Responding to the Call of the Ancestors

The land of my most recent Ancestors is a place of rivers and creeks and fountains of oil, of chronic conquest, pecan trees, and watermelon patches. It is the place where the mixing of the Indian, Mexican and African gave birth to me, where my grandmother went from mulatto, to mixed race, to Negro, to Black within the space of a few years.
All of my Ancestors worked the land for survival; whether as tenant farmers, indentured servants or as enslaved people. They were intimately connected to the land and to the spirits in nature–the smell of the black earth, the sweet river waters, the feel of the earth supporting them as they slept and worked.
Unfortunately, my Ancestors were also intimate to how nature was abused through racist violence-the consistent danger that lurked in the woods, and the remembrance of the lynching of black people from its trees. Despite this complex relationship their connection to the natural world rooted them to a place, a place from which they related to other beings in nature. This abiding respect for and interdependence on the natural world carried my Ancestors through most their life challenges.

Flash forward 42 years later in which my family moved often when I was a child. As an adult I continued to do so, planting the shallowest of, roots before moving on to the next city, the next job, or the next relationship. My frequent relocations made it difficult to develop a strong relationship with my homeplace.
At some point, I began searching for ancestral medicine and experienced how my disconnection from the natural environment had negatively impacted my physical, emotional and spiritual health. I also unearthed the memories of my great Aunt Ruby who created and tended to the family vegetable garden and my great, great, grandfather Corneilus Waiters , a farmer in South Carolina. It was in remembering that I was able to reclaim my connection to the land and to my family.
As I began to engage the healing power of the natural environment, I was introduced and began to practice an Earth based spiritual tradition, a tradition which gave me a framework for relating to the natural world. I began to understand that volcanoes, oceans, mountains, rivers, forests, animals and humans are all part of one great Creation. A Creation that binds us together in one destiny. By spending time in silence, in deep listening, and in ceremonies in nature I have begun building a sustaining relationship to nature and, most importantly I have begun to plant deep roots in the medicine of the Earth.