Healing industrial COMplex
By tiny gray-garcia aka @povertyskola, daughter of Dee, Mama of Tiburcio
“There are many opinions, but in my perspective, Non-Indigenous peoples should leave peyote ceremony to Indigenous peoples. That has been shown and highlighted by the Native American Church with a lot of their advocacy and what they have said they want. There are so many different medicines that non-Indigenous peoples can use — they can sit with San Pedro or synthetic mescaline or so many other psychedelics that aren't facing ecological threat” Sutton King, indigenous daughter, co-founder of Urban Indigenous Collective

Long hair strands were touseled in the imaginary wind. A vague sparkle emanated from traditional regalia modeled in shining Black rock. Sandaled feet seemed to be in motion. I gazed upon what appeared to be an indigenous man struck in mid-motion in stone aka a “statue” He stood in pseudo mid-air in the center of dozens of shopping malls in the occupied Yavapai, Tonto Apaches, Hopi and Navajo lands aka so-called Sedona, Arizona. Right there, in the center of that settler “town” was a tribute to indigenous medicine spirituality directing the tourists to the endless storefronts peddling different pierces of commodified Mama Earth and stolen plant medicines.
Crystals, carved stone, magical earth, mystical dirt, potions and rocks glittered from 1970’s style wood encased plate glass windows along the main road. Each store proclaiming their products had the most potent healing powers. All of these healing qualities were purportedly mined, extracted, stolen, I mean, “found” in the sacred red earth and mountains that surrounded so-called Sedona.
I made the journey to this place with an indigenous Mayan elder who was houseless for years and now is disabled and i care for ( one of my under the table survival jobs) She requested to go there because she was sick and lurched away from her own land based indigenous medicine had heard the derivative hippie narrative about this being “magical” land filled with healing medicines.
So-called Sedona , Arizona ,is named after one of the original wite settler, land stealers of the genocidal pioneer days named Sedona Schnebly.,, This part of Mama Earth is draped in the finest of rust-colored Mama Earth regalia. Red mountains and plains as far as the eye can see. So beautiful but so much felt off. This town is the Krapitol of what i affectionately call the Healing Industrial Complex. And to affirm that reality, there are multiple signs everywhere for the next “spiritual tour” or “vortex tour” which is replete with kundalini yoga, a portable ceremony led by a real live Guru and a plethora of magical rocks, potions, tinctures and crystals they can provide you with, at a nominal extra fee, that is.
Mystical, Sacred and spiritual.
These terms are currency in the Healing Industrial Complex. From Sedona to India, they are thrown around like confetti at a wedding. The thing is that in many highly commodified “healing” locations it’s not only land that gets sold and profited off of, its not only ancient spaces of sacred Mama earth, its culture, tribal and ancient medicine and practices and sacred ceremonies From yoga to sweat lodges, from peyote ceremonies to cactus, these are all products to be traded, bought , sold”taught” and extracted.
When me and Dona Sandra got to the supposed “vortex” mountains there are casual references made by swarming Tour” guides to native plant medicine, which in addition to being named is being peddled, sold, hustled, and used without any patent, ethical or legal accountability to the indigenous mama earth care-givers, medicine carriers and tribal nations they were stolen from.
This happens all over the world and is one of the reasons I coined the term “wite Science” - with no “h” cuz its a system rooted in white supremacy that includes all practitioners including people of color trained in, working for or profiting off of wite science. It’s rooted in extraction and theft of culture and community and is completely irresponsible to the indigenous lands and ancestors that brought it to humans
From mushrooms to peyote, from copal to sage, there are hundreds of plant medicines which have been cared for for time immorial, way before colonial gregorian calendars by indigenous science, which work in tandem with what Mama earth has to give and offer .
I’ve been sick for as long as i can remember, not the physical kind, the mental, truamaPTSD, not sure where it comes from kind. Every second of every day, i battle suicidality, depression, severe anxiety and CONfusion.
I have also worked since i was four years old, not because i wanted to but because i had to. Mama was disabled and we were in poverty. Our life was a war zone of survival, depression, fear, evictions, abuse and homelessness.
I try everyday to get on my bike and race the insanity out of my mind. For the last few years i have had the blessing of having loving self-care-givers, and radical healers in my comeunity and extended community. They are always encouraging me to “heal” the thing is, im not sure if you can ever “heal” from what ails me. Im never been willing to take Big Pharma as a solution and have severe body and trust issues in terms of touch. Matter of fack my kinship proximity is my fellow street warriors walking around screaming to themselves and the world. They are me i am them. I feel like i walk thru life holding my breath, because if i exhale to deeply, i will disintegrate.
And yet, maybe thru my ghetto scholarship, i can’t get down with the gray area of commodfication and extraction in terms of medicine. If you are not indigenous to that plant or ceremony or tradition, its gonna feel fake to me. That isnt to say i dont’ believe in spirit. Nor do i fault anyone in any of the medicine, spirit they practice or practice in. I pray and listen to my ancestors and mama earth everyday .But im not ok with the arrogance and rampant industry of appropriation of literally everything .
Learn where your medicine comes from and just because it “sounds exciting to be part of something it doesnt mean you should have complete unfettered access to it
My proposal for the Healing Industrial Complex and its purveyors who are profiting off of and peddling these earth and plant sacred medicines, you have a responsibility to give back to not only Mama Earth but the peoples, lands and traditions you are extracting from. And to propose that spiritual healing also comes from radical redistribution and LandBack work to the 1st peoples of the lands and tribes the medicine used u “use” was “sourced” from.
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