Rekindling Ancestral Memory

REKINDLING ANCESTRAL MEMORY CIRCLE 2024-2025

Co-facilitated by Hilary Giovale and Elyshia Holliday

About the Circle

This is an 8-month circle for European-descended settlers in North America. We will engage with our European ancestors toward rekindling ancestral memory, mutual healing, forgiveness, and reparations. This circle will be a respectful, curious, and nurturing space for community dialogue. Participants will ritually build and tend ancestor altars, discover more about our family stories, and translate these experiences into real-world action through a personal reparations plan.

Why is this circle focused on European ancestry, and how is the circle related to Nature?

Each circle will be intuitively guided and will focus on topics such as:

• Community-based ancestral storytelling

• Embracing earth-honoring, nonlinear, and intuitive ways of knowing

• Settler colonialism and whiteness

• Rekindling our ancestral memory

• Building right relations

• Making reparations
  
  
  

  Activities we will engage in:

• Finding and sharing our ancestral stories with each other

• Respectfully connecting with the land where we live

• Keeping an ancestor altar

• Listening to guest speakers

• Writing an ancestral apology or forgiveness prayer

• Healing rituals

• Creating a personal reparations plan

Each month, catalyzing resources and activities will be provided based upon our circle discussions. For a comprehensive list of resources, please visit Hilary's website.

Circle Dates and Times

We will gather via Zoom on the following Tuesdays: October 22, October 29, November 12, November 19, December 10, January 7, January 21, February 4, February 25, March 18, April 8, and April 29.

Our group will meet on these dates from 5 to 6:30 pm Pacific/8 to 9:30 pm Eastern (guest speaker circle times may vary). Each circle will be held live using Zoom. The experience of this circle is focused on in-person interactions within a respectful, conscious container. Recordings of the circles will not be made.

Additional office hours will be offered on other dates.

Please plan to join us live as often as you can. Our group will also have a private thread on ONE’s community platform, Mighty Networks.

Reparations

If you join the circle, we suggest a sliding scale contribution of $150-$1200 (or more) for the entire eight-month session. No one will be turned away for lack of funds. 100% of the contributions will be returned to the following organizations, using a reparations framework, and to our guest speakers as honoraria.

SPEARITWURX is an Oakland-based organization that inspires inter-generational wellness. They create experiences to transform lives through Cultural Events, Community Convenings, Professional Consulting, and Wellness Coaching. They believe that All communities deserve the opportunity to cultivate, experience, and share the healing power of Love. Authentic love activates a Culture of Wellness that allows us to reflect on and transform our historical, racial, and social trauma. Wellness creates the conditions for us to thrive and fully express the greatness of our humanity.
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The Land Peace Foundation is an Indigenous-led educational organization committed to preserving the Indigenous way of life and protecting Mother Earth. They do this by providing strong Indigenous leadership programs, stewarding responsible climate change adaptation and mitigation mechanisms, and developing and facilitating in-depth Environmental Equity and Justice programs. Their core programs include two Indigenous leadership programs, the Wabanaki Leadership Institute Fellows Program and the New Beginnings for Wabanaki Students Program in partnership with the Native Programs Department at the University of Maine Orono. They also run two environmental justice programs, the EcologyShifts Fellowship Program and a federal Thriving Communities Environmental Justice Grants program, that allows them to provide key support to all those doing environmental justice work in the state of Maine. In addition to these core programs, they also convene large-scale gatherings that are designed to bridge divides and help build lasting kinship among people from all backgrounds. To date, their gatherings have reached more than 50k participants from six continents.

Request to Join the Circle

This class is open to members and affiliates of ONE and will be limited to 16 participants.

We ask that you tell us about yourself and why you are drawn to the circle at this time using the “Circle Request” button below. This will help us know you a little better. We will send you the registration link after we receive your circle request.

If you are not already a member of ONE you can sign up here.

The 2024-2025 Circle is full.

Meet your Facilitators

Hilary Giovale is a ninth-generation American settler descended from the ancient Celtic, Germanic, and Nordic peoples of northwestern Europe. She lives at the foot of a sacred mountain, a being of kinship, that stands within the traditional homelands of Diné, Hopi, Havasupai, Hualapai, Yavapai, Apache, and Paiute Peoples, as well as several Pueblos. Her relationships with this land inform her life as a mother, community organizer, writer, and philanthropist. In 2015, Hilary became aware of her ancestors’ longstanding presence as American settlers. Since then, she has been living a process of inquiry that includes ancestral repair, solidarity with Indigenous-led movements, reconnection with Earth, apology, forgiveness, and reparations. She is the author of Becoming a Good Relative: Calling White Settlers toward Truth, Healing and Repair (now available for pre-order).  To read more about her work, please visit www.goodrelative.com.

Elyshia Holliday is the executive director of ONE and is also the co-founder of Arawaka, an organization dedicated to healing the relationship between human beings and Mother Earth. During these last 20 years and in support of this work she has had the privilege of knowing many indigenous Elders and has benefited immensely from their guidance and innate perspective of living as part of a whole earth system. Their wisdom and knowledge profoundly influenced the way Elyshia views life, healing, and our basic guardianship of earth. Much of Elyshia's work has centered around community group facilitation, commitment to healing past wounds across generations and lineages and helping people deepen their relationship with Mother Earth. Elyshia is a fourteenth-generation American settler descending from the Celtic and Nordic peoples of northwestern Europe.

Elders Circle
We are grateful for these Elders, whose expertise has informed our process. They are generously offering support and guidance for our circle this year.

Myra Jackson has held a diverse array of hefty careers in engineering, holographic organizational development and academia. While those experiences might seem divergent from her deep mystical roots, she found that her early training in electrical theory, physics and music informed her inner and outer life. Today, that training provides useful metaphorical language in discussing the physics of now that points to our intrinsic bond with Nature.

Today, Myra carries the title of Diplomat of the Biosphere with a primary focus on transforming our societal relationship with Nature through public policy approaches that recognize Nature's intrinsic rights to exist whole along with all Her lifeforms. In listening to the Earth, Myra strives to fully realize the aspirational premise of the luminous thread she carries within the web of life (Intra-Being).

Pat McCabe(Weyakpa Najin Win, Woman Stands Shining) is a Diné (Navajo) mother, grandmother, activist, artist, writer, ceremonial leader, and international speaker. She is a voice for global peace, and her paintings are created as tools for individual, earth and global healing. She draws upon the Indigenous sciences of Thriving Life to reframe questions about sustainability and balance, and she is devoted to supporting the next generations, Women’s Nation and Men’s Nation, in being functional members of the “Hoop of Life” and upholding the honor of being human.

Guest Speakers

Sherri Mitchell -Weh’na Ha’mu Kwasset, is an Indigenous attorney, activist, and author from the Penobscot Nation. She received her Juris Doctorate from the University of Arizona’s Roger’s College of Law, specializing in Indigenous Peoples Law and Policy. She is an alumna of the American Indian Ambassador Program, and the Udall Native American Congressional Internship Program. Sherri is the author of the award-winning book, Sacred Instructions; Indigenous Wisdom for Living Spirit-Based Change, which has been published in four languages. She is also a contributor to more than a dozen anthologies, including the best seller, All We Can Save: Truth, Courage, and Solutions for the Climate Crisis, along with Resetting Our Future: Empowering Climate Action in the United States, and Growing Up Native in America. 

Sherri is the founding Director of the Land Peace Foundation, an Indigenous educational organization with three core program areas – Preserving the Indigenous way of life, the cultivation of competent cultural leadership, and the advancement of ecological equity and justice.

Mizan Alkebulan-Abakah, MPH, is the Co-Creator of Spearitwurx, an organization that inspires Intergenerational Wellness and Racial Healing through cultural arts, community events, strategic consulting and transformative educational experiences. Mizan is also a certified Healing Centered Engagement Trainer with Flourish Agenda and has a master’s degree in public health.  Mizan is a published author and has been a featured lecturer, keynote speaker, and workshop presenter at Universities and Conferences throughout the nation.  She is an experiential artist and lead curator of the Experience Sankofa Project Living Museum. As Certified Therapeutic Yoga instructor, Mizan incorporates creative expression and dynamic mindfulness into her work for social transformation.

Sizwe Andrews-Abaakah is an Educator, Radical Healer and Mentor and has worked throughout the Bay Area. He has supported African American Wellness through the National Campaign for Black Male Achievement, Oakland Freedom School, Flourish Agenda's Camp Akili, Oakland Unified School District's Manhood Development Program, and Determination Black Men's Group at United Roots to name a few.  As Co-Founder and Director of Cultural Engagement at Spearitwurx, he approaches the work with passion and insight. Sizwe believes that connectedness is our currency and building authentic intimacy is key in our relationships. The practice of being vulnerable with each other can helps us get to a place of transformation and liberation.  Sizwe, also known as Spear of the Nation, is an MC and producer. He utilizes his skills as performer to build awareness, connection and open doors to self-mastery.

Testimonials from Past Participants

“I loved how we explored our connection with ancestors in a non-linear, intuitive way, and also a practical, truth-seeking way. I wanted and needed both. Similarly, I loved how Elyshia and Hilary balanced the ritual/prayer aspects of our circle with the reparations/actions pieces. I've not been in a group that had both sides. This has been such a breath of fresh air.”

“I'm in awe of the journey Hilary and Elyshia guided us on. I have a new relationship with my ancestors and they are living through me. I've experienced healing and movement toward wholeness. Highly recommend this offering.”

"Being held, supported, and encouraged by this circle allowed me to feel ready to begin looking into the shadows of my family ancestry... which I've been trying to do alone for years, unsuccessfully. I needed a bigger holding to be able to begin facing the horrific truths of my family line."

"This circle helped me to discover the threads of ancestry that I carry within my body and spirit and how these threads are woven throughout time and space, connecting me to the entire tapestry of life. By the end of the circle, I felt more whole in knowing who I am and more agency in understanding my own part in the healing of our world."

“The Circle has been a beautiful, warm, welcoming container for learning and sharing. The practices, conversations, and speakers all generated potent heart-centered connection and action. Hilary and Elyshia guide the group with authenticity and a skillful mix of clear communication, joy, and their own lived experience in this lifelong work. So grateful for this grounding foundation for my ongoing ancestral healing and reparations commitments.”

"This group helped reignite and re-invigorate my ongoing commitment to living a life focused on actively undoing and healing the places racism and colonization live in my white body, and in the systems that run our country."

"Through digging back far enough and feeling into how my ancestors were also once deeply connected to the Earth, I've been able to soften some of the shame I've been carrying. The less shame takes up space inside me, the more room I have to be present and awake with energy to take action and make reparations in the now. I feel this shift on a visceral level."

"My awareness has expanded to see how much we all carry around with us from our family history. I am heartened to know that there are tangible avenues I can take toward healing the wounds that my ancestors inflicted and endured. I feel more connected to this path in myself and am excited to continue to let this path unfold, to listen to what needs attention and healing in my lineage."

“The care, depth and wisdom of Hilary and Elyshia wove a subtle but profound web throughout our circle that held each of us as we explored and discovered our histories and mysteries. “

Why is this Circle Focused on European Ancestry?

ONE's extended family has been a majority white community, and we long for the vibrant diversity of a healthy human ecosystem. At the same time, in order to avoid repeating the harms of our ancestors, European descended people must come together and explore our family stories honestly. We have an opportunity to open our minds and our hearts to meet the complex people from whom we descend.  We do this with empathy for their lives and circumstances and with the courage to transform their legacies.  

In this circle, we will explore our ancestors' stories as settlers on Indigenous land. In our experience - as well as in the collective experience - it has been helpful to begin this process within Euro-centered community spaces. This helps to eliminate projecting our ancestral traumas onto marginalized peoples. Together, we will practice becoming good relatives to diverse communities over time.

This circle is not an exclusively white space.  People of partial European ancestry who are interested in exploring their settler legacies are welcome and encouraged to join us.

What Does the Circle Have to Do with Nature?

Somewhere in each of our ancestral lineages, we all descend from Earth-honoring people- those who were intricately woven into the web of life. Over time, many of our ancestors forgot this innate knowing, due to trauma, migration, war, and famine. Our legacies became empty. In this process of forgetting, we began to see Earth and all her beings as only resources. This is part of colonization. The modern environmental movement emerged from this history. It has used archaic patterns to “protect the natural world,” rather than working with nature as a loving partner.

In this circle, as we reconnect with our ancestors, we also begin to awaken the innate Earth-honoring knowledge that lives in each of us. As we heal our pasts, we become better relatives for our human and non-human family.