I have been thinking a lot about tonight's Full Moon (I am a witch after all) - My colonial American ancestors called the January Full Moon, The Wolf Moon, taking the name from the Wampanoag people whose land and lives they also tragically took (either through force or by taking advantage of the indigenous people's exposure to European diseases). My illegitimate Irish-American grandmother was fostered by a Native American woman, possibly of the Apsaaloke tribe in present day Sheridan Wyoming. Did her foster mother teach her to call The Moon, Bilítaachiia? My Spainish-American great-garndmother lived in Chumash territory (present day Santa Barbara) as a child, did she know the people whose land they took called The Moon 'Awa'y? I have been thinking a lot about tonight's Full Moon and the names my ancestors spoke when they looked up into the night sky: Luna, Mond, Gealah, Máni. I have been thinking a lot about the history of this continent on which I live, and how many peoples who have lived here have looked up into the night sky and honored The Moon with many names. May this January Full Moon inspire the descendants of all peoples who lived here, to learn from the complicated pain of the past, and work toward justice and wisdom in the present.
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