I was instructed to kneel, prostrate and kiss the straw mat that was on the ... Read More »]]>  I remember arriving for a spiritual consultation with a man who would later become not only my spiritual mentor and teacher but friend. He was a Priest of Oshun the Yoruba Divinity of Love, Healing, and fresh water. I didn’t really know what that meant at the time but I came to him seeking help as my life had become unmanageable.  After years of Western psychotherapy and rehashing old stories over and over again I found myself still stuck, still dealing with the same issues and had turned to God and the spiritual world to seek guidance.  As an African American woman I was also led to the traditions of my ancestors as Western and European forms of healing just didn’t appeal to me anymore.

 I was instructed to kneel, prostrate and kiss the straw mat that was on the ground as a symbol of reverence for the Earth. This was a gesture of humility that I was unaccustomed to, I balked inside at having to kneel to anyone or anything, couldn’t I just give my offering, pay my fee and be done with it?! However, on that day I remembered why I had come, my life had become unmanageable and I needed guidance so down I went, kissing the earth tentatively. I arrived at his door because he was known in the community to be an excellent diviner with good character, a fair and balanced Priest.  The session began with a long litany of prayers in a language I didn’t know but I felt electricity in the air and waited. Then, he tossed cowries shells on the Earth seeking guidance from the African deities of nature known as Oricha.

7 shells landed upright with the first toss, then 9 on the next.

 He instructed me to extend my hands as far as I can over my head while sitting on the mat. I reached my arms up, hands overhead wondering what is this about?  He then began to recite proverbs and guidance from the Oricha. He said: A key proverb in this sign says: “Stretch your hand as far as it reaches.” “The Oricha say that you need to respect your limits. As you can see your hands can only go so far over your head and it is important to learn wisdom so that you can respect and sense your limits in life.  In other words, this means that you can only reach as far as you can and never beyond your potential.  When you reach one of your limits, stop and wait before proceeding.” The wisdom of the Oricha contain many nuggets of eco-wisdom that help guide our behavior and character towards understanding and recognizing our limits as human beings and how to engage in relationship with the spirit world in nature to awaken, restore, and heal our psyches so that we can preserve and restore our planet and ourselves.  The principles from the message contained in this proverb clearly tell us that as human beings we have limits, respect and understand your limits or suffer the consequences.  Everyone and everything has limits. 

 The principle of recognizing limits is crucial to balanced and healthy systems in nature. A key principle of ecology is understanding and recognizing limits as everything is interconnected.  We are being asked to develop a more balanced sense of being that is directly connected to our thinking,emotions and behavior.  The Center for Ecoliteracy in Berkeley, CA speaks of moving from emotional intelligence to ecological intelligence.  They state that one key to nurturing and developing Ecological Intelligence is cognitive, related to how we think: by understanding how nature sustains life.  http://www.ecoliteracy.org/essays/becoming-ecoliterate

For far too long, we have lived our lives as if every natural resource is free for us to take, that every piece of waste can be cast off onto the land, water and skies without consequences.  As we are slowly destroying the planet through our addictive behaviors to more stuff, know that although we may care for the natural world in our hearts, as long as never learn to value and understand the limits of the Earth we will continue to suffer greatly. 

So, reach your hands as high as you can above your head and know that as you have limits so does the earth, let us learn to begin to appreciate just enough.

J. Phoenix Smith, ACSW is a clincial social worker, Ecotherapist and Oricha Priest of Aganyu. She can be reached at ecosoulwisdom@gmail.com

Copyright 4.13 J.Phoenix Smith

  ]]> http://www.ecosoulwisdom.org/on-earth-day-the-wisdom-of-the-oricha-for-embracing-just-enough/feed/ 0 http://www.ecosoulwisdom.org/children-and-nature-remembering-trayvon-martin-2/ http://www.ecosoulwisdom.org/children-and-nature-remembering-trayvon-martin-2/#comments Thu, 28 Feb 2013 23:58:18 +0000 Phoenix http://www.ecosoulwisdom.org/?p=1655

February 26th was the 1 year anniversary of the murder of Trayvon Martin in Florida. Trayvon Martin was a 17 year old unarmed Black teenager who went walking outside in his neighborhood in Florida with a bag of skittles and was murdered.  As an Ecotherapist who works with people of color to connect their healing to connecting with nature, I began to think of how feeling safe outside can be a barrier to engaging with the natural world.  I didn’t spend a lot of time outside as a child because our apartment complex was not always a safe place to hang out; there were often fights or older men and boys harassing young girls.  It was not until I was a young adult graduate of college away from home that I experienced hiking for the first time in the ... Read More »]]>  

February 26^th was the 1 year anniversary of the murder of Trayvon Martin in Florida. Trayvon Martin was a 17 year old unarmed Black teenager who went walking outside in his neighborhood in Florida with a bag of skittles and was murdered.  As an Ecotherapist who works with people of color to connect their healing to connecting with nature, I began to think of how feeling safe outside can be a barrier to engaging with the natural world.  I didn’t spend a lot of time outside as a child because our apartment complex was not always a safe place to hang out; there were often fights or older men and boys harassing young girls.  It was not until I was a young adult graduate of college away from home that I experienced hiking for the first time in the hills of West Virginia.  I remember the journey to West Virginia from Washington, D.C., the stares we encountered when we stopped to eat or get gas, the jokes we made about the “rednecks” coming to get us to distract from our fear.  But, we were determined to get “our nature on”, we were going to occupy the forest and began talking about Harriet Tubman and our ancestors who knew these woods like the back of their hands.  Our discussion of our ancestors comforted us and gave us strength to face our fears. But we had to consciously invoke these memories just to get the courage to go for a hike.

Trayvon Martin wasn’t entering a big scary forest, he was walking alone, he thought he was safe in his neighborhood surrounded by familiar trees, plants.

In the last 5 years there has been increased visibility, discussion, and research on the benefits of children playing in nature.  Research states that children ages 8 to 18 spend an average of 7.5 hours a day — more than 50 hours per week, connected to a TV, computer, video games and other electronic media.  A child is six times more likely to play a video game than ride a bike.  Sources: Kaiser Family Foundation, The Outdoor Foundation, Texas Education Agency, Texas Children in Nature

Richard Louv the author of the international best-selling book Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children From Nature-Deficit Disorder, raised people’s awareness of the outcome resulting from “kids spending more time indoors and in front of electronic screens and less time climbing trees, making forts and enjoying unstructured free time in nature. “  An organization he founded, called The Children and Nature Network has compiled research on the benefits of nature such as:

• Nearby Nature Reduces Stress in Children. Wells, N.M., and Evans, G.W. “Nearby Nature: A Buffer of Life Stress Among Rural Children.” Environment and Behavior. Vol. 35:3, 311-330.
• Being Outdoors is Important to Health.  Godbey, G. (2009). Outdoor Recreation, Health, and Wellness: Understanding and Enhancing the Relationship. Washington DC: Resources for the Future
• An Outdoor Program Enhances Children’s Well being, physical activity, and feelings of health, safety and satisfaction. Wood, C., Hine, R., & Barton, J. (2011). The health benefits of the Youth Outdoor Experience (YOE) project: University of Essex.

 But what about children who live in neighborhoods where they are unable to be outside for fear of violence? What about Trayvon or the countless of other Black children in Chicago, Oakland, and Washington, D.C.  who risk their lives just to go outside? 

 Trayvon was deemed suspicious and considered a “danger in the environment”, similar to the sighting of a lion or bear or other wild animal in the wilderness.  There is a long history of African Americans being identified and compared to “wild animals”.  These perceptions clearly live today as African Americans are more likely to be racially profiled by law enforcement and even their own neighbors.  I’ve also heard of park rangers in National Parks using the phrase “there was a sighting” to refer to Black people visiting the parks.  
There is clearly something much deeper going on in our environment when it comes to African Americans and other people of color having safe access and opportunities to engage with nature or simply go outside to play.  Promoting engagement with nature for health and well-being must also include analysis and action around violence and targeting of African American teenagers and children.  I agree with research that states that spending time in nature is beneficial in the development of children as well as adults.  I support giving children and adults access to unstructured time to play, to connect with the sacredness of nature.  However, I also know that this seemingly simplistic idea does not ring true for all of us. For some children, going outside can mean a death sentence. 

And so as I walk the beautiful hills of Oakland today, I’m remembering Trayvon Martin and praying for justice for him and his family.  May the blessings of the ancestors rain down on him, may his parents and family be comforted, may justice be served and may we create a world where all of our children can feel and be safe to go outside.

And then I began where I always do, contemplating the lives of ... Read More »]]>
In January in the United States we celebrate the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. with a national holiday that is now known as a National Day of Service to honor the legacy, philosophy and actions of the great humanitarian for civil rights. And in February, we celebrate Black History Month where we remember the important contributions of Americans of African descent. As an African American Ecotherapist and experienced public health social worker I sometimes struggle with finding a way to describe Ecotherapy to my community while also challenging my white colleagues to address the gaping blind spots in  Ecopsychology and Environmental movements that rarely address or link the issues of social justice for people of color and poor people in the Unites States to the broader conversation.

The Ceiba tree is known in the Lucumi/Oricha spiritual tradition as a sacred tree deeply connected to the ancestors.

And then I began where I always do, contemplating the lives of my ancestors and it is from this point that I begin to see that the work of many African American ancestors was directly tied to repairing, healing and reconciling the complexities of our relationship to nature. It was with these thoughts on my mind that I fell asleep and began to dream.
In the dream I’m sitting under the canopy of a huge Ceiba tree when I see a man walking towards me. As it is dream time my vision is slightly skewed but I see that he’s sharply dressed in a crisp black suit but as he comes closer I see a huge red stain on the front of his chest. As he gets closer to me I slowly begin to recognize his face and then it hits me, it’s Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. walking my way. I introduce myself and ask him to join me to have a seat on the Earth to feel the soil underneath our bodies and feet. Surprisingly, he agrees to stop, once he sits down I notice there are lines on his face and he looks a bit weary, his suit is covered with what looks like ash and there are blood stains on his shirt. But despite looking a bit tired and worn out there is a sparkle in his eyes.
And so he sits down next to me and here is what I heard in my dream conversation with Martin Luther King Jr.
In 1968 I began to hear of the struggles of Black sanitation workers in Memphis, workers struggling for safe working conditions, for a fair wage, for respect and acknowledgement of their value as human beings. You see, some people have the erroneous belief that because these poor Black men handled trash and waste that they were also garbage. They were being told that their lives didn’t have any value because like garbage they were disposable and as such should be satisfied with what they had and not stir the pot.

I went to the homes of these men and I noticed that they didn’t live far from the trash dump, that they had beautiful houses and gardens but their homes were surrounded by the waste of the entire city of Memphis. I began to think of the deep link between how trashing the Earth can easily lead to an easily lead to the ideology that people are trash as well.  What is the impact of this way of life and thinking on one’s spirit? And then my heart feels heavy because I begin to think if I live in the community where the public dump is located not only will my physical health suffer but my mental health as well. I may begin to think of myself as “garbage”. I mean why not, when the leaders of my community dump their garbage in my back yard, my role as a sanitation worker is devalue. I receive the lowest wages and work in terribly unsafe working conditions. If you understand the link between what we are doing to poison the planet then you begin to awaken to the fact that in order to trash the planet you have to trash people. I was committed to standing by the Memphis Sanitation Workers and their community. But little did I know at the time that this would be my last civil rights campaign as I would be assassinated in Memphis.
I took a deep breath taking in the weight of his words, and then I woke up.

Giving thanks ... Read More »]]>

December 26^th is the first day of the African American Celebration of Kwanzaa. This celebration founded by Dr. Malena Karenga in 1966 is based on seven principles to guide the African American community towards cultural healing, peace, and prosperity in the New Year.  Although  it is a western new world African celebration, it is rooted in traditional ancestral practices of West Africans including Ghana and Nigeria where communities gather for harvest celebrations such as the Yam Festivals which generally take place prior to the rainy season.  Yam is an important food staple in the West African diet and people are aware that in order to survive the upcoming year and to avert famine and drought they gather in community to offer prayers of thanksgiving to the Earth for her support and nourishment for the New Year.

Giving thanks to the Earth and the spirits of nature is grounded in the belief and knowing that all living things in nature such as rivers, oceans, tress, mountains, birds, bees, and the Earth have spirits.  In the African Diaspora devotees and initiates of the Oricha have various earth celebrations to prepare our spirits so we can harvest good character, purify ourselves, and honor the Oricha to prepare us for whatever lies ahead in the new year.   Many celebrations abound and in December we honor and celebrate the Oricha Olocun where we clean with grains, meat, fruit and vegetables to give thanks to Olocun the owner of the deepest parts of the sea and ports for our wealth, and to purify ourselves to be able to accept with humility, abundance for the New Year.  In the Oricha community I lead in the Oakland/SF Bay Area we do our celebration at the mouth of the Bay to give thanks to the waters which is the source of nourishment, healing, life, and prosperity for humans and nonhumans in the Bay Area and beyond.

In these times when our collective actions contribute to excessive  climate change, and wreck havoc on the planet, connecting in to the rhythms of nature through ceremony, creativity, celebration, meditation or prayer can bring healing to allow us to begin to give reparations to the Earth. In 2011, we have experienced a reduced harvest in much of the world as extreme weather decimated many regions. According to an article in the Boston Globe     http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2012/09/harvest.html)Half of the United States is in prolonged drought, as well as much of Europe. In India, the monsoon is 20 percent off the annual average. Food prices are expected to rise again in 2013 as demand taxes supplies.”  As Bill McKibben the founder and leader of the global movement 350.org states “”Civilization is what grows up in the margins of leisure and security provided by a workable relationship with the natural world. That margin won’t exist, at least not for long, as long as we remain on the wrong side of 350. That’s the limit we face.”  350 is the number that leading scientists say is the safe upper limit for carbon dioxide—measured in “Parts Per Million” in our atmosphere. 350 PPM—it’s the number humanity needs to get back to as soon as possible to avoid runaway climate change.”

 I’m reminded of the sacred holy Odu in the Lucumi tradition, Odi Osa which says to lift your hands as high as they can go to remind us that we can’t go pass the length of our hands, we must respect and honor our limits.  This Odu can also be applied to our collective consciousness to ensure that we respect and honor the limits of the Earth by curbing our greed and reminding us of the awareness and humility necessary for restraint.  This is particularly important for those of us living in the United States, where we consistently go beyond our limits in our consumption of the Earth’s treasures.

 Kwanzaa, Winter Solstice, Olocun Awan Oricha ceremonies, and other earth honoring ceremonies can help us to learn to have a cooperative relationship with the natural world.  So as the principles of Kwanzaa state let us harvest Unity, Self  determination, a Cooperative Economics , Creativity, Purpose, and Faith grounded in honoring the earth, knowing and respecting our limits and harvesting peace, humility, courage, justice and good will.

I give thanks for the ancestors and honorable elders for their wisdom, knowledge and the medicine of the Oricha.  It is through African and African Diaspora Earth honoring ceremonies and healing practices that I am reminded and taught to give thanks to the spirits of the Earth, to be aware of and honor my limits and to repair my relationship to the Earth to renew my mind, body and spirit for the New Year.

Coyright: J.Phoenix Smith, MSW

Oricha Priest of Aganyu, Ecotherapist, Writer, Mentor and Founder of EcoSoul

For more info and to join the international climate change movement go to www.350.org

In the most recent United States presidential debates  many people reported that both candidates, President Obama and Governor Romney were silent on Climate Change.  I mean so silent that you could hear a pin drop. You know about climate change right? 2012 was the dryest year in the United States in 50 years, food costs are rising as  our addiction to fossil fuels continues to feed climate change.  As an Ecotherapist I’m intrigued by the levels of denial  among our political leaders, and within ourselves as to what is happening to our planet which includes us.  As the oceans are becoming more acidic what are some of the meanings of this for our own mind, body and spirit?

I understand the feeling of being overwhelmed by the magnitude of the destruction that is both an environmental issue as well as a social justice ... Read More »]]>

In the most recent United States presidential debates  many people reported that both candidates, President Obama and Governor Romney were silent on Climate Change.  I mean so silent that you could hear a pin drop. You know about climate change right? 2012 was the dryest year in the United States in 50 years, food costs are rising as  our addiction to fossil fuels continues to feed climate change.  As an Ecotherapist I’m intrigued by the levels of denial  among our political leaders, and within ourselves as to what is happening to our planet which includes us.  As the oceans are becoming more acidic what are some of the meanings of this for our own mind, body and spirit?

I understand the feeling of being overwhelmed by the magnitude of the destruction that is both an environmental issue as well as a social justice issue.   Both issues have at their roots the destruction of life on the planet, human and non-human.  Both address exploitation and at least in theory want to free the earth and people from abuse.  And then I found the above graph from a wonderful blog http://www.caffeineator.com/.  And it reminds me that there is a deliberate attempt to keep us in denial and that a healthy dose of paranoia especially when faced with the above facts can keep a person sane in a crazy, crazy world.

An abstract of a social psychology study conducted in 2010 hypothesizes that thinking about one’s genetic origin (i.e. ancestors) provides people with a positive psychological resource that increases their intellectual performance.    This study confirms want many indigenous traditions have known for years. Although this study focus on increasing one’s intellectual performance Elders of indigenous traditions understand that being well in our minds and spirits is related to our ancestors being at peace. But how do we do this in the midst of our techno frenzied lives? Is everyone considered an ancestor? What if I was adopted and do not know who blood lineage? Should you honor all ancestors even those who did not live balanced lives?  What about the great uncle that was an alcoholic?

Honoring our ancestors as a ... Read More »]]>

Study Says Thinking About Our Ancestors Can Boost Performance.

An abstract of a social psychology study conducted in 2010 hypothesizes that thinking about one’s genetic origin (i.e. ancestors) provides people with a positive psychological resource that increases their intellectual performance.    This study confirms want many indigenous traditions have known for years. Although this study focus on increasing one’s intellectual performance Elders of indigenous traditions understand that being well in our minds and spirits is related to our ancestors being at peace. But how do we do this in the midst of our techno frenzied lives? Is everyone considered an ancestor? What if I was adopted and do not know who blood lineage? Should you honor all ancestors even those who did not live balanced lives?  What about the great uncle that was an alcoholic?

Honoring our ancestors as a wellness practice goes beyond creating altars of remembrance, we must be clear about why and who we choose to honor as well as begin to unpack our family stories for healing and forgiveness.

 Join Phoenix Smith, Founder of EcoSoul and learn to begin the process of deepening our relationship with our ancestors in a safe and powerful way through writing, prayer, song, and creative earth rituals for peace, and forgiveness for the living as well as the dead.

Fertile Ground: An EcoSoul Journey with the Ancestors

Oct 27 10-12

Oct 28 10-1 On Land in the East Bay

Fee: $99

1840 Alcatraz, Berkeley near Ashby Bart

Contact Phoenix: ecosoulwisdom@gmail.com, 510.325.7417

[1] Fischer, P., Sauer, A., Vogrincic, C., and Weisweiler, S. (2010). The ancestor effect: Thinking about our genetic origin enhances intellectual performance. European Journal of Social Psychology. 41 (1), 11-16