Resisting assimilation: Freebirth in our motherlands

Ahue! My name is Loba. I am ancestrally from northern Mexico and southwestern Texas. My lineages have roamed the lands we now call San Luis Potosi, Nuevo Leon, Coahuila, y Tejas for hundreds/thousands of years and continue to do so. As our people have been forced into assimilation, our lands divided into states and nations, borders built all throughout our natural motherlands - our customs and traditions have undergone massive changes and a lot has been lost.

A lot has unfolded since starting my own reconnecting journey. My body has battled hardships that made me unable to ever birth children - according to western medicine. I've dedicated myself to a life of prayer and movement throughout the lands I'm related to. Have been lucky enough to connect with so many wonderful medicine people. And through peyotl ceremony, the ancestral medicine of my people, visions of my children entered my life about 5 years ago. The deeper I have connected to our precious medicine, which has been continuously politicized against us, the deeper I have been able to listen and follow the messages of the night sky, the fire, the desert.

Despite all diagnosis' from western practitioners - my intentions and prayers to bring forward a new generation, my ancestors in form of my children - were heard loud and clear. My first child Nicancoyotl connected with my prayers and body during a peyotl ceremony in the Chihuahuan desert. And I now await my second child, Mazacnihui who also made himself known and felt sitting across nuestro abuelito fuego. I feel a deep responsibility to my children, who are my ancestors and my entire lineages embodied, to continue to walk a path of reconnection. To stay focused on the path of returning and remembering. Of trusting that there are realms beyond this one that are asking for our attention. I am making this part of my journey public in hopes that my communities will hear my prayer and feel the importance of this request -

I freebirthed Nicancoyotl in a bathtub in an apartment in deep south texas. A beautiful journey of release and surrender that both my child and my body led. My beloved partner was there to support my body and mind and welcome our little one flesh to flesh. This time around, I am called to freebirth my second in our ancestral deserts of San Luis Potosi, the home of Wiri’uwi (mother of peyotl) during a hikuri pilgrimage along with our Wixarika cousins.

Peyotl or Hikuri has been used by our people and relations for thousands and thousands of years. Our DNA remembers it. We are one with it. The chemicals in this precious medicine mix perfectly with the mother's body, creating the relaxed, warm and welcoming environment needed for our children to feel comfortable coming forward. I won't go into much public detail about the uses of hikuri during childbirth, but this knowledge is ancient and practiced to this day. The pilgrimage to Wirikuta, the birth place of the sun, where we hunt for the blue deer - is also an ancient and endangered journey that connects us to the truth. The ways of our people, our stories of creation, our world views and realities. Without these ancient traditions, we are nothing.

The political state of the world, the over extraction of our precious natural resources, wars, destruction, genocide - are all demanding our attention. Part of paying attention and responding to what is calling to us requires us to slow down and look at our own lives. How are we living? What are we putting our energies towards? How are we preparing the future generations for what is to come? Welcoming our children into the world as naturally as possible, in prayer, in ancient pilgrimage - is our version of setting the tone for what is to come. Taking our traditions and lifeways back, so that our children have a solid chance at doing good work in their lifetimes. All of our decisions, especially the ones that revolve not partaking in American society, are deeply intertwined in these intentions for the future.

We are asking for support for the following

Returning to ancient childbirth, resisting western medicinal practices, diving into faith and trust in all that lies beyond this realm - is our greatest act of resistance and reclamation. Our wombs are the center of the cosmos, our ancestors are here now, our prayers are answered. Power lies in our decisions.

Thank you for reading this part of our story - que las bendiciones se multipliquen!