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In today's episode, Julia shares about Dia de los Muertos, how she celebrated it with her family and across her life, and how this holiday intersects with the work here at the School Without Walls. We'll also tell you about an upcoming live workshop, Creating Your Traveling Altar, and offer an invitation to engage with this holiday yourself!
Links from today's episode:
Production assistance from Podlad.com and Daypack Digital. Artwork by Olivia Dancel. Dragonfly art by Soul Creative Design.
Indigenous Wisdom is about opening yourself up and getting to know yourself better as a Human being on this Earth. In this podcast, Julia shares messages, channeled wisdom, and more to support your wisdom journey.
Julia Carmen (00:04):
Welcome back to the Indigenous Wisdom Podcast. Today, I'm excited to explore a time of the year that's very important in my culture and my work. The Los S. A few years back, we enjoyed an incredible retreat in Manana at the Dancing Spirit Ranch. I love that place. I so love that place, which centered around the soul work of the Atos. We made cookies with the incredible chef Ananda, and actually we'll have the recipe in today's show notes just for you. And we worked with the teachings and the knowing of this special time of the year. Today, I'm going to share a little bit more about the a Muertos and how it intersects with the work here at the School Without Walls, and to tell you about an upcoming live workshop Creating your Traveling altar. Let me say that again. Live workshop, creating Your Traveling altar.
(01:19):
Have you ever heard of a traveling altar? Oh my gosh. Wait, do you, okay, let me get back on script. This will be an opportunity for a casual connection and creativity and some cafecito eche, as I like to call it and help you consider Join us. See? Okay, here we go. So what really is Los MUTOs? I want to share with you a little background about that time of year for my family and how we celebrated in my life. Now, I don't remember actually ever setting an actual time of the year during October and November, how it is basically in Mexico and a lot of places here and all over the world in different countries, but mainly in Mexico. I think the movie Cocoa really, I love that movie really puts it all in a nutshell on how it is celebrated. But in my home, it wasn't celebrated in that way. It was more celebrated every single day. I dunno if the word celebration is the word, but acknowledged in the way that my mother was a very, I would say Les does spiritual being. And she had a place in wherever we lived to go pray. And I remember in one home, I think it was probably in that home, I think it was in San Francisco, actually in it Station Valley.
(03:12):
And the home wasn't small. It wasn't a small home, but it definitely, there was like 10 of us. So she had to find her little space in that home. And you know that nowadays they call it a she shed. Well, my father at that time, he knew and honored her way of being in this world as far as how she prayed. I think her prayers got us and our family out of a lot of interesting situations. And so he got a shed and put it up. So the backyard, you go outside in, there's a little patio where you could have a barbecue, and then there was some roses and you go up a few steps. And then over to the left side, up against the fence was her little, she shed her prayer area. I remember as a little girl going there and sitting at steps and listening to her.
(04:18):
Now at that time, my Spanish definitely was my first language for myself as a little person. So I understood it quite well. And I remember her praying, and of course she was very strong Catholic, I guess you might say that. And she would make the sign of the cross, but she'd always go into the four directions. And as a little girl, I quite didn't, I kind of sort of understood the sign of the cross. I never really understood it fully. But what do we understand as little people? We just watch the big people do the things, and then we either go with it or we kind of go, huh. Yeah. But the one thing that I did gravitate to, and that was her sense of the four directions. She would look at four directions and say, mother, father, God, creator of all in Spanish, and open her prayers up like that.
(05:26):
And her altar, what she had with her were her rosaries and her candles and so on. So she prayed every day. I remember her going up there in the morning and sometimes in the afternoon, depending if there was a present presenting challenge in the family or family members. And then before she went to sleep, before sunset. Now, the reason I'm sharing this with you is because that was her altar. That was her way of being in the world. So we're going, okay, what is a traveling altar? Yeah. So for her, I would think she would take her rosaries wherever she went in a little pouch, and she would do her thing every single time. So Los Muertos is honoring our ancestors and honoring those that have gone beyond us. So how do we integrate and I think how do we make that part of our lives while we're traveling?
(06:32):
How do we move in time and space in this world and take this altar with us? So some folks, like I said, use the rosary. Some use Tibetan beads. Some folks have their little incense and things like that. And sometimes you cannot take those things into a space of being. So if you're not able to take your whole travel, not traveling altar, your whole whatevers that you have at home, and you don't necessarily scribe to any of those things that I shared with you. So this workshop, this mini webinar is about how you can put together, build together your own traveling altar so you could bring a little piece of your own home and remembrance of what you may have at home. What's come to mind is a traveling altar. I had a friend and she traveled a lot, and this is over, oh man, it was 30 years ago, and her and I, we were talking story and she says, this is where the idea came from.
(08:01):
I got to give it out, shout out to her. And since she passed away a long time ago, and again, honoring your ancestors, honoring Pat Devlin, Ms. Pat, I go, pat, what's your name? Pat? She goes, pat, do you forget my name? Oh my gosh. So yeah, she was a nurse and licensed therapists and so on, and we used to have a lot of great times talking story, and she is right here with me. It's so much fun. This is why I love doing this. Like, yeah, so when I think of a traveling altar, and she goes, Julia, and she made her own, she got some velvet like cloth, and she sewed it together and put, she actually sewed up a bunch of little pockets and then little her own, whatever it is, she loved crystals and she loved all different parts. And then wherever she went to her hotel room, she just spread it out and then she would do her thing.
(09:12):
So she had her little, she shed wherever she went, and she goes, Julie, we need to do a workshop or retreat or something on traveling Altars. And I have, in the past, I just thought it'd be really cool in honoring the A Los MUTOs and honoring our ancestors. We're so busy on a day-to-Day basis, and so the holidays are coming up and all over, really. Everybody acknowledges some kind of holiday. There's always a holiday. There's always a time to travel wherever you go. What? It'd be great to have your own little traveling altar, see? So join us. We'd love to have you. When is this? Join us, October 30th from 6:00 PM to 7:15 PM and that's specific standard time Pacific time to enjoy our live webinar on creating a traveling altar.
(10:20):
It's a great way to connect with Theto Holiday and tune into all of your ancestors. That Vera. Yeah, and your soul's own wisdom now, just getting that talk story going. Yeah, if Ken, go listen right now to soul listening and you'll kind of get the idea, join us and it will be fun. That's the criteria, fun and easy. So find out all the details at the school without walls.net/alter. Thanks for listening to this episode of the Indigenous Wisdom Podcast. If you're new here, we're happy to welcome you into the School Without Walls. The best way to stay connected and find out about our upcoming programs retreats offerings is by subscribing to our newsletter. Visit The School Without Walls or the link in the show notes for this episode. Sign up.