Janet, Carmen, Alexis, and Shiloh at the United Nations
Dear Council of Wonderous Beings,
I didn’t want to let the day go by without acknowledging what has been in my heart this day, Indigenous People’s Day. What used to be Columbus Day. There are lots and lots of stories about this gradual yet important shift, and I really want to HONOR when shifts like this in the right direction do happen.
Here is a pledge our community began in 2021 in collaboration with the Indigenous Peoples’ in our communities. Many voices contributed.
Learn more about the Good Relations Pledge started by the Intentional Creativity
In the spirit of connection with all beings, where none are higher or lower in the great web of all life, we offer this invitation to begin healing our relations with the Indigenous peoples of these lands."
~Carmen Baraka, Indigenous Elder and Teacher
From the Pledge: We the citizens of the United States humbly offer this acknowledgement as an initial step into a complex, dynamic arena of healing, education and the forming of good relations.
If you are of any descent, other than Indigenous within the United States and you are a US Citizen, then taking this pledge is for you.
ALSO here is the copy for Musea’s Land Acknowledgement which we invite everyone in our community to participate in making their own. You can use ours as a template.
Thinking of you and all of our Relations
Curate Shiloh Sophia
We update this every few months. Always finding improvements. Open to your ideas.
VALLEY of the MOON Land and Relationship Acknowledgement
The Ecosystem We are Stewarded by and Occupy as MUSEA
Context: Our community ethos invites each of us to become intentionally connected to the lands, waters, creatures and people where we live. We are a people of many lands, many hands and many stories. Here at MUSEA Center for Intentional Creativity and Consciousness in California we are engaging in a relationship with the ecosystem we occupy, collectively called the Valley of the Moon in Sonoma County. We invite our global community to join us in honoring the places and people where we live.
Acknowledgement of First People: We wish to acknowledge and honor our relationship with the land and people of Sonoma County. We wish to acknowledge and engage in reparative actions inspired by our deep abiding hope for transformation. We honor the Indigenous peoples who were here first and are the original stewards of these lands and waters. The Coast Miwok, Pomo and Wappo. We acknowledge with awareness the wrongful actions of these unceded territories. The tribes believed that Sonoma Mountain was the birthplace of the world. We acknowledge this storied mountain and offer our respects.
Acknowledgement of Land and Water: We, as a community, strive to be respectful in our relationship with all life, knowing it is an ever ongoing journey to accountability and right and good relations. In our hearts and in our actions we celebrate the flora, fauna, fungi, the waters, air, minerals, sacred fires, starlight, stories, cultures, traditions and sacred places of the Many Lands in which we find our place and practice of Intentional Creativity. We acknowledge with humility and gratitude our interconnection, our place in the cycle of life and our sacred responsibility of reciprocation, love and respect towards our precious and beautiful earth, all beings and ourselves.
Specifically MUSEA interacts with Sonoma Valley, Sonoma Mountain, Sonoma Creek Watershed, Sonoma Plaza, Fryer Creek, the Carneros, Glen Ellen Village, Wild Water Creek (Graham Creek) and the surrounding areas.
We also wish to work together with local community to bring awareness to the unjust stories told and memorialized here including those at the Sonoma Mission, the Sonoma Plaza and downtown Glen Ellen and to invite the original stories of this land. We hope Question Woman and Answer woman will show us the way with right action, and humor!
Good relations and good company