From HerbMentor.com, this is Herb Mentor Radio.
Hello, podcast listeners. This is John Gallagher from HerbMentor.com. In June of two thousand nine, I had the honor of hearing Dona Enriqueta speak at the International Herb Symposium.
Dona Enriqueta is a well known and respected member of the Mesoamerican Zapotec indigenous people who live in Oaxaca, Mexico in the High Sierras. She's been a midwife for over sixty years and is a master herbalist.
It's rare in this day and age to hear the wisdom of indigenous elders who live close to the land. You'll discover how important it is for herbalists to be grounded in nature and connected to each other. While I was listening to her words, I kept thinking about how great it would be for Herbmentor dot com members if they could hear what I was hearing. So after her address, I got to meet Donna Chiqueta, and she gave me permission to share her words with you. Marjean Navar is her translator.
Good morning.
Donya Njiqueta is a representative from a very ancient lineage of the Mesoamerican indigenous They live in the very high Sierras north of Oaxaca City. North of Oaxaca City, there's a nine thousand foot mountain range where it takes about half an hour to drive up through these little winding roads, two lane roads, and finally you start going through the clouds. And you start wondering where are the people, and you keep driving. And finally you go through the clouds, and you end up on the top, and you go, am I in heaven and I'm still alive?
So you finally get to the Zapotec nation. The Zapotecs are very old indigenous nation that have a long lineage of twenty five hundred years.
One of their fabulous centers is known as Monte Alban, which is located right outside of Mexico, excuse me, right outside of Oaxaca City, where Dona and Riqueta has her roots.
In that center, archaeological center, which has probably been, studied for many, many, many years, but only twenty five percent has been, harvested in terms of knowledge from from that site. So there's much, much more information.
In that site, there is a building that used to be or is known as the healing center.
So healing has been a part of the Zapotec nation forever, and it is a central part of their culture.
Tonia Nriqueta is a descendant from this, this cultural center.
She is practicing midwife for sixty years. She's never lost a mother or a child in birth.
As I was sharing this news with my doctor who is a, MD, she's like, even by Western standards, that is amazing.
So it is just a testament to her great knowledge of how to deliver babies, how to handle the mothers. There are many traditional ways of dealing with, birthing, that she knows and that she has used throughout the years. She is a master herbalist, a walk through the high sierras in the forest.
An hour long walk will render you information that will just boggle your mind. She will identify plants every few steps, tell you what their applications, their indications, and the contraindications.
I know I was up in the mountains one day, and I was going to touch a mushroom because it was so beautiful. And she goes, don't touch that.
Because it was poisonous.
And so she has great botanical knowledge. She's a master herbalist. And she's a shaman, as you can tell from this morning as she was arousing and gathering our energy.
So she, learned a great many things from her grandmother who lived to be a hundred and fifteen years old.
Uh-huh. And, her and she had twenty two kids.
How about that?
And when she was a little girl, you know, children weren't allowed. Grandmother was a midwife also, and she was what is known as Guardiana del Pueblo, which is guardian of the village.
So her grandmother was also a shaman and a shape shifter.
And so she would shift into whatever shape was necessary to protect the spiritual, the physical, and the mental, emotional health of her village. These are healthy people.
So the Zapotecs are autonomous, self governed, democratic society.
There are no outside governments that rule themselves. They get together in in, community org in community meetings much like this. They discuss the issues. The elders have their opinions, and then they take a vote and take action as to what it is.
Some of the basic tenants of Donya's philosophies are respect and communal assistance or participation.
Great respect. Wherever you walk into, everyone greets each other. Even if it takes forever, you literally greet each other. And the other is communal support. If there's a barn raising in in senses that we recognize from the past, barn raising or somebody needs something or we trade. You need eggs, we trade potatoes. There's always this communal interaction.
And when Donya Triqueta travels to western countries, she's very much saddened by the fact that there's such a lack of this communal, mentality, this communal sense of being. And so that is what she's come to ask us to resurrect in our lives with each other. She goes, people live next door to each other. They don't even know who they are. They don't even know who they're living next door, especially in these tall boxes where people live in little pigeon holes. Just never know somebody's got a meth lab next door, you know. You never know until it explodes.
Then you know. So in that sense, Dona Ndiqueta learned at a very young age how to survive in the forest.
She was given away by life circumstances. Her father died and she was given away by her mother to an alcoholic couple. And she was in charge of a little herd of goats. And so she would go up into the mountains on the little footpaths, and she would talk to the plants. She had a very strong relationship with nature from a very early age, and it was mother nature who fed her and who dressed her. And if, like, on a downpouring day, she would let the goats pasture in the mountain while it was pouring, and she would get herself into a trunk of a tree and stay there until the rain stopped.
So Dona Njiqueta had a very, very curious mind since a very little girl, and she watched her grandmother do birthing process and birthing techniques through the slat hole through the, how do you say, the knot holes in the pine slats of the house. And so in her mind, she recorded every single detail on how to have or how to execute a birth.
So at the age of seventeen, when her younger sister was pregnant and in labor, they were way up in the mountains, the midwife was nowhere to be found, her sister said, your time has come. And so she delivered her first child at age seventeen, who happened to be her nephew.
Dona Nriqueta delivered three of her own children, self delivered.
And, she had six children. One is deceased, and so she self delivered three of her children. So she's just by that alone, imagine going through the pain and doing that yourself. So she is, massively knowledgeable in many arenas, and I'm so she's very happy, and I'm so happy to accompany her and very privileged to be here with you. She wants to share with you a tradition of welcoming the mother earth and honoring her, by candles, that have very specific sequence. And I think we were gonna use seven volunteers.
Oh.
Okay. She's gonna describe it to us.
As you can see these seven candles.
Seven candles for us in our culture are the seven lights seven energies seven chakras in our body red The red candle is placed on the east at the east.
Because the the sun is the energy of the morning and the blood that runs through our veins and in our arteries.
That's why it symbolizes The great spirit of creator.
Of the universe.
And of the earth.
The black candle Is where the sun sets.
Where it sets.
And where the great creator of the universe created night.
In order to rest.
And what do we do today?
Human beings.
Creator created day and night day for working And night time for resting.
So what do we do?
We're upside down.
The nighttime instead of resting We watch television these programs then don't bring us any benefit.
To the contrary.
They harm us.
Our mind.
And our inner being.
And our higher being.
The white candle.
We set in the north.
Where the rain comes from and the and the clouds are born.
Where the white lives of purity that is represented by women.
That we are the purification.
That we're our ancestors.
Before thousands and thousands of years ago.
The woman the mother had an extremely important role.
In the life of our societies.
And what have we done today, dear women?
When we handed over our power to the man.
We have torn from great spirituality.
From our duality.
And from more importantly our purification that was clean, pure, and conscious.
And today, Science have advanced greatly but there's very little conscience.
Science is one thing.
And consciousness is another.
The superior.
That we should take care of. So that we do making making ourselves sick physically mentally mentally, and spiritually.
Is white.
To the south.
We put the color yellow.
That is the color of corn.
That represents the essence.
Our daily food.
Of all human beings and this is the fort fortitude of all living beings.
It's the strength of all living beings.
This is what sustains us daily.
All of us indigenous people those who work the earth Those who plant the seeds strengthens us with its color.
Because it's the color and the love that life gives to us.
The color blue Is the color of heaven.
And the color of the ocean.
The heaven.
Where we see the stars twinkling.
The moon of which our month month our monthly moment has to do the moon is related to our cycle, moon cycle.
As women has to do with our divine body.
And it's very intimately related with our reproductive organs.
What does our bodies do what do our bodies do every month?
We throw away we discharge what we no longer use.
And we we take our corn our daily food.
In order to be able to reproduce our blood that runs through our veins and in our arteries And in our organs principally as women, our reproductive organs where we have reproduced all these children.
That and grand respect. That deserve a great respect.
That such as is deserved by our reproductive organs.
Because as women, we're not simply a utensil.
We are not an object.
We are women with value and dignity.
And then always we should respect each other mutual respect.
It doesn't matter the color.
Nor the smell. Nor the height.
But Each one of us deserve great respect.
The color green is a mantle.
Is the cloak of the of the green countryside.
Of the mother earth. Plant.
All of this that we see here.
All the mother all these plants.
Beautiful green plants are the that covers our mother Earth that gives us strength.
Her teachings their value and their respect.
And the last is the color Lavela Cafe.
Of the candle brown.
What do you think it represents, this color brown?
La tierra?
It's the color of the mother earth.
And also this color.
Is representative of us indigenous people. We are the color of the mother earth.
Right?
Although we're very dark.
Some less dark.
Right?
Each and every one of us, We live from the mother earth.
We are born.
We grow.
And we die.
And when we die.
We go back.
To the mother Earth.
Right?
And that is why our ancestors always dedicated this color, this as essence to start whatever activity, to use it as well, To collect our medicinal plants.
And we give thanks to the infinite And all its elements.
Because they are.
We are very blessed by mother nature.
But unfortunately when science starts to destroy conscience of the human beings.
We go to separate ourselves every day more and more from our real reality. From our real reality.
We are materializing more.
Looking for more materialistic goals.
Instead of the spiritual.
Every plant that you see in this space has a Has. A great spirit.
And has a great healing essence.
And therefore, we should have a great respect.
Because this is our life.
Human beings and mother nature are one.
We cannot live without nature.
And nature Could not live without us human beings.
So We need to get conscience.
Conscience.
Con science. With science.
What does this one what does this mean?
Everyday, our ancestors, when it's daybreak, we give thanks to the creator.
To the great creator of the planet.
Of the universe for a new day.
And we give thanks at night for the rest that we're gonna receive.
Because creator made day and night day to work And night.
To rest.
So what do we do?
We separate day from night.
So marvelous.
So essential.
Because Our ancestors used to live more than a hundred years.
Because at a different rhythm of life that was very different.
They were connected to the earth, with the heavens, with the water, the rain, and with all the sacred elements.
They never used watches to see what time it was.
They didn't know what it was.
They would guide themselves Through the sun.
They knew if it was six, seven, eight whatever hours the day had.
When it was going to rain they would guide themselves by the moon.
If it's in the center it's gonna be a hot day.
Our ancestors and the people in our indigenous communities Are completely connected to all the elements.
And in the great cities.
They're connected to the Internet with the TV with the telephone Yep. With the cell.
Yeah.
What are we doing?
We're disjoint a spiritual schema.
We're here in the cell and the other telephone, watching TV on the computer, And we're looking at something that unfortunately day by day.
Science is being very cruel to con conscience.
Because every day Every day.
Every day. Science knows how to distract humanity.
We ourselves are self destructing.
Imagine selling your pocket, the phone hanging on your shoulder.
How much energy is it robbing from our center?
We're blocking our energy.
We are an energetic body.
Energy needs to go up and down. Right?
And they don't have no reason why it should go out the sides.
Because in this imbalance, that's why here. Today.
My grandmother who lived to be a hundred and fifteen, My grandfather lived to be a hundred and eighteen.
And today At fifth at the age of fifty, we're ready for a corner, six feet under.
Because from the very food that we eat.
They're not really connected to the sacred Earth.
But there's chemicals, preservatives, which make very big illness, cancer, diabetes, cell phones.
So our ancestors our great great parents grew up with divinity sacred divinity of the mother nature.
And I think that right now we are in the best moment To touch our hearts.
Put our minds to work.
And to recuperate this spiritual essence Of the women. Of the female.
When we as women return to that essence, Fight for our rights as human beings we will see a change of this great dirty society that we live in.
We cannot speak of a society.
Many of us are contaminated of so many illnesses so much violence that we don't greet each other.
Parents don't speak to their children.
No.
There's no harmony in the nuclear family.
That goes to work. Mother goes to work.
Children stay around idle. That there has to be as a requirement within our nuclear family.
It's very important.
That we as father or mother that we have a great responsibility. As father or mother that we have a great responsibility to sit down.
To dialogue with our children.
To teach them values respect respect.
So that they start to form themselves and form their children in the same way.
If we do not create this environment of union and strength were lost.
Yeah.
So I give you thanks and forgive me. Perhaps my words are strong or perhaps brusque.
But I think somehow we have to collaborate so that we heal ourselves.
And to have mutual respect.
If my neighbor lives next door, hello.
Good morning. Good afternoon. How are you doing?
How you doing?
Touch each other.
Hold hands.
Connect.
Like right now, touch yourself. How do you feel? Touch each other.
How do you feel about your next door neighbor?
We're a family.
Big family.
Yeah.
And people don't do this.
We've lost this respect.
This important value.
The people in my communities, no matter how poor, there's respect in greeting each other, especially the elders, And to educate our young because it's our duty.
Listen to your heartbeat.
Feel your heart.
And everybody, each one.
Ask forgiveness to your body.
For everything that we've done to it.
For everything that we've offended it with.
For all the illnesses we have cast upon it for all the violence that it has received unjustly.
But we have great spirit of love And of comprehension and understanding.
This is my body.
I love myself.
I love myself. I like myself.
And I wanna be well with me, myself.
And with all my neighbors.
Touch deeply your heart.
And feel how grateful we are.
Because this day has come.
That we could touch this muscle so important of our divine essence.
And let us give thanks for this great opportunity to be with our body this half minute.
That we never do it.
Because we're always busy of our daily work much less our bodies and our being That is divine.
Gracias. Thank you.
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