Book Nook: Ancestors - Divine Remembrances of Lineage, Relations and Sacred Sites

 An excerpt from the book

 ANCESTORS: Divine Remembrances of Lineage, Relations and Sacred Sites 

by Mindahi Bastida

We are the synthesis of all that has ever existed in the universe, our galaxy, our solar system, and in Mother Earth. The huge celestial bodies floating in the cosmic sea are our first ancestors. Equally, mountains, volcanoes, glaciers, and rivers of today are ancient ancestors that are still alive. All the biomass that sank to the sea bottoms and was crushed by the weight of time and rocks has become oil—a special and condensed form of ancestors.

Youngest of all are our ancestors of human origin. These ancestors are said to have come from stars in nearby constellations several million years ago. Oral tradition says that the most recent direct ancestors appeared thirty to twenty-five thousand years ago in Atlantis and Lemuria, two continents now sunken. As Earth’s climate conditions became milder, their societies increased in complexity—but when their continents became unstable, they were forced to migrate, taking with them as much knowledge and technological skill as they could.

Native peoples view the process of evolution as beginning with a first mother or a first couple, the “old father and old mother.” These individuals always maintained a relationship with the stars. They are considered the parents of everything that exists in the world. In my particular lineage—the Otomi-Toltec—this couple is connected to Makih-Mu. They are thought to have come from the Pleiades, in the region of the sky called Yuh-Mu, to populate the continent Mu. There is even a time marked in the original calendar for the celebration of Mu. The celebration keeps us connected to our first mother and father, Makame and Makata.

Ancestors become important in our lives when we understand that they have handed down to us a significant responsibility: to maintain harmony with nature and the cosmos in every act of our lives. In doing this, we keep alive the teachings about the original principles of life in an evolutionary way that honors our cosmogonic interrelation—our connection to the cosmos.

The teachings give us an opportunity to “know” ourselves and to reconnect with everything that exists that is meaningful to us. The connection helps us understand our identity and how sacred life is. It illustrates the importance of recognizing the root of one’s presence in the world. If we know where we come from, we can take responsibility for who we are and we can walk with dignity and care, relating to other beings with wisdom and humbleness.

MINDAHI BASTIDA is the Director of the Original Nations Program of the Fountain, a caretaker of the philosophy and traditions of the Otomi-Toltec peoples, and an Otomi-Toltec Ritual Ceremony Officer. He is a consultant with UNESCO on issues related to sacred sites and bioculture, and has served as Director of the Original Caretakers Program at the Center for Earth Ethics. Mindahi is the author of ANCESTORS: Divine Remembrances of Lineage, Relations and Sacred Sites, the sixth book in the Common Sentience book series. Find out more at https://sacredstories.com/commonsentience-ancestors