OUR STORY & VISION

The town of San Miguel de Allende is one of the most visited cities in Mexico, known for its colonial architecture, beautiful cobblestone streets and colorful art.  The picturesque colonial landscape is what most visitors see when they visit San Miguel de Allende.  But it is not primarily what I perceive as a Xicana who moved back to these, my maternal ancestral lands, to deepen my relationships with my relatives, with the land, and with ancestral cultures and wisdom.

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When I walk through the streets of San Miguel de Allende I don’t only see the colonial, gentrified city. As a granddaughter of this land and a Xicana who has been teaching the history of my peoples and land for over 20 years, I perceive what was here prior to colonization and which remains powerfully present. These are ancestral lands to the Hñähñu (Otomi), Chichimeca, and Purepecha peoples, my relatives.

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These are Indigenous cultures, people, and traditions that are very much alive today. Yet, most visitors to this city do not engage in a meaningful way or learn of their existence, much less consider the impact their presence and behavior has on them. The original cultures, histories, and keepers of this land are erased by the colonial narratives that are presented to tourists and visitors when they come or move to this city.

 

This is also a city gentrified by outsiders who arrive and immediately begin to devise ways to extract from the natural, spiritual and cultural richness of a land they have no relationship to.  Without taking the time to learn from the local people who are the experts here and build deep relationships they rush to create businesses that capitalize from the land, people and culture. Rather than support Indigenous or Mexican owned businesses, teachers, healers, artists, or guides directly, in true colonial fashion, they copy, repackage and resell things.  They posit themselves as guides without having any actual education or training. We have never needed cultural interlopers to sell our culture, spirituality, medicine or art back to us or to others.

 

Very little of the money brought in by this extractive tourism and business trickles down to support native Mexican and Indigenous populations, who are displaced and impoverished by gentrification.  Gentrification is the new colonization because all of this is a continuation of colonial modes of extraction.

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Itzpapalotl Obsidian Butterfly Journeys was born out of a desire to create more of what I want to see in the world, instead of what angers me about the gentrification of my ancestral lands.

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I created these journeys for those who come with a deep spiritual and ancestral reverence to this land, those who come with a deep prayer to re-awaken our remembrance of ancestral relationship to it. It is an invitation to see beyond the eyes of a tourist to connect with the land and some of its keepers in an intentional versus an extractive way.

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These pilgrimage journeys were created to offer an intentional experience for indigenous/people of color who refuse historical amnesia and consider the complexities, histories, and politics of land. Those who wish to practice Indigenous values of respect, right relationship and reciprocity when they travel. 

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This is a walking prayer which teaches that all land is Indigenous land with Indigenous stewards and caretakers of the land whose histories, lives, culture and land-based wisdom have been intertwined with the land for centuries and/or millenia and should be respected. These are the native inhabitants of the land whose labor, knowledge, culture and lands are too often exploited or tokenized while they themselves are made invisible.

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Lastly, it is for those who care to circulate money consciously in ways that support the livelihoods, businesses and earth-centered community projects of native residents and teachers from the lands they visit.

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LAS SEMILLAS, THE SEEDS

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The seeds for Obsidian Butterfly Journeys took root twenty years ago when I began teaching Mexican and Chicana/o history, art and culture, first as a high school teacher and then as a Xicana Studies professor in college classrooms.

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Twenty years ago, I also began my first pilgrimage travels to Mexico’s sacred sites and became a lifelong student and caminante on the path to relearn ancestral cosmologies and wisdom. I wished for the opportunity to share this knowledge with others, to bring others to experience these places themselves – to feel their energy, memory, and power directly.

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Much of my learning has taken place on the road, through the many maestr@s, healers & guides I have met on these serpentine paths.  In 2005, I decided to pursue my PhD when the first doctoral program in Chicana/o Studies opened. In 2019, I left my full time tenure track work to move to Guanajuato. I had lived in Mexico City for several years before this move.  I have been a transborder Xicana for two decades, weaving my life in and between the U.S. and Mexico.

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One of the visions of Itzpapalotl Obsidian Butterfly Journeys is to plant seeds that will grow into an intergenerational community school for ancestral learning in the not-so-distant future.

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Part of the values that drive Itzpapalotl Obsidian Butterfly Journeys is to collectively learn how to be in deeper integrity, relationship and reciprocity with the lands we visit and inhabit.

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These are layered and important conversations to have, especially in a place like San Miguel de Allende where gentrification, spiritual and cultural appropriation, and tourism leads to much exploitation, displacement and invisibilization of native people and lands.

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This is currently a small, independent project. I collaborate with other healers & maestras on these journey, but I am the sole organizer of these pilgrimages. One of my intents with Obsidian Butterfly Journeys has been to also resource these maestras who have taught me so much, as a form of reciprocity, and to support the important work they do in their communities.

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OUR OFFERINGS

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The first pilgrimage opened in August 2021. Participants of these spiritual and cultural journeys i are invited to connect with the sacred geographies and ancestral practices of lands in and near San Miguel de Allende. The journeys do not focus on the city of San Miguel itself, rather on the larger spiritual and cultural geographies and ancient pilgrimage routes that extend beyond it.

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Obsidian Butterfly Journeys has two type of offerings: 

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PRIVATE PILGRIMAGES which I create especially for your group of friends, family, or students who want to experience a journey of ancestral connection and remembrance on ancestral land. Private pilgrimages are envisioned and customized to meet your particular intent, travel schedule, and interests. Schedule a free call with me if you would like to talk about what this might look like for you: info@obsidianbutterflyjourneys.com

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OPEN PILGRIMAGES are offered every Fall for individuals who wish to join the pilgrimage routes I organize and make an open call for.  Our next pilgrimage Caminando con Itzpapalotl  is happening in August 2024.

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Subscribe to the mailing list below to be the first to receive information about future pilgrimages.

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