Matriarchy Figures

As the year. is closing out and there is much talk and shares surrounding re-matriarching the land, I found it important to share a post I saw on IG from Dr. Rocio Rosales-Meza. She shares,

“Decolonial work is about the shadows, that is why I have named it DECOLONIAL SHADOW WORK (credit my work BTW)…this work is about the mud, the discomfort, the pain, SEEING IT & embodying the path so that it we can HEAL & be FREE from oppressive, predatory systems…

I see many masks & performances,,,not all of it is conscious… I have compassion <3

Still, these truths need to be spoken.

The times of extraction, exploitation, status from a dying paradigm, superiority, transactional relationships, consuming for personal gain, hoarding of knowledge without integration, depth, right relationship & reciprocity are OVER.

I urge us ALL to do our shadow work so that the ways we are colluding with the colonial paradigm are revealed… so that our highest paths called forth

The work MUST begin with YOU…

I see judgement, not enough courage & compassion…

I see too much extraction of the matriarchs, maestras, & elder medicine women, ironically by those we teach…. (credit & support your teachers).”

This landed so strongly for me because I have been in deep work surrounding my mother wound and really leaning into practices that honor the wisdom and processing that comes through mothering, not just me personally but throughout my own lineage. I often questioned how I could be a mother after having lost my mother, in physical form? I do know, she is always with me and is able to contribute even more from the other plane than on earthside.

This studying and unpacking has led me to revisiting whether I have been mothered and even able to mother alone. Am I a self-taught or guided mother moving through the world and role of mothering through others? So I began to curate a list honoring all of my teachers, ancestors whose work has shown up in my life and mothered me in some aspects with their presence and wisdom. First and foremost, I always honor my mother the first wisdom and spirit embodied person I know and witnessed,Tracy C. Hardy. There are really not enough words or meanings behind this language to express the role and wisdom she modeled for me and my siblings and continues to add to my life. My next ever present mother being nature, from the stars to the soil.

I next honor each of my teachers for their wisdom, embodiment and presence in my life; Tracee Stanley, Michelle Cassandra Johnson, Octavia Raheem and Marysia Miernowska. My spiritual sisters Gabrielle Morton, Michagni Kripa. My friends and village Germaine Jenkins, Kanani Burns, Kenya Cecelia, Lorena Graham, Denetrya Brookins, Jasmine Hines, Kerri Kelly, Kate Counts, Carrington Jackson and Caitlin Palczuk. Ya’ll I have not been alone and without a ‘mothering’. I have been seen and held and witnessed by a tribe of women that are showing up in the world in their work and walking their talk. I also want to give gratitude to my ancestors transitioned and alive Dora Gasque-Gerald, Lela Mae Gasque-Richardson, Shirley Ann Richardson-Beauford, Madge Simmons, Anne Hames, Bonnie Martin-Tompkins and my daughter Ziona Miller.