Unwaiverable Faith: The story of Maria Yraceburu by Joe Montoya

     "Spirit is the foundation of my life," says author/ceremonialist Maria Naakai Ts'ilsoose Yraceburu (Quero Apache).  "I want to unite the people and the earth in a way that brings heart sensation. I want them to experience a multidimensional understanding that will stay with them, not fade into doubt the next day."

    Yraceburu says messages in rituals are a conscious choice, a way of sharing the wisdom of earth.  "I believe we can change the world through honoring rituals.  Everyone right now needs healing; earth ceremony has something for everyone.  Love is the force of life given to us in the sacred rite of connection.  Belief and responsible choice put the wisdom to work in reality; it helps the atmosphere of universal love grow."

     In these whirlwind times, Yraceburu's focus remains on the teachings she received from her grandfather.  "We have a responsibility to the future," she says.  "We have to demonstrate the power of earth life and claim our responsibilities as humans.  We must express our gifts, and I love watching people discover their talents.  We've conducted EarthRenewal Camps for over 35 years.  It’s great watching evolution unfold." With her life partner, Lynda Yraceburu, a traditional Gypsy healer and EarthSpirit photographer, Maria established a traditionally structured spiritual community called EarthWisdom.  "The focus is earth renewal and the human spirit," she states.  "We're fulfilling prophecy and stepping into actualized potential."

     Despite the power of her teachings, her work has had its critics.  She has been called a fraud by "guardians of the traditional way" who condemn mixed bloods sharing wisdom as instructed by their respective elders.  However, the recognition she has received for her path actually spans the philosophical dispute, coming from the elders of Cherokee, Inca, Chumash, Wiyot and Hopi, as well as the traditional elders of her own Apache Snake Clan.  She has simultaneously walked in two worlds while establishing a traditional lifestyle in contemporary time.  Her alternative camps of earth teachings that she transforms with the eclectic array of cyclic time - The Magic of Earth Women, SpiralDancing Family Reunion, Courageous Crossing, Rainbow Bridging Elder's Gathering, among others - have become experiences of boundless exploration for participants.  "My favorite gathering is always the one just completed," she states.  "You can't beat the faces full of wonder.  It's a wave of love that carries you to the next moment of celebration."

     As a Snake Clan member of the Quero Apache from the Sierra Madre Mountains in Mexico, Maria was given her adult name Naakai Ts'ilsoose (Returning Star) at age 50 after being struck by lightning.  Her grandfather Juan, was a clan priest and healer.  He provided direction and inspiration.  "I assisted him with almost everything he'd let me help with, starting with tending to injured and orphaned animals, gathering medicinal herbs, dreaming and curing ceremonies," Yraceburu recalls.  "Now I'm teaching Earth Renewal as he, and other Elders, have instructed me to do."  The proceed the EarthRenewal Camps gather benefit various EarthWisdom Community Service Projects such as Youth Assistance and Mentoring, Elders Support Program, Sacred Sites Preservation, and the Taanaashkaada Retreat Project.  "That's the beauty of it all," she says, "a turnaround... the cycle from which we all benefit."

     A drug addict in the 70s and again in the 80s, Yraceburu experienced the soul sickness she had once helped her grandfather assist others with.  She turned her life around by returning to her Path of Beauty.  "I hear from friends now that I probably was always following the way, but had lost sight of my connection," she reflects.  "Now, they tell me I was always teaching and living these ways... I just stepped out of time!  I didn't sync up with the reality I knew to be Esonknhsendehi... Changing Mother Earth.  I had experienced the sadness of a mother who has lost her child; I found the purpose I live now in those days."

     Almost two decades later, she has written four books, appeared on numerous radios shows and at universities including the 2006 Global Medicine Project, UCSB and the Anthropology of Medicine for UCSD from 2000-2006. 

     Combining her massive extended family with her traditional knowledge and dedication, Yraceburu EarthWisdom originated in 1972 as the Native American Students Alliance.  Acting in community as a mediator, a long standing dispute between the college and local tribe was resolved and the support of local elders began, while presenting educational programs facilitated by these and other elders of the Ohlone, Cherokee, Lakota, Apache and Nez Perce traditions.  NASA forged ahead with the establishment of Native American Studies Programs.  "We had passion back then," claims the grandmother of three.

     NASA evolved in 1974 into the Minority Students Alliance... "We were becoming more inclusive... recognizing the Power of One."   This quickly moved into Yraceburu beginning to teach.  The lessons were simple, the Child's Count, the very foundational lessons on life perception.  They were popular and have evolved into what has come to be known as ecopsychology.  "It's funny," she laughs.  "It's an illness fix for the art of life.  Can we even begin to comprehend that?!"

    In 2001, Yraceburu EarthWisdom officially became a 501 (c) 3 spiritual community and life really began to change.  In August of that year, the Shooting Snake Way EarthRenewal Camp was attended by De Se Mana (Hopi).  "When she came as a messenger, I was very moved.  I cried, knowing that these Wise Ones worked continuously on behalf of all of us so that life would continue."  Her initiation as a diiyin... HolyOne... began within five days.  The third momentous shifted occurred in 2002, with the release of Legends and Prophecies of the Quero Apache (Bear & Co.)... "fairytales for adults that awaken the truth within."  This attributed to "listening well" to her relations.  The stories took our detached sensibilities into creative earth waters.  The Isaiah Effect author Gregg Braden pointed out, "It's in a language that is ancient yet familiar, Maria Yraceburu weaves the timeless traditions of her ancestors into meaningful lessons of our lives."

     Yraceburu's far reaching effect grew in 2004 with the release of her second book, Prayers & Meditations of the Quero Apache (Bear & Co.)  The idea began with the Child's Count Lessons again.  "Legends" had been the first "teaching stone," presenting a life philosophy through storytelling methods.  The second "teaching stone" helped nontraditional minds to understand the concept of earth connection and empowerment through a prayer and meditation ritual called doohwaa'gon'ch'aada... entering the silence.

     "I had my dark times," she says.  "I've probably walked every place of shadow a human could go, but then I heard my grandpa explaining about fear... like the hand shadows on the wall when we were kids... the closer to the wall you are, the smaller the shadow."  She has been the subject of three film projects recently.  In 2004, she appeared on Bridging Heaven and Earth television show. "It was kind of surrealistic," she says, laughing.  "They were all very nice, but I can't comprehend the lifestyle."  Seven Sacred Fires of the Star Nation People filmed by Rod Bearcloud Berry in 2005, accelerated included teachings of the Circle, which laid the structure of the Hero's Journey we each travel through.

     Amid the accelerated community events, conferences and camps, she continues to be guided and motivated by age old love for this planet she calls "Esonknhsendehi... Changing Mother."

     Yraceburu's open nature, delivered in her joyous way, exudes a unique authenticity.  Its little wonder Native and non are beginning to awaken to her Words of Power.  Her teachings speak of earth, generations of connection to the land, and the evolution of humanity.  There is great treasure being presented.  She ends our time with a pause, "I'm just doing what the elders said I would be doing.  I share like they did with me.  It's up to you to choose what to do with it."

Joe Montoya is a Native American Church roadman and Apache Snake Clan Priest.
More can be found out about Maria Yraceburu and her work through Yraceburu EarthWisdom at http://www.yraceburu.org  and look for Maria's latest book release Words of Power at the Store while you're there!