Indigenous Epistemologies: A Solution to Global Trauma Healing

My ancestors are from all around the Mediterranean Sea, the United Kingdom, Eastern Europe, West Africa, and North Africa. The etymology of the word indigenous comes from the Latin indigena meaning “sprung from the land.” My working definition of the term for the purpose of my research is “belonging to the earth.” In particular, I use this term to refer to specific groups of humans who have lived on, learned from, and become intricately connected with the land their ancestors have inhabited for millennia. No matter where we currently live, each of us can trace our ancestors back to their indigenous roots somewhere on this planet.

In my case, if I hadn’t started participating in indigenous ceremonies when I was in my twenties, I wouldn’t be here doing this graduate work today. When I was twenty-one, I experienced a life-changing event that was not of my choosing. I struggled to make sense of this event and the cascade of traumatic memories it brought forth for much of my twenties. Near the end of my third decade on earth, I was seriously considering taking my life; I just couldn’t handle the pain and suffering any longer. I had seen psychologists and had taken the medications they prescribed for me but I kept sinking deeper into depression and despair. Psychologists couldn’t help me understand what I was experiencing because they were operating within their worldview and they were unwilling or unable to step into mine. It wasn’t until I started participating in ceremony with indigenous peoples and other earth-based spiritual practitioners that my experiences became validated. I started to understand that I wasn’t crazy, defective or broken: I was just healing from lifetimes worth of trauma–mine and those of my ancestors. Mystical experiences I’d had since childhood were also framed as gifts and I was taught how to use them to support my healing. I can’t tell you what a relief it was to have Spirit acknowledged as an integral aspect of my inner being and to be treated as a whole person: body, heart, mind, and spirit! This is what had been missing from the mainstream help I’d been involved in. When I turned forty–after a decade of intense ceremonial healing work–I had a big marking ceremony in celebration. I never imagined I would still be here at that age!

I’ve participated in earth-based and traditional indigenous ceremonies from Europe, Africa, Hawai’i, North and South America since 2001. Indigenous folks–though distinct in terms of culture, language, and tradition–share a very similar worldview of interconnectedness that helped me reconnect with my own ancestors. This has brought me into greater wholeness as an adult. As King (2003) writes: “The truth about stories is that that’s all we are” (p. 2). I realise now how much of my healing process had to do with learning about my peoples’ indigenous histories. Elders and mentors began encouraging me to start looking into my own indigenous roots as a way to further my personal healing and as a way to contribute to reconciliation. In 2010, I began this process in earnest. Since then, I’ve been doing this research through ceremony, travel, DNA testing, reading books and articles, as well as having conversations with relatives, colleagues, elders, and friends. I became a member of the Order of Bards Ovates and Druids (an organisation connected to the Druidic indigenous traditions of my blood ancestors based out of the U.K.). I discovered that many of our ancient ancestors developed tools for metabolising trauma that were largely cast aside in forced assimilation during global waves of the colonisation of world peoples’ native ways. I was able to learn about and utilise many of the technologies my European and African ancestors practised in order to re-member my wholeness.

What I’ve learned experientially by participating in earth-based spirituality is that the keys to healing are already inside the person; some of these gifts have been passed down in their DNA by their ancestors. This is consistent with many teachings I’ve received from a variety of indigenous peoples and is also in keeping with African cosmologies. This ancient knowledge is awakened through rituals that are designed to activate the body, heart, mind, spirit and life force of individuals (Somé, 1997). In earth-based traditions, the experience of the sentient nature of the earth and all beings–human and non-human–is central to spiritual practice. We learn how to listen to the knowledge and wisdom inherent in nature and within ourselves as part of nature in order to heal and learn how to live on the earth sustainably and consciously. While we know it is impossible to do no harm as earth-based practitioners, we do strive to live as lightly on the earth as possible. In this way, earth-based practices are spiritual and practical–focusing on taking the guidance we receive in ceremony and putting it into action in our lives.