This week we had our first meeting of the Trailblazers for the Church of the Earth. I mentioned last week that I have been asked to help with their social media and blogs. I have already created a Pinterest account for us as we attended a blog webinar which said that Pinterest is one of the top ways to increase your traffic to your site. The other recommendation is ensuring you apply SEO (search engine optimization) and use keywords recommended by a tool such as Google keyword planner or Key search. We are starting to lay the foundations to try and get more people to be aware of the services we offer and to fund our ability to offer other services such as Youth Leadership courses and various trainings.
It is all very new and exciting! If you are on Pinterest I would appreciate a follow on our new account: HERE
There are so many signs coming through to me and so many connections being made which seem to encourage and support these goals.
Last weekend when Lily was here with me we kept seeing the white puffs from Dandelions floating up towards us while we were sitting outside. I do not remember ever seeing them before and they were enchanting! I asked Lily what they were and she said ‘Fairies’, which of course I believed but then she rolled her eyes and told me the truth (yes I believe in fairies and yes I can be that naïve). It was so beautiful and special!
Then when I was sitting around the fire at my women’s soul circle on Saturday morning I saw so many Dragonflies. I mentioned it to the other women afterwards and only one other person noticed them.
The Dragonfly symbolizes change, transformation, adaptability, and self-realization. The change that is often referred to has its source in mental and emotional maturity and understanding the deeper meaning of life.
Dandelions symbolize hope, resilience, love, prosperity, courage, peace, happiness, and new beginnings.
My friend Michelle and I were sitting by my pool and she noticed my plethora of warthogs and asked me what warthogs are symbolic of. I have 6 metal ones around my pool. I looked that up too and it also feeds into my desire to delve into my ancestry and continue with my healing. The warthog is a common symbol for protection, defense and fearlessness. The warthog is a vigilant animal that senses danger and has the courage to face it, reminding us that we can all face dangers and be brave. Healing is not easy as it requires a lot of introspection and revisiting of pain, but every morning I call on the Bear spirit to walk with me to and guide me to be a gentle warrior.
Michelle also brought to my attention so many things I had never noticed despite staring at them for so many years. For example the stone people. I am surrounded by mountains and you can see multiple faces in the stone mountains to the North and the South but I had never noticed them. Michelle also told me that the mountains around us are made up of quartz and that is why the energy is so special.
Can you see their faces? This is my view to the south.
While she was staying with me, Michelle joined in my morning prayers on my hill and she highlighted that I was missing the Centre. I mentioned that I had reversed my directions as I am in the Southern Hemisphere and the local sangomas / San leaders had told us that we must change to a counter-clockwise direction if we are in the South, however in the Native culture we follow the clockwise direction and my prayers align to that so it did not sit well with me and I have gone back to my own culture and am doing it clockwise regardless of the hemisphere.
First I greet Grandfather Sun and thank him for his warmth and light and say goodnight to Grandmother Moon and thank her for her service to us overnight providing light to the night creatures.
Then I face East to pray to the East, calling in the air creatures, those who fly and can see far ahead to guide us. Calling in my Creator, my ancestors and all of my relations, I thank the spirits for new beginnings. I thank the birds for visiting my garden with their beauty. I ask for guidance in how best to serve the Church. I give thanks for the new beginnings in my life and the things I manifested last year and am so grateful for.
Next I turn to the South. I ask for the lightheartedness of the jackal and the coyote to come into my life. I again give thanks for whatever comes to my mind. This is the direction where I ask for healing of those who are in need of it, I do this in a general way and I then specifically speak the names of particular people who have asked for healing. I ask to be guided in how I can help them.
I turn to the West and I give thanks to the Water creatures for the food they provide and I ask for blessings on the waters (all lakes, oceans, rivers and streams). I ask for forgiveness for the pollution and damage we have done to the waters and ask for healing. I ask for the bodies of water to fill with enough water to ensure that there are no droughts and that everyone has access to clean water. I ask the Bear spirits for bravery and strength.
In the North is where the spirits of our ancestors and wisdom reside. I ask my ancestors to walk with me and to guide me in the appropriate feelings and actions of the Red Road. I ask them to remove any negative emotions such as resentment and anger from my heart and mind and replace them with kindness and love. I ask for my purpose to be revealed to me and to guide me in the direction I need to fulfill that purpose.
I then give thanks to Above, to my Creator and I thank him for the masculine energy he sends to the world, for his guidance and strength.
I place my hands on the ground and give thanks to the Divine Feminine, Mother Earth. I thank her for the animals who slither and burrow underneath her, for the food she nurtures for all creatures, for the plants and the trees and all life forms. I tell her I am sorry for the damage that humans do to her and I ask her to forgive us for what we have done. I ask for the divine feminine energy to flow up through my feet, into my uterus and to light my fires of curiosity and thirst for knowledge, for love and kindness for the world and my fellow creatures.
Seven is a sacred number in Native American culture. Within the Medicine Wheel one should follow all seven directions, however I was forgetting my center. I read something an elder said, “We can only touch the 7th direction if we are planted in the other 6.” Maybe I was not yet ready to embrace self love?
Whatever the reason for my neglect of ‘self’, I now end my prayers with my hands crossed over my chest, thanking my creator, the ancestors and the spirits for my self growth and asking them to nurture my self love. The centre represents the fire within and our responsibility for maintaining that fire.
The Red Road is something that all of us can follow, whether you are native or not. It is living a life of thoughtfulness and humility and environmental consciousness and love. Praying grounds me and sets my day in a good direction.
In my last few posts I mentioned the Trail of Tears and that I was there in a past life as was Grandmother Robin. Both of my great grandmothers were full blooded Cherokee and this damage is in my ancestry.
The forced relocation of American Indians began with the Indian Removal Act of 1830. This was done to appease the white settlers who wanted the land to grow cotton. Everyone knows about the African and Caribbean slaves who were forced to pick that cotton but not everyone knows who the land belonged to prior to being stolen by the US government. Beginning in 1800, slaves cultivated cotton for sixty years; but free blacks were cotton laborers for nearly a hundred years after emancipation.
In 1838, the Cherokee Indians became the fifth major tribe to experience forced relocation to ‘Indian Territory’. The Cherokee Nation moved from its ancestral homeland in parts of North Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, and Alabama to land set aside for them in what is now the state of Oklahoma.
More than 15,000 Cherokee Indians were removed by the U.S. Army. The Choctaw, Chickasaw, Creek, and Seminole tribes were the other tribes that were forced to relocate. Over 100,000 Native Americans from the five tribes were forced to move.
These people were held in concentration-like camps through the summer, then they were forced to travel over 1,000 miles, often on foot through the snow and under very hard conditions to Indian Territory. Along the trail, nearly 4,000 Cherokee died of starvation, exposure, or disease.
The Cherokees came to call this forced move “Nunahi-Duna-Dlo-Hilu-I” or “Trail Where They Cried”.
The result of the U.S. Government’s American Indian Removal Policy devastated American Indian cultures.
In 1987, Congress passed Public Law 100-192, designating two of the routes taken by the Cherokee people in their removal as a National Historic Trail within the National Trails System. Today, it is best know as “The Trail of Tears”.
The forced removal of the Indians remains a black mark on American history, and reminds those who desire freedom, that all people deserve a life of liberty regardless of race, religion, or ethnicity. Unfortunately many of these tribes still live in dire conditions on reservations. The American government still does what it can to ensure that many people of colour do not have what they deserve by gerrymandering, repression of voting and poor education in many of these areas.
The Natives suffer from a high rate of addiction due to the damage to their souls from these atrocities.
This week President Biden has committed $135 million for tribal communities affected by climate change. The President has advanced an economic agenda that includes historic levels of funding specifically for Tribal communities and Native people, including $32 billion in the American Rescue Plan (ARP), $13 billion in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL), and $700 million in the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).
It is at least a start towards some sort of restitution.
Now for a bit of lightheartedness, Norm and I caught the new Jason Momoa film “Slumberland” this week. It is based on a comic that I had never heard of but I did enjoy it. It is sweet and full of brilliant graphics. It is suitable for all ages and I give it 4 Kitten Stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐.
My new bistro table was delivered last week and it is perfect with the chairs we bought on Marketplace. I manifested what I wanted and got it all for about half the price of buying new! They are perfect for hiding out in the shade and watching birds.
I find that as I get older the simple things provide me with peace and happiness.
I’ve made some changes on my social media pages. I have left several groups that used to make me laugh, but have drifted from humour and more towards the sort of sexual posts that reek of misogyny or slut shaming. I also left other groups which are full of angry people. I do not want to absorb those things. Where I can do so, I have changed my profiles from ‘Stresskitten’ to ‘Kitten In the City’ because words matter. I am also claiming back time by dropping the fashion game I have played for years. It takes up so much time and it no longer brings me joy. I am Marie Kondo’ing the things that do not bring me joy or that I allow into my life.
I wish you all peace and that you receive a bit of whatever makes you happy. 💙💜
Until next time, Kisses from the Kitten.
Kitten in the City 