Sacred Earth

Hidden Gems: The Demonstration Village

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Hidden Gems: Mati Waiya of Wishtoyo Chumash Demonstration Village

We are long-time teachers and native Angelenas who love to share the hidden gems in our favorite city. In this series, we interview local heroes whose passions and work inspire us.

We interviewed Mati Waiya at Wishtoyo’s Chumash demonstration village on the bluffs in Malibu overlooking the Pacific Ocean, where a stream meets the ocean. We learned how his passion and practice of traditional culture guided him to build a place that inspires, teaches, and brings peace.

Learn more at Wishtoyo.org.

What was your vision for this site?

This 8,000-year-old Chumash village site had become derelict with trash, rusted water tanks, invasive species and excess concrete blocking the water flow in the creek. Twelve years ago, I cleared a space the size of a small plate, arranged some stones into a circle, and made my first offering to ask permission from the ancestors. I came here every day, even if it was for fifteen minutes, to make my offerings and prayers. At first, I didn’t have a blueprint in my mind, but when I framed the first three houses Aps before we attached the tule reeds, It was like, “You can see it’s really going to happen!” We’ve been building for seven years, about half done.

Tell us about the early days at the Foundation.

We finally got the thatching on the first house. My wife and I slept in it. We did a ceremony, woke up
the fire; the fire illuminated the ceiling with a beautiful flame. We came outside and looked back at the
fire. It looked like a heartbeat. We thought, ‘how beautiful, this is how it was, how we lived.’ She and I
put a grill on the fire, cooked some dinner, we could hear seals bark and owls and coyotes call — it was a beautiful starry night — what a life! In the morning we picked up the door flap and you could see the whales migrating and blowing spumes. It was unreal to see this all come alive.

What do you hope children find here?

When kids come here, they get a sense of how Chumash Peoples lived in a paradise — water clean, skies clear, you could see the constellations, and your dream-time was real. You could see whales, dolphins, and grizzly bears. We in the modern world have taken all that away and one day we will regret it. Through this village and our messaging, and dance and story and song, and experience and smell and sound and sight, all these things are how we share a People’s way of life and culture. This connection to culture is what has been missing from the environmental movement.

Our stories of courage empower children with their right to be heard, to have a healthy world around them. No one has the right to take that away from you. Be heard, speak your truth. This will be your world. Maybe one day you will wish for clean energy, no fossil fuels. Our youth will be making the decisions. We must build a foundation, invest in the future we’ll never see. That’s what I believe we do here.

What could we expect at a typical school trip?

We welcome a group of 60-70 students, and break into sessions. They learn a dolphin calling song, they go into a traditional house, they see a tomol (traditional redwood plank canoe). We take them inside one of the aps (traditional round tule-thatched home) and show a power point depiction of whales, dolphin dancers, pelican flutes — how we live as a maritime people — and the impact of pollution and plastic on these resources. We show them some of our native plant restoration, and teach about endangered plants and medicine and the importance of stewarding the environment. I dress in traditional ceremonial Regalia and paint to tell a story about courage — the little kangaroo mouse looking for its courage, Red-tailed hawk and the sun, what would happen if the sun didn’t come out? I use a big drum and they feel it vibrate, I get them up to dance with me, they’re physically involved. They see the history and ceremony, fire, sounds, village, ocean, science, song, language. They don’t want to leave, and we tell them, ‘You have to go now.’

Why is Wishtoyo important?

What we offer is beyond outdoor education. Letters come back with drawings of our village and thanking us for taking the time to teach them to be good stewards of their home. We read them and know — we’re getting through to them! Our culture was almost lost. Look how meaningful it is in this time when this world is really at the verge of destruction.

A little blond child asked me, ‘Mati, how do I become an Indian?’ I told him that inside, if you love dolphins and whales and rivers and you believe these are important, it’s already in you. Children are born pure without influence and they learn by example. We send men to the moon, but here we launch prayers for healing, to remind us of the hurt and suffering going on in the world, to empower youth and innocent kids to have hope besides what they see on computers and tv.

Did you grow up in the traditional culture?

I knew about my native background from my grandmother and great grandmother and family. They were assimilated into working on Rancherias. Being “Mexican” was safer during the end of Mission times and the American campaign to get rid of Indians by any means possible. In school I learned American ways, see Dick and Jane run, white picket fence, stories about the padres being so great, learning English, getting in trouble if you speak Spanish — we learned Spanish because they took away our names and gave us Europeanized names. I also saw my mom and uncle involved in Chumash culture.

What made a difference in your life?

I was trying to be a successful contractor, had a lot of work going, but one day I realized ten years had just flown right by me, and this can’t be what life is about. I took a step back and thought about where I wanted to go. I didn’t want to put my head on my pillow at the end and think, “I didn’t live the life I could have.” I started seeing the Leave it to Beaver world was a big farce. One day I saw an elder, Tony Romero, pope of the Chumash, and I thought, “I know you, you live inside me.” My whole life changed forever.

What happened?

Like I was born in another world, I apprenticed with my teachers for twelve years about the different rituals, coming of age, marriage, birthing, death, seasons, songs, prayers. Kote Lota, Tony Romero and Choi Slo, are my teachers. I was the right age, a young man, someone who could learn. Now, almost 30 years later, you do become that teacher, living that life, dedicated to ceremonies and rituals and songs, and understanding that parallel world.

What do you feel you learned?

Some people talk about god being everywhere. This cultural life is everywhere, whether in language or resources or the practice of song, story, or art. How do you find the realignment, re-identification of the spirituality and beauty of this culture? We can’t blame the white man. How do you drop that weight and be truly free? This is how, by being involved in a culture that is healing and cleansing, not in a culture that has nothing to offer you, not some kind of hope, not something you can’t trust. Sometimes we are afraid to get out of our shells because we always have that armor on because we might not understand what’s going on in our internal world, or in our families.

But when you have the freedom of the land or nature, you live life as it is. We have resistance to being truly free. To be involved in this culture means to be involved with nature and the world that is your future till you die.

What does being on this land offer?

Being in touch with our earth through song, culture, medicine, dance, therapy, harvest. You think of the relationships of grandmother moon and the habitats and the greatest teacher, nature. In the sweat lodge, we heat the stones and offer water and herbs, and the steam comes up and that’s the breath of the ancestors. Being an environmentalist is one thing but being a practitioner of nature is a little different, it lives in you and you live in it. We’ve distanced ourselves from something that really was our understanding of life. Now everything moves really fast. We don’t have that interpersonal contact. I want to read your body language and get your truth. You can go to a sacred area or a mountain or river or island — maybe a loved one is buried there with prayers from a grandmother. With all the diversity of our prayers and loved ones, we have so much to learn from one another. How do the people regain their strength and faith except by taking a step back and looking through the eyes of the ancestors, living in peace with the children and the fragileness of the world and this life? When you live a life in this culture, the spirituality and sacredness and ceremony is so present it’s hard to live a lie.

What should we understand about local history from the point of view of the Chumash?

Don’t dwell on history, that doesn’t really help. If you are talking to older people, you can talk about the brutality of the padre’s time, when they raped our daughters and fed our kids to the dogs to save a bullet. The El Camino Real signs are like swastikas to Jews. Posses were told that we don’t deserve to be on this land, and were paid bounties to kill us. The padres took our whole way of life. The only things remaining from our people are the adobe blocks they made for the missions. This country was birthed in violence, and we were forced to be a part of it. Before that we had lived in harmony for thousands of years, sending messengers up the coast when a whale washed ashore or an animal was caught inviting everyone to share. We’re a dolphin people, a maritime people.

Our culture was taboo, my mother couldn’t practice traditional ways. They took our children away and put them in schools to erase memories of their cultures. But we have oral traditions that connect us with the world that sustained us for thousands of years. Under the ocean along the coast and under a couple of feet of dirt are burials from thousands of years ago of our people. You don’t see one Chumash family living on the Channel Islands today, but those were our lands. We don’t need someone with a degree to tell us how we lived or died. We have oral history. We’ve been living in hiding. How did we stand a chance when we couldn’t speak our own language?

What is a way to restore harmony?

We sing songs and tell stories and go to this resource of life that exists all around us -water, land, earth, things that have been and continue to be helpers of understanding. We have to try to really think of how are we going to make a difference and trust one another. We have to start telling the truth instead of creating an illusion of freedom. We are not free. We are caught up in the illusion of need. We are never satisfied; we are an insatiable people that always want more. To have the honor to do a ceremony is medicine.

Source: Posted: 02/28/2014 5:35 pm EST Updated: 02/28/2014 5:59 pm EST Huffington Post

Rahelio – Shaman, Astrologer

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Rahelio LargeI have been here in Sedona the past 26 years arriving on the summer solstice of 1987.  It was a very exciting time to be in Sedona especially because of the Harmonic Convergence prophecy from the Toltec lord Quetzalcoatl for August of that year. By 1988, I began working as a vortex tour guide and eventually started my own company in 1990 as Sedona Nature Excursions with my specialty Mystic Tours.   I offer private shamanic healing sessions and astrological consultations.

During the 1990’s I worked with many people very eager to experience the energy of the Sedona red rock country and its famous vortex energies.  And this gave me the opportunity to develop my own unique way of teaching and sharing shamanic wisdom and healing methods while out in the beauty of the sacred landscape of Sedona.

My approach has combined wisdom teachings from both eastern yogic traditions, Christian mysticism and Native American shamanism.  I was especially drawn to the teachings of Toltec wisdom that has come out of Mexico, and to the practice of Kriya yoga.  Since I was already very deep into the practice of western astrology, I was able to merge this perspective into the teachings of the Medicine Wheel as taught to me by Sun Bear.

Artist and the Shaman Trailer

My Native Indian ancestry is via Mexico (although I was born in the Midwest of the United States where I grew up) and I recognize myself as an American born Toltec. My awakening to the shamanic path was preceded by a number of  mystical experiences I had beginning in my teenage years that jolted my reality.  And these types of experiences continued throughout my life where I had some profound encounters with Spirit Powers and intelligences from alternate realities.  At the age of 21, is when I was telepathically contacted by my ascended Master teacher and began my conscious journey onto the spiritual path.

Back in the late 70’s when I attended the College of Marin in northern California, I was involved as head of a Native American student organization that worked for public awareness to the issues of Native American political rights and land disputes, etc.  At that time this opened my eyes to the struggles of indigenous peoples throughout the Americas and the world.

Later while living on Maui, Hawaii, I pursued spiritual and metaphysical studies, and had experiences that facilitated my becoming a professional astrologer and mystic.  During that time I had a close encounter with a UFO that opened me to the presence and message of the Star people.  The Star people that contacted me are extraterrestrial /galactic human beings and are here to assist in this time of  changes we are going through even if they remain hidden to the public.

Since I was working as a spiritual guide, astrologer and healer, I was invited to be ordained as a minister into the Order of Melchizedek on Bell Rock in 1988 by the Reverend Dan Chesbro.  And since 2012 I am a legal member and medicine person of the Oklevueha Native American Church, as well as, the head of my own Native American church, ‘Toltec Sun Ministries’.  I conduct Native American style weddings, Sweat Lodges and blessing ceremonies, as well as share shamanic teachings and energetic practices including Medicine Wheel empowerments with sacred drum, flute, songs and chants.

My private shamanic healing sessions are designed to clear anxiety, stress, phobias, emotional and mental creative blocks, bringing healing and balance back into mind and body. Astrological consultations allow understanding of soul patterns as mapped in birth charts and insights into manifesting creative purpose in life via career, relationships and spiritual dynamics. I apply the use of various predictive methods and specialize in relocation astrology as seen in astrocartography and local space mapping.  Energetic movement and healing practices include tantric Kriya Yoga with Cobra breath and other special breathing modalities.

Wade Davis – Anthropologist

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WadeDavisAnthropologist and botanical explorer Wade Davis received his Ph.D. in ethnobotany from Harvard University. Mostly through the Harvard Botanical Museum, he spent more than three years in the Amazon and Andes as a plant explorer, living among 15 indigenous groups in eight Latin American nations while making some 6,000 botanical collections. Davis’s work later took him to Haiti to investigate folk preparations implicated in the creation of zombies, an assignment that led to his writing Passage of Darkness (1988) and The Serpent and the Rainbow (1986), an international best­seller, which appeared in 10 languages and was later released by Universal Studios as a motion picture. He is author of five other books, including Shadows in the Sun (1998) and One River (1996). Born December 14, 1953, in British Columbia, Davis is a citizen of both Canada and Ireland. He has worked as a guide, park ranger, shaman, and in entertainment as his book “Rainbow” (1986), an international best­seller which appeared in 10 languages, was later released by Universal Studios as a motion picture.

Wade Davis is the author of five other books, including Shadows in the Sun (1998) and One River (1996). Born December 14, 1953, in British Columbia, Davis is a citizen of both Canada and Ireland. He has worked as a guide, park ranger and forestry engineer. He has conducted ethnographic fieldwork among several indigenous societies of northern Canada. He has published scientific and popular articles on subjects ranging from Haitian voodoo and Amazonian myth and religion to the global biodiversity crisis, the traditional use of psychotropic drugs, and the ethnobotany of South American Indians. His photographs have been published widely. Recently Davis’s work has taken him to Peru, Borneo, Tibet, the high Arctic, the Orinoco Delta of Venezuela and northern Kenya. A research associate of the Institute of Economic Botany of the New York Botanical Garden, he also is a board member of the David Suzuki Foundation, Ecotrust, Future Generations, and Cultural Survival­all NGOs dedicated to conservation­ based development and the protection of cultural and biological diversity. Davis’s television credits include Earthguide, a 13­part television series on the environment, which he hosted and co­wrote. He also wrote for the documentaries Spirit of the Mask, Cry of the Forgotten People, and Forests Forever.

33 Facts About Pollution That Are Gross

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  1. Every year, the United States creates 11 billion tons of solid waste.
  2. The Environmental Protection Agency reports that the U.S. generates over 256 million tons of officially classified hazardous waste annually. This does not include toxic and hazardous waste that are not regulated or monitored by the EPA.
  3. Between 1950 and 1975, approximately 5 billion metric tons of highly poisonous chemicals were improperly disposed of in the U.S. It will cost between $370 billion and $1.7 trillion to clean up hazardous waste in the U.S. The EPA states there are at least 36,000 seriously contaminated sites in the U.S.
  4. Today, there are between 300 and 500 chemicals in the average person’s body that were not found in anyone’s body before 1920. Each year there are thousands of new chemicals sold or used in new products. There are more than 75,000 synthetic chemicals on the market today.
  5. Factories in the United States discharge approximately 3 million tons of toxic chemicals into the water, air, and land annually.  Each year 1.2 trillion gallons of untreated sewage, storm water, and industrial waste are dumped into U.S. waters.
  6. A 2010 study found that children in families who live near freeways are twice as likely to have autism as kids who live farther away from freeways. Scientists believe the increased risk is due to exposure to pollutants given off by freeway traffic.
  7. Concentrations of two common pollutants, PFOA (perfluorooctanoic acid) and PFOSA (perfluorooctanesulfonic acid), which can be found in nonstick cookware and stain-repellant fabrics, can impair immunity in children. They can also prevent vaccines from triggering sufficient quantities of protective antibodies.
  8. Americans make up an estimated 5% of the world’s population. However, the U.S. produces an estimated 30% of the world’s waste and uses 25% of the world’s resources.
  9. The world’s largest polluter is the U.S. Department of Defense, producing more hazardous waste than the five largest U.S. chemical companies combined.
  10. The Mississippi River carries an estimated 1.5 million metric tons of nitrogen pollution into the Gulf of Mexico each year, creating a “dead zone” in the Gulf each summer about the size of New Jersey.o
  11. Approximately 46% of the lakes in America are too polluted for fishing, aquatic life, or swimming.
  12. Americans buy over 29 million bottles of water every year. Making all those bottles uses 17 million barrels of crude oil annually, which would be enough fuel to keep 1 million cars on the road for one year. Only 13% of those bottles are recycled. Plastic bottles take centuries to decompose—and if they are burned, they release toxic byproducts such as chlorine gas and ash containing heavy metals.g
  13. Fourteen billion pounds of garbage, mostly plastic, is dumped into the ocean every year.
  14. Over 1 million seabirds are killed by plastic waste per year. Over 100,000 sea mammals and countless fish are killed per year due to pollution.
  15. More oil is seeped into the ocean each year as a result of leaking cars and other non-point sources than was spilled by the Exxon Valdez.
  16. Polluted coastal water costs the global economy $12.8 billion a year in death and disease.
  17. Scientists report that carbon dioxide emissions are decreasing the pH of the oceans and, in essence, acidifying them.
  18. An estimated 1,000 children in India die every day due to disease caused by polluted water.
  19. Approximately 1/3 of male fish in British rivers are in the process of changing sex due to pollution. Hormones in human sewage, including those produced by the female contraceptive pill, are thought to be the main cause.
  20. Pollution in China alters the weather in the United States. It takes just five days for the jet stream to carry heavy air pollution from China to the U.S. Once in the atmosphere over the U.S., the pollution stops clouds from producing rain and snow—i.e., more pollution equals less precipitation.
  21. Though Botswana has only 2 million people, it is the second most polluted nation in the world. Pollution from the mineral industry and wild fires are the main causes.
  22. Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa and the eighth most populous in the world, with over 155 million people. It is also Africa’s largest oil producer, accounting for 2.3 million barrels of crude oil a day. However, the UN recently declared that 50 years of oil pollution in the Ogoniland would require the world’s largest and biggest oil cleanup.
  23. The world’s largest heavy metal smelting complex is in the Siberian city of Norilsk. Human life expectancy there is 10 years lower than in other Russian cities.
  24. Between 1930 and 1998, nearly 300,000 tons of chemical waste was improperly disposed of in Dzershinsk, Russia, a Cold War chemicals manufacturing site. Toxic levels are 17 million times the safe limit. In 2003, the death rate of the city exceeded the birth rate by 260%.
  25. Lake Karachay, located in the southern Ural Mountains in Russia, is considered to be the most polluted spot on earth after it was used for decades as a dumping site for nuclear waste. Spending just 5 minutes near the lake unprotected can kill a person. In the 1960s, the lake dried out and radioactive dust carried by the wind irradiated half a million people with radiation equivalent to the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima.
  26. In Rudnaya Pristan, Russia, lead contamination has resulted in child blood levels eight to 20 times higher than allowable U.S. levels.  Children in Kabwe, Zambia have some of highest blood levels of lead in the world
  27. In Kabwe, Zambia, child blood levels of lead are five to 10 times higher than the allowable EPA maximum.
  28. The largest e-waste site on earth is in Guiyu, China. Approximately 88% of children there have dangerous levels of lead in their blood.
  29. The world’s largest CO2 emitter is China. China emits more CO2 than the U.S.  and Canada combined, up by 171% since 2000. The U.S. Department of Defense is the world’s largest polluter
  30. Over 80% of items buried in landfills could be recycled instead.
  31. For 1.1.billion people around the world, clean water in unobtainable. Almost half of the world’s population does not have proper water treatment.
  32. The average office employee throws away 360 pounds of recyclable paper each year.
  33. Antarctica is the cleanest place on Earth and is protected by strong antipollution laws.

References: a Agin, Dan. “Cadmium Pollution Kills Fetal Sex Organ Cells.” Huffington Post. October 15, 2009. January 25, 2012. b “Beach Pollution Worse during a Full Moon.” Live Science. August 1, 2005. Accessed: January 25, 2012. c Blackstone, John. “Pollution from China Alters Weather in U.S.” CBS News. December 12, 2011. Accessed: January 25, 2012. d Brown, Paul. 2003. Global Pollution. Chicago, IL: Raintree. e Chan, Amanda. “Could Pollution Increase Lung Cancer Risk?” Huffington Post. October 31, 2011. Accessed: January 25, 2012. f “Creaking, Groaning: Infrastructure Is India’s Biggest Handicap.” The Economist. December 11, 2008. g Didier, Suzanne. “Water Bottle Pollution Facts.” National Geographic. 2011. Accessed: January 25, 2012. h “Following the Trail of Toxic E-Waste.” 60 Minutes. January 8, 2010. Accessed: January 25, 2012. i Gifford, Clive. 2006. Planet under Pressure: Pollution. North Mankato, MN: Heinemann-Raintree Library. j Jakab, Cheryl. 2007. Global Issues: Clean Air and Water. North Mankato, MN: Smart Apple Media. k Kilham, Chris. “The Dangers of Indoor Air Pollution.” Fox News. October 26, 2011. Accessed: January 25, 2012. l Klinkenborg, Verlyn. “Our Vanishing Night.” National Geographic. November 2008. Accessed: January 25, 2012. m “Litter Prevention.” Keep America Beautiful. 2006. Accessed: January 25, 2012. n “Noise Pollution.” United States Environmental Protection Agency. July 2011. Accessed: January 25, 2012. o Orme, Helen. 2008. Earth in Danger: Pollution. New York, NY: Bearport Publishing. p Patel-Predd, Prachi. “A Spaceport for Treehuggers.” Discover Magazine. November 26, 2007. Accessed: January 25, 2012. q “Pollution ‘Changes Sex of Fish.’” BBC News. July 10, 2004. Accessed: January 25, 2012. r Raloff, Janet. “’Nonstick’ Pollutants May Cut Efficiency of Vaccines in Kids.” Science News. January 24, 2012. Accessed: January 25, 2012. s Saltzman, Sammy Rose. “Autism: Air Pollution May Be to Blame, Study Suggests.” CBS News. December 17, 2010. Accessed: January 25, 2012. t “Tailpipe Test: Study Finds Worst Polluters.” Live Science. January 9, 2006. Accessed: January 25, 2012. u Taylor, John. “70 Miles of Flotsam and Radioactive Waste Dumped into the Ocean.” Protect the Ocean. April 12, 2011. Accessed: January 25, 2012. v “Top Ten Toxic Pollution Problems 2011.”  Blacksmith Institute. 2012. Accessed: January 25, 2012. w Walsh, Bryan. “The 10 Most Polluted Air-Polluted Cities in the U.S.” Time. September 29, 2011. Accessed: January 25, 2012. x Wehr, Kevin. 2011. Green Culture: An A-to-Z Guide. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. y “World Carbon Dioxide Emissions Data by Country: China Speeds ahead of the Rest.” The Guardian. January 31, 2011. Accessed: January 25, 2012. z “World’s Most Polluted Countries.” CNBC. 2012. Accessed: January 25, 2012

Mount Shasta, California

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Mount Shasta located in Northern California is renowned for its spiritual and mystical qualities. It is a destination for mystics, gurus, sages and curious people from all over the world. Unexplained stories of miracles and spiritual occurrences are endless. This enormous mountain is endeared by all who come to visit or live near her. This dormant volcano is not part of any mountain range. She’s uniquely her own mountain in many ways. With a summit of 14,125 feet above sea level, Shasta is the second highest peak in the Cascade Mountain range. Her slopes rise abruptly nearly 10,000 feet above the surrounding landscape.

Those who live in Mount Shasta the small town located on the base of the mountain, will tell you stories of encounters with beings from other times, galaxies and planets. The most common encounters involve beings who do not currently have a human body, including Saint Germain, The White Brotherhood, Lemurians, the hidden city of Telos,and alien landings. But, by far they sense a certain special feeling that comes with being in the presence of Mt Shasta’s spiritual vortex energy. Our ancient ancestors knew a vortex or a gathering place of the earth’s energy was sacred. This special mountain has such a vortex. Ancient cultures considered these vortexes, portals to a higher dimension of consciousness.

If someone was near a vortex it activated and energized their etheric or energetic bodies making it possible for some to become aware of what mystics have discovered…our existence is multi-dimensional. Mount Shasta as well as Sedona, Arizona contain vortexes the average person is able to feel and sense.

Poet Joaquin Miller describes Shasta like this, “Lonely as God, and white as a winter moon, Mount Shasta starts up sudden and solitary from the heart of the great black forests of Northern California.” Native American Indians in the area profess that the mountain is the home of the spirit chief Skell who descended from heaven to the mountain’s summit.

There are many places to explore, places to stay, and services offering spiritual insights into Mt Shasta. The town of Mt Shasta is the base for most explorations. Enjoy this wonderful mystical mountain so close to Los Angeles.

Paul Hawken – Environmentalist

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paulHPaul Hawken is an environmentalist, entrepreneur, journalist, and author. Starting at age 20, he dedicated his life to sustainability and changing the relationship between business and the environment. His practice has included starting and running ecological businesses, writing and teaching about the impact of commerce on living systems, and consulting with governments and corporations on economic development, industrial ecology, and environmental policy.