realms. In each class, we will build an altar and create a sacred space for our dreamwork. The focus of our dreamwork will be first be on our genealogical ancestors and we will set our intentions to remember their stories, rituals, and healing traditions. We will also practice making dream connections with our animal and plant allies, magical beings (like fairies) and our own spirit guides. We will work with family stories, fairy tales and folk art to help activate our ancestral dreams and memory. Flower essences and plant spirit medicine will be incorporated to help enrich our dreaming process.
I have facilitated similar dreamgroups for the past few years and amazing things are occurring in them. It seems as if the ancestors are ready and eager to show up for us to do this work!
For more information, go to the Events and Classes page on my website, AncestralApothecary.com.
For those of you who don’t live in the California Bay Area…….. teleclasses coming soon! Drop me an email if you are interested.
Blessings,
Atava
NBC Series: “Who Do You Think You Are?”
The other day in my inbox from ancestry.com came an announcement about the upcoming NBC series Who Do You Think You Are?.
Who Do You Think You Are? is a new series which takes a up close and personal look at the genealogy and family history of some of Hollywood’s hottest celebrities, including Sarah Jessica Parker, Susan Sarandon, Spike Lee, Matthew Broderick and Brooke Shields.
As someone who has been working with my own ancestors pretty intensively for the past 15 years, it is nice to see that Hollywood is finally catching up. Perhaps all of us who received a Master’s degree in ancestral remembrance and recovery in the Indigenous Mind Program at Naropa University will finally be in demand for the unique work that we do.
I did my graduate research on my Polish ancestral roots, which culminated in an ancestral journey back to Poland in 2002. You can read more in my thesis. “Journey to my Polish Indigenous Mind” that you can download for free on my website.
Other IM graduates include Audri Scott Williams, who traced her African roots back across the Middle Passage and to West Africa; Sulonda Smith, who traced her ancestors to South Africa and had a chance to study with Zulu healer Credo Mutwa; Marcela Sabin, who reconnected with her indigenous Basque and Spanish roots; Kit Cooley who made an ancestral journey to Italy; Teresa MacColl, whose ancestors come from the clan Colla of Ireland and the highlands of Scotland; Linda Joslin, who retraced the steps of her ancestors in England; Bernd Geels who rediscovered the Celtic Goddess Brigit; and Venus Herbito who helped restore the healing traditions of her indigenous Phillipino ancestors.
All of these people have amazing stories to tell and have much to share. I hope that Hollywood and the world will soon discover some of what we all have to offer.
Tags: Ancestors, Genealogy, indigenous mind
Ancestral Apothecary Gifts and Specials
Give the Gift of Health this Season.
Miakoda, Healing and Transformation Consultant
for all Ancestral Apothecary Products and Services
(Most consultations with Atava are available by phone, email or Skype, so you don’t have to live in the Bay Area to benefit from her healing expertise.)
Services Include:
Herbal Consultations: Wish to fine tune your health for the New Year? Looking for someone to help support and guide your path back to good health? In these individual appointments, we will discuss in detail your health history and concerns. You will receive a unique herbal formula made just for you by Atava to address your particular needs and constitution. Follow-up visits continue until your health issues have resolved. Occasional herbal consultations are a great idea for health maintenance as well.
Flower Essence Consultations: Stuck in an emotional rut? Wish you had a magic wand to conjure up some special energy for yourself? Flower essences are like this kind of magic in a bottle. They work particularly on the emotional, spiritual and mental realms to help us come back into balance and harmony.
Acupressure and Jin Shin Jyutsu®: Stressed? In pain? Feeling run down or in poor health? A quick way to help tune up your body is to receive a hands-on healing session from Atava. After sessions, clients report feeling immediately much better, including having more energy, more mental clarity and focus, and a greater sense of peace and well being.
Limpias: The limpia is a traditional Mexican ceremony that helps cleanse the body and spirit of unwanted energies. Limpias are a great way to work with shock, trauma, loss, and grief and they are also good if you just want help letting go of something.
Deep Genealogy Coaching: For people of all backgrounds who wish to connect more deeply with the indigenous spiritual traditions of their ancestors. In theses sessions, you will work one-on-one with Atava to navigate your personal ancestral remembrance process.
For more information including rates, click here to go to my website.
Buy Three Get One Free!
Purchase a package of three of any Ancestral Apothecary services and get the fourth free!
Treat your loved ones and yourself!
Mix and match any three services.
Call 510-541-2715 or email atava@ancestralapothecary.com, or click here to go to services page.
Good towards Herbal & Flower Essence Consultations, Acupressure and Jin Shin Jyutsu Sessions, Limpias, or Deep Genealogy Coaching. Purchase package of any three services and receive one free of equal or lesser value. Sliding scale rates do not apply.
Offer Expires 12/31/09
Tags: december specials, gifts
Ancestral Healing Workshop, Nov 14th
Ancestral Legacy and Personal Healing Workshop
November 14th, 2009 and January 16th, 2010
Time: 10 am- 5 pm
Location: Casa del Sueno, Orinda, CA (10 minutes from Rockridge Bart)
In many traditions, this is the time of year to remember and honor our ancestors. As the days grow shorter and the nights grow longer, it is a time for introspection and dreaming seeds for the future.
On the first day of this two part workshop, we will mindfully contemplate our ancestral legacies. Through ritual, altar building, meditation, and sharing stories we will explore the connection between our ancestors and our personal healing journeys. This first class will culminate as each workshop participant identifies her or his own ancestral healing and legacy project.
We will reconvene for the second part of the workshop on January 16th. On this day we deepen our exploration of our ancestral legacies and personal healing by working with our ancestral dreams. Also, on this day participants will have an opportunity to share their ancestral legacy projects that they began in November.
Ancestral Altar in Poland
To Register: Send a $50 deposit made out to “Circle of Ancestors” to 3798 Grand Ave, Oakland 94610. Or request a Paypal invoice by email. Balance due on the first day of the workshop.
For more information:
Call 510 652 5213 or email polishancestralhealing@gmail.com.
www.polishancestralhealing.org
www.circleofancestors.org
Tags: Genealogy, Polish ancestors
Ukrainian Sand Animation tells Ancestral Story
Stunning!
Spiritual Heritages of Ancient Europe Web Class
A woman I greatly admire and respect, feminist historian Max Dashu is offering a very exciting on line course about the Spiritual Heritage of Ancient Europe. She will be teaching from her upcoming book, The Secret History of the Witches and will include many of the thousands of images she has collected over the past thirty years. Max’s work is an important contribution to all people, but especially women of European descent who are working to remember/recover/heal their indigenous roots.
Max is the founder of the Suppressed History Archives which “aims to uncover the realities of women’s lives, internationally and across time, asking questions about patriarchy and slavery, conquest and aboriginality. About mother-right, female spheres of power, indigenous philosophies of spirit– and the historical chemistry of their repression. Even more important, their role in resisting oppression.” She has created a DVD on Women’s Power in which she presents images and stories of the women who have been omitted from history- the women healers, shamans, leaders and priestesses from around the world.
Tags: ancient Europe, Witches, women's history
Polish Ancestral Healing Project Website
The Polish Ancestral Healing Project is a part of the non-profit organization, Circle of Ancestors.
The intention of the Polish Ancestral Healing Project is to educate, empower, inspire, and transform those who seek ancestral connection and healing. Our work reaches across religious and secular lines by tapping into our common earth-based spiritual/mystical roots, the sacred elemental energies of the earth and working with these elements as a source of healing.
Please visit our site to find out more about PAHP, see pictures of our ancestors and our trip to Poland, and to download copies of both of our Master’s theses.
Buffalo Going Home
Someone sent this video link to me a few months ago. It documents the return home of a herd of buffalo from Catalina Island to Rosebud South Dakota. I’ve watched it several times and it always brings tears to my eyes.
As the Lakota man speaks in the end of the video, “Tatanka is home now. They feel good already. You can tell by the way they are acting. People can feel it too. They are what kept us alive for a long time. It’s our way of life. Their way of life.”
May we all find our way home!
Global Medicine Review
I want to give a shout out to one of my favorite podcasts, Global Medicine Review, which comes to us from Pacifica station WBAI 99.5 FM in New York City. Global Medicine Review is hosted by Dr. Kamau Kokayi and Faybiene Miranda. Dr. Kokayi is a medical doctor who honors and promotes wholistic and indigenous healing perspectives. Faybien Miranda is a poet, performer and community activist who adds her creative beauty and spiritual perspective to the mix. They explore many topics in health and healing and often from an indigenous perspective. They also share with their listeners important information on health issues, such as diabetes, detoxification, nutrition and HIV/AIDS. They recently interviewed Dr. Malidoma Some for their fundraiser show. You can find their podcast on ITunes or download shows from their website.
Flower Healing Part 2
In March I made a journey to the Anza Borrego Desert, outside of San Diego. The desert wildflowers were in full bloom. I was joyful to be around the plants of my desert dwelling ancestors. Here is one of the important flowering plants that I encountered:
Chaparral is one of the oldest living plants on Mother Earth. Some chaparral plants living in the California desert are over 9,000 years old. Chaparral, which is also called Greasewood, was considered a panacea for the native people that lived around it. As an herb, chaparral is powerfully cleansing to the body and it has been used for many illnesses, including cancer.
As a flower essence, chaparral is a powerful emotional cleanser. It helps us to release old, toxic emotions that we have stored deep in our body. Once, when I was sitting in meditation with a chaparral plant, she showed me how my emotions vibrated in the cells of my body. Later, when I took the flower essence, I went through a healing phase where for many days I released old feelings of sadness and anger. Chaparral also helps to connect us to our own ancestors. In this way, it helps to root ourselves into our own genealogy. Connection to ancestors has always been an integral part of indigenous cultures. Many modern people suffer from disconnection to their ancestors. This creates many other issues, including loneliness and a sense of not belonging. If you wish to connect to your ancestors, begin by making a prayer and offering to let them know your request. Then take the flower essence of chaparral, or take a small piece of the plant and put in on your altar or carry it on your body.
