Summer Solstice Retreat: Re-connecting to Planta Medicina
The world is in Chaos. Man-made chaos. And I say "man-made" because it is based on the patriarchal system that continues to perpetuate violence, criminalization of BIPOC communities, & control of our wombs. Knowing that the system was built only to protect itself, capitalism & the powers that be. How do we remain calm, centered, & nourished when there are so many attacks to our community?
As I was preparing for our Summer Solstice Gathering last week, I couldn't help but feel angry, resentful, & guilty. Angry at the system for trying to control our bodies, resentful towards our masculine nation for "not doing anything" to rise up in our defense, and personally feeling guilty for "not doing enough." My story-journey began as a teen, becoming involved in activism, community organizing, labor union organizing, and youth organizing. How can I sit here, making medicine bags when I should be out there protesting these injustices? That was the guilt that was showing up for me.
And then, looking at the Planta medicine in front of me: Lavanda, Rosas, & Sage. They spoke to me. Lavanda reminded me that I can soothe & calm myself in this moment. Rosa reminded me to engage in self-love, self-compassion in my process, my journey; and Sage held me, nurtured my well-being by cleansing these negative energies I was holding onto. I did not want to transfer these energias into the medicine bags that were going to be a gift to those who joined us in Circulo. Al contrario, my intention is to share their medicine, their healing, Mother Earth's nourishment.
In the midst of all the chaos, we have to come back to our Ancestors' Healing practices, connect with Plantitas, with Mother Earth, in order to heal ourselves & our next 7 generations. Because we can sit with the anger, the pain, & the hurt, & we can also release it, & move through it in a good way, in order to show-up for our community, for ourselves & our next 7 generations without over-burdening ourselves, without transferring the anger, the guilt, but healing from it & passing down that wisdom, that medicine. This is how I choose to move forward, this is my contribution to our world, ourselves, our Ancestors, & our next 7 generations. To begin to break away from the system, from the intergenerational patterns that no longer serve us. It is time to re-connect back to our roots, our ancestors & our medicine. Aho.
