Circle of Ancestors

Who Am I?

My name is Atava Garcia Swiecicki.  My ancestors are the Polish Slavs, Hungarian Magyars, Dine (Navajo) from Turtle Island and the Otomi people from Central Mexico.

Since 1989 I have been studying and practicing acupressure massage.  In 1991 I began to study herbal medicine.  A curiosity about the healing traditions of my own ancestors led me to Mexico in 2000 to study with traditional Mexican healers.  One year later I was enrolled at Naropa University Oakland in the Indigenous Mind Concentration and met the founder and director of the Indigenous Mind Concentration, Dr. Apela Colorado.  As I studied with Dr. Colorado and my cohorts in the Indigenous Mind Program, I knew I had found my life's work.  My Master's thesis at Naropa was entitled "Journey to My Polish Indigenous Mind" and was an in-depth exploration of the earth-based spiritual roots of my Polish Slavic ancestors.

My calling in this lifetime is to remember and resurrect the ancient healing traditions of my ancestors.  The earth’s living wisdom keepers inspire me: the indigenous healers and elders who have kept alive their language, their stories, their ceremonies, their plant lore and their healing traditions.  Many of these practices have endured in spite of thousands of years of colonization, re-location, enslavement and genocide. I believe that this wisdom of the indigenous, earth-based people holds the key to our survival as a planet. I honor the spiritual and healing knowledge of my all ancestors; the memory of which lives in my bones.

I am blessed to be a part of the Circle of Ancestors and to be working with people similarly called by Spirit to remember and heal their own indigenous roots. 

For more about my professional work, please visit my website: www.ancestralapothecary.com
 

Who Am I?

My name is Heidi Guttmann.  My ancestors on my mother's side are the Han and Tibetan people of China; on my father's they are currently unknown, but probably Celt and/or Anglo-Saxon.  I was born and raised in San Francisco, California, U.S.A.  My post-graduate studies have been in the area of Indigenous Mind.  This program was founded and lead by Dr. Apela Colorado, who is of Oneida and Frank ancestry.  When we first met, I told her about the research I'd done in my Chinese ancestry, and she told me, "I don't want you doing this work alone."  Since abandonment had been an ongoing theme in my life, I found those words extremely comforting.

And with those words, I was able to join an ongoing circle of people journeying to remember who they are.  I hope to be sharing the deepest parts of my journey with our readers and I'm looking forward to what develops on this blog with my fellow authors.