The Land Dreams in Ceremonies: Reparation Ceremony #13 *Tsartlip*

 

Motanka, Gift to the Land: Simple peasant girl in soft fabrics from the year of dyeing…  A gentle reminder to myself that, no matter my age, I am (and always will be) apprentice to the ancestors, plant-teachers, nature-spirits, and land.

Rushnyk: Made of upcycled raw silk, and eco-prints of Queen Anne’s Lace, Chicory, Strawberry, and Thimbleberry, the etheric impressions echo the land’s subtle yet potent teachings.

The Beginning is The End: In 2011, I was “adopted” by a plant whom I affectionately refer to as Ma Honeysuckle, with whom I have apprenticed since that time.  Her teachings are infinitely complex and simple in the same breath.  She patiently, strictly, began by stripping away all that I thought I knew or understood, and then led me – through direct contact as well as dreamtime encounters – to relational land-based knowledge.  After several years, she handed me over to study with my ancestors.  I initiated the revival of blood & bone memory through the crafting of Motanky and Pysanky.

Pysanka Symbols: Pysanky are written in a language of symbols.  I had a series of dreams over many months of ever-increasingly large snakes.  I came to understand they were representatives of the Great Mother Spirit, as well as Ma Honeysuckle. Trees who are companions to Ma Honeysuckle are also storehouses of ancient wisdom and memory of place.  The Fire written at top of the Pysanka is sacred protector, and also represents the practice of Prayer Fires taught to me by Ma.

Transition: It is with sweet affection that I transitioned from year 2 to year 3 of ceremonies.  Completing with this location was purposeful, because “to make an end is to make a beginning” (T.S. Elliot).  I am ever grateful for the teachings I received here, and ever grateful for the inclusion of my ancestors in my apprenticeship.  It is a short and long walk for each of us to recognize our inherent connection to land and the imperative to serve, love, and care for it.  When we each begin to know, feel and live as one within the land and greater community, as one within Nature, we will awaken a consciousness that has lain dormant – awaiting our collective re-member-ing.

Shadow Walking: A prayer to the soft earth beneath our feet, the Dark Mother, womb to all: may we be held, may we be re-member-ed, and may we awaken to the disconnection of our hearts so that blood & bone memory of Mati Zemlya may be restored through the dreaming of ceremony.