wehaveancestorsposterRecognition. Awareness. Attention. For so many people of European heritage, the process of ancestral recovery, re-indigenization, and decolonization begins with the deep recognition of some powerful understandings.

  • You have ancestors. And those ancestors go back for thousands and thousands of years.
  • You are descended from Indigenous ancestors.  At some point in your ancestor’s existence, they were Indigenous to a place.
  • Your ancestors lived connected to a place for millenia.  For some ancestors – many, many thousands of years. In Eastern Europe, the squared spiral found in the growth pattern of mastadon tusks is still found in present-day folk art and weaving.  Ancient things do live on.
  • Your body, DNA, and consciousness is more ancient than modern in it’s form. Western civilization has only been around for a few thousand years. The industrial age, only about 250 years.  In comparison, your Indigenous ancestors and their lifeway lived connected on the land for tens of thousands of years.  There is something inside of you that strives to recognize and regain this connection. Allow it.

For some, the recognition of our Indigenous ancestral past will start out as an intellectual exercise that can blossom to deeper connection in time.  For others, the understanding of our ancestors and our Indigenous roots is deeply felt but the means to find this connection is more elusive. And for others still, this recognition will arrive a bit like a slap in the face when ancestors reach out in ways that are unmistakable or impossible to ignore.

Whatever path one finds themselves on, what’s most important is that we walk it with great awareness and humility. No path is better than any other, and every path will bring with it lessons and information we all need to reawaken our ancestral lifeways and understandings.  This reminds us that ultimately, decolonization is about reawakening entire communities of people living a connected and balanced lifeway on our traditional lands.

Decolonization is possible!

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