Dragon Letters, No. 10Cancer Moon Edition
September 30, 2021
Hola my dear ,
In this Dragon Letter we’re exploring the five stages of decolonizing. When you learn them, reply and let me know where you’re at in your journey.
(Each Time I share the most popular of the links. Last Time Nahanee Creative was the most popular resource I shared. They just launched a number of decolonization mini-courses that are being released today. And I’ll share another fun video from them below.)
If you missed the details, you’ll find those and many other great resources if you search your inbox and put me in your safe list. Star✨ me, add to Primary Inbox etc.
Walk in beauty. Live your magic. Go wild.
xo Ixchel
(keep scrolling or you miss the good stuff….)
The 5 Stages of Decolonizing
A few colleagues and I have discussed where our programs are positioned in relation to the stages of decolonizing. So when Amber McZeal recently shared the Five Stages of Decolonization by Poka Laenui in her Decolonizing Somatics course, it just clicked for me:
- The first stage is a call to rediscovery and recovery, where a colonized of previously colonized region actively rediscovers it roots in order to reclaim the value of its own culture, history and traditions of its own particular region. This stage, for example, has been observed in Hawaii beginning around the 1960’s, with new movements in Hawaiian music and literature.
- The second stage is labelled as the stage of grief and mourning, where people as a community, process and understand any trauma that the colonized may have experienced. This is often expressed in the form of anger, frustration, and protest.
- The third stage of decolonization, often labeled as the most crucial, is the process of building the future of the proposed new culture. This takes place most commonly through debate or consultation where discussions involve the future of the culture, the governing procedures and body and the reestablishment of culture.
- The fourth stage comes as a result of a successful third stage, where the fourth stage is about commitment to a single decided cause and direction for the culture. This stage is a collection of all of the people’s voices that are unified in a direction so clear cut that the culture can proceed to the final stage.
- The fifth and most commonly final stage of decolonization is the action towards said unified goal, which can express itself in a variety of ways, through reclaiming what was once theirs. The process of the previous four stages sometimes cannot be afforded to a culture if they are under serious threat, in which case the fifth stage tends to manifest itself faster. Although often unavoidable, this could lead to potential issues, such as a lack in unification of further future goal of the culture.
Decolonizing Time and liberating Flow are places for dreaming in collective to create new ways of being that are grounded in ancestral traditions, traditions that ensured our survival to be alive and awake in this Time.
When we lead from initiated places of postactivism we aren’t coming from unresolved anger or out of touch know-it-all that can be soaked in a righteous white saviorism that has tainted so much of the activism of this Time. The outcome of that dreaming is a deep sense of commitment coupled with relationship to Place/Space/Time/Cosmos.
Stages 1 & 2 rediscovering/recovering cultural roots and grieving and mourning what was lost inform the dreaming and connect us back to our ancestors’ resilience to thrive.
Having rituals and collective accountability ensures that the characteristics of white supremacy culture are kept in check in an essential daily practice, because those systems of oppression dominate how to be in this world. And when we are edgewalking new ways of being (fugitivity as Báyò Akómoláfé says), we must not walk that path alone.
Borderland Violence
As we continue to celebrate Mestize American Heritage Month, I wanted to share this interview about the liminal space of borders. This is climate chaos, pandemic chaos, political chaos being lived out at the US/Mexica border. Please remember there are deep survival motivations in what’s happening at the boarder. And the citizens of the US are not outraged enough and must demand justice. So, this is a reminder of what complicity is, it is silence. Please take a moment from your day to write or call (202-456-1414) the White House.
Luis Alberto Urrea InterviewBorders are Liminal Spaces
The wonderful writer Luis Alberto Urrea says that a deep truth of our time is that “we miss each other.” He is singularly wise about the deep meaning and the problem of borders. The Mexican-American border, as he likes to say, ran straight through his parents’ Mexican-American marriage and divorce. His works of fiction and non-fiction confuse every dehumanizing caricature of Mexicans — and of U.S. border guards. The possibility of our time, as he lives and witnesses with his writing, is to evolve the old melting pot to the 21st-century richness of “us” — with all the mess and necessary humor required.
Luis Alberto Urrea is an English professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He has published in nearly every genre, including nonfiction, memoir, short stories, historical novels, poetry, and even an award-winning mystery story, and has been called a “literary badass.” His many books include Into the Beautiful North, The Devil’s Highway, The Hummingbird’s Daughter, The Tijuana Book of the Dead and The House of Broken Angels.
This show originally aired in July 2018.
Video Interview
Lisa Jara recently enjoyed the Decolonizing Time Mini-course and wanted to explore this more on her YouTube Channel. We chatted about the concept of time from a colonialist and an indigenous perspective and what practices we can use to decolonize our conception of time. You can watch the interview here.
If you have a podcast or video interview format, I’d love to share Decolonizing Time with your audience. Let me know if I can send you more details.
IGTV Recommendation
Creating Safer & Inclusive Spaces for BBIWOC
My good friend Eva Glamaris interviewed Ta7táliya of Nahanee Creative that I have shared about a number of times this year. (see their offerings below)
Go listen to this great conversation. They are doing such important work on brave spaces for decolonizing.
In the Spotlight
Eva Glamaris is releasing her next cohort of Sacred Inclusion, a 6-month coaching experience for sincere committed white women with progressive & liberatory values who want to learn how to create truly inclusive and safer spaces for people of color. She has a few early-bird bonuses ending 10/1. Hop to it!
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Nahanee Creative is launching five new on-demand mini-courses. The platform will open on September 30 for anyone who wants to spend this day learning about: Territorial Acknowledgements, Cultural Protocols, Empathy & Safety, Etiquette for Allies, Introducing Decolonizing Practices, Restorying Colonialism, and/or Decolonizing Identity 101.
Sign up for one or all six, participate on your own or with a group, each workshop can be completed in an hour or less. Once you sign up, you’ll have three days to complete it. Each workshop features short videos, reflection worksheets, and resources to support your continued unlearning and relearning. $40 per person.
We are offering you a 20% discount when you use the promo code Decolonizefirst. Remember to share this with friends and family so they can also enjoy our courses at a discounted rate!
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Alissa Rumsey is releasing The Liberated Body, a nine-month food and body liberation group program for people socialized as women/girls who want to get free from dieting, body shame, and the negative social conditioning that holds us back.
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I was raised and bore children on the traditional, unceded, and stolen lands of the Coast and Central Valley Miwok (colonized as Petaluma, CA) and Nisenan (colonized as Sacramento and Fair Oaks, CA), past, present, and future. I also write, work, and live in the highland forest of the traditional, unceded and stolen lands of the Totonac, Nahua, and Mexicah, past, present, and future, in what is known as Coatepec, Veracruz, Mexico.
P.P.S. I do not live or consent to the colonial impositions regarding the construct of Time. I also practice honoring rhythms of work, play, and rest so that I can serve you with embodied presence and with loving care. This means I may take several days to respond to your requests and questions. (h/t Eva Glamaris)
P.P.S. A mention is not necessarily an endorsement of someone. It’s an acknowledgment, a citation, of the origin of information in my process of understanding. (h/t Kelly Diels)
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Copyright © 2026, Cheyenne, WY, and Veracruz, Mexico, All rights reserved. Sharing your lineage of knowledge is decolonial. When iterating, please cite me. Not citing is epistemicide.
