Birth Place of the Sun Saved

By Deanna Jenne'

For at least two years concerned people and activist groups have been putting petitions on the internet about the Canadian mining proposition to cut the top off one of the most sacred mountains in the world, Cerrado Quemado, the Wixirika (Huichol) Birth Place of the Sun.  I've felt the anxiety of our people, world wide, including myself, as many have put out the cry for stopping this world-wide industrial machine, called money and materialism.  It became an issue for those of us who might have signed a petition or sent money could be tracked at the border and not allowed to come into Mexico. We were urged not to get involved in this way, but to hold prayers and vigil for the best outcome for Cerado Quemado, the Wixirika and our world.  This is Sacred Activism.

This sacred mountain affects me: how I wake in the morning, how my day begins, how new life is brought forth, how weather is affected by this engine, how I sleep and dream at night and whether the sun will rise again. We take this Being, Grandfather Fire's Little Brother, Father Tau, for granted.  

    (These posters came from New M68 Portfolio!! WIRIKUTA -Tsekie Tuamuxawita: Herido Lugar Sagrado;          http://www.justseeds.org/blog/2012/03/new_m68_portfolio_por_la_defen.html)

Sacred Activism: What impresses me the most about these years of Sacred Activism to keep mining interests off the Mountain is how it has taught so many people about this magnificent Being.  I find the Gods to be remarkable in the way they work! The Gods have a way of getting our attention and therefore, this most Sacred Place of the Wixirika has been found out by the world.  As Mother Earth is a magnicent Being, the unseen forces depend on humans to do their part.  I thank our humans who have worked so hard and taught us that we cannot live without the Sacred in our everyday, mundane lives...It is always there but never to be taken for granted.

The Wixirika feel that as long as one marakame is greeting Father Tau in the morning, then all is well in the world.  My husband, Gary, does this.  Every morning at sunrise he's outside with his mueveris (feathered wands) saying hello to the Sun. His work in the world, in this capacity, is vital for the well-being of ourselves and Mother Earth.  

Today is a good day. We have just received notice from our good friend Ana Cortez in Tepoztlan, Mexico, that Wiricuta is saved from the mining of the Cerrado Quemado.  Wiricuta is the Birth Place of the Gods and is "downstream" from this Sacred Mountain.  These places are unequivicably the MOST sacred sites for the Wixirika; for if the Sun doesn't rise, the rain don't fall, life stops.  

Staying vigilant.  We, the people, can celebrate the harmony and balance this news has created across the globe. I can only imagine the gratitude our brothers and sisters of the Wixirika must feel. The machine is enormous, a monster. We must stay vigilant with our prayers of gratitude to the Gods for the Sun rising each day, for all that our Mother Earth gives us in order to live in this precious realm. As humans we made an agreement with the Gods in the beginning of Time Before Time that we would give gratitude to all that is presented to us, to maintain the balance of the gift of the mind with the gift of the heart.  This is what we can continue to do.

Here is the post from Ana:

The government has just announced that Wirikuta will not be subject to mining!!

(http://www.jornada.unam.mx/ultimas/2012/05/24/115353996-cede-first-majestic-sus-concesiones-al-pueblo-wixarika)

The newspaper says in spanish (two hours ago): "The canadian company First Majestic will not do any mining at the wirikuta sacred territory in San Luis Potosí and has transfered its franchises in that area to the wixarika (huichol) people through the federal government. The 45 thousand acress of that franchise will be part of the national mining reserve, which will secure that the will not be transfered again. This was announced by the minister of internal affairs, Alejandro Poiré."

This announcement comes two days before a music festival that will take place this Saturday in Mexico City (the Wirikuta Fest) to raise funds for the defense of Wirikuta. Several state ministers gave the news that the sacred sites of the wixarika people will be protected. 

(I can't stop crying of joy).  Love,   Ana
 

Earth Day Remembered

Forty two years ago some tenth grade classmates with Mrs. Frances, our amazing and world traveled journalism teacher, picked up trash along the highway on the reservation where I grew up.  This was the First Earth Day, April 22, 1970.  We had an entire day of "walking in beauty", singing the song of Mother Earth.  Mrs. Frances was inspirational (always) and taught us about honoring the earth.  Most of the kids in that class were Native American...I remember them really getting into it and I feeling a strong resonance to her teachings.  We were remembering the ancestors and how the earth replenishes us, gives us everything we need to live; we were remembering how to walk in balance and not see Her as a resource, but as a sacred body which nourishes us and cares for us.  Our high school year book was dedicated to Earth Day...the inside pages spoke of Henry David Thoreau's famous words, "Simplify, Simplify, Simplify".  These words are speaking again to me today.

By that time in the history of our aboriginal peoples of the Americas, the reservations were wrought with American government handouts, pay backs for the confiscation of the Indian's ancestral homelands and the grief of genocide that had taken place less than one hundred years before; alcoholism and drug abuse, fighting among each other and the whites (like me) who squatted on their new, fenced in lands; and poverty, to say the least.  A culture was quickly dying before our young eyes as the elders chanted their way to their graves taking with them the last of the old ways. 

 Earth Day is still celebrated!  And, I read the news today, forty two years later--any news and any day and E V E RY W H E R E and I see that the takers are taking more.  It seems to be the mantra of the day not prayers of gratitude.  How did we become this way with the awareness we had 42 years ago?   HOW do we end this greed which leads to more consumption, more pollution, more drilling, more nuclear waste, more poverty, more hunger, more haves and have nots, more infrastructure, more desecration, more genocide, more sprawl, more cultures dying, more cancer, more more more? 

Earth Day reminds me of this time I had with Mrs. Frances -- a time of renewed hope for some semblance of harmony and balance in the world; perhaps a new beginning for all of us; and a moment in a day to remember and give thanks to what is really important, our connection to Mother Earth and Her agreement to care for Her children. Is enough really enough? I feel it's time to give back, plant a tree, clean out the ditches, renew our spirits through sacred activism...a prayer of gratitude and a vow to consume less; another small act of peace to have peace in the world. 

Have a Blessed and Sacred Earth Day.  Deanna Jenne' 

Living A Wholehearted Life

The Birth of a Blog—it’s midwinter. Day after day I lift my head from my work at my desk and see the same bald eagle making a swath across the field from east to west or west to east; the deer nose and nibble for grass outside my office window, and when the sun sets displaying its rosy lavender glow on the mesas I feel a bubbling up of inspiration to write, kindled by this beauty.  My office window is like a sacred doorway, a Nierika, to the natural world and to thoughts interconnected with living.  

Birthing often happens during the full moon.  I am sitting here watching the sky darken and this Gemini full moon rise and know it’s time to share with you.  The Greek communications god Mercury is calling me tonight to put fingers to computer keys and birth this sharing blog.

These posts will be about the nuggets I’ve learned; teachings from my life experiences that I feel have meaning. May the gleanings I offer, in prose and poem, photography and philosophy, provide teachings from the practical to a deeply spiritual place in me be as my gift to you.  There are many people who have profound insights they share. As those gems touch me I will share them with you as endorsements for a way to live with a good heart.

Humans love stories. The art of weaving a story makes a beautiful yet very personal tapestry—at times there’s a mass of tangled yarn, in other places you may find an exquisite pattern or a knot or two that will never untangle.  Colors may be vivid or subtle. This is life.  Enjoy the yarns I’ve spun here in this blog and perhaps you’ll love the gems within, too.

The Bald Eagle inspires vision from high above, from the vast blue sky and blesses me with a larger view of the world I live in. Gratitude to you, my regal feathered friend; I lift my head and hand to the East, the place of the rising Sun, the place of new beginnings, the place of birth and the holy place, Cerado Cuemado, the Wixarika birth place of the Sun who overlooks all of creation.