It's time for a spiritual migration, says Choctaw elder Steven Charleston. Two million years ago, our earliest ancestors undertook the first migration. Now, in a time of upheaval and chaos and dread, we must move again.
Around us, things are shutting down. Disappearing. We are moving backward in our evolution. Brutality and passivity, greed and xenophobia reign. Tools and technology will not save us. While our ancestors knew their survival depended on our relationship to Mother Earth, we act as if the Earth were a resource to be exploited rather than a relative to love.
But across Turtle Island, Indigenous people are inviting others to join them on a sacred migration. It's a journey rooted in perception, imagination, humility, and kindness. In these pages, the beloved author of Ladder to the Light and other books, Steven Charleston, draws on Native spirituality to show us the way. Charleston is not content to let the Trail of Tears define the history of his community. With his trademark mix of gentle warmth and piercing vision, he offers the story of another kind of migration, one that arises from the deepest parts of ancient human culture. In Sacred Migration, Charleston shows us how his ancestors understood migration as a spiritual journey. He reveals holy places, like kivas and mounds and the medicine wheel, and points us toward the hope that will orient us. And he shows us how to create an altar to sustain us. This journey is life-giving and restorative, and it's one we take together.
Migration is a process by which people not only travel but transform, Charleston says. We do not need to sit still in our despair, and in the pages of this much-anticipated book, he invites us to travel, together, toward a new home.
Introduction
Part I
1 Migration
2 Wormhole
3 Memory
4 Emergence
Part II
5 Sipapu
6 Hidden Land
7 Kinship
8 Trust
9 Going Inward
Part III
10 Perception
11 Imagination
12 Humility
13 Kindness
Part IV
14 Ancestors
15 The Future
16 Medicine Wheel
17 Altar
18 Prayer Shawl
19 Intention
20 Love
“Stating that ‘migration is humanity’s story,’ theologian, environmentalist and Indigenous activist Charleston sets the stage for an honest look at identity, origins, and what our shared history means for the future. . . .This book is a quietly persuasive introduction to the backbone of Indigenous experience, as well as an invitation to learn more, to migrate and emerge as something new.” --Library Journal
"Charleston’s inspiring vision incorporates rich Indigenous theology alongside references ranging from Frank Herbert’s Dune to Buddhist philosophy. . . . a thought-provoking case for change." --Publishers Weekly
"At a time when migration is so often shaped by trauma and loss, this book restores a sacred lens. With Indigenous wisdom and spiritual depth, Steven Charleston shows how migration--outer and inner--can become a path of healing, humility, and collective renewal." --TARA BRACH, author of Radical Acceptance and Radical Compassion
"Steven Charleston's gorgeous, necessary invitation into the next chapter of our consciousness is gentle, wise, and firm: It's time to leave behind our toxic ways of doing and being, but we have guides and tools for the journey into whatever comes next. Sacred Migration is a gift that shows us just how timeless the map really is." --RABBI DANYA RUTTENBERG, author of On Repentance and Repair: Making Amends in an Unapologetic World
"Once again, Bishop Steven Charleston shows us the elder and teacher that he has always been by inviting us into a deep and sacred journey within ourselves. Every page of this book contains rich truths about who we are as humans, guiding us into histories of migration and the lessons we learn along the way on our own journeys. His words are a gift, and I hope you will receive them and be inspired to walk the world around you with deep hope and a commitment to care, kinship, and imagination." -- KAITLIN B. CURTICE, award-winning Potawatomi author of Native and Everything Is a Story
