A trip to the Place of the Rainbow

In the Chumash language, Wishtoyo means Rainbow. When arriving to the place of the Rainbow, I heard such beautiful voices coming from the entrance way. I seen Mati, Luhui, Sarah and the rest of their family with such big and wide smiles. I felt like crying when seeing such wonderful people once more. After getting off the van, I witness such positive energy and a great aura emanating from them. Once they sang to us, I went up to every single person and hugged them with so much joy, that it was overwhelming. Then we had a ceremony for our arrival to Wishtoyo that gave such a good feeling and positive energy. Hearing the voice of Mati and sharing his teachings, made me feel at home. Wishtoyo does feel like a second home.

Throughout the day of arrival, spent a lot of time settling into our tents and the feel of the place. That same day, Joe Clues showed us Sacred Geometry that interested me to be involved in. He taught me how to the Geometry is involved and connected to patterns and things in the universe. Since I have such a great love for mathematics and the universe, I was one hundred percent focused on his words and what he was teaching me. I spent the first night of sleep outside looking at the stars with my friend Cuauhtli and opening up to each other like I’ve never done before. The sound of the ocean was so soothing and beautiful that it made the even better.

The next day, I made a necklace using a plant called Yaka. I hit the plant with a rock until the strands of fibers started to show and part. Then, I pulled the strands of fiber apart in half and began to time the strands of fibers into a necklace. I was unable to decorate the necklace, but I did finish and let it dry. Again, we had another class of Sacred Geometry that taught even more. At the end of day, I went to the bottom of Wishtoyo where we created a fire with rocks for sweat ceremony. It took about two to three hours for the rocks to get fully heated. We entered the area for the sweat ceremony. The first round began and it felt good but very hot at the same time. We sang and had prayers which made me feel united with everyone in there. I excited after the first round but I felt like I could’ve lasted more. The ceremony did not end until around six the next morning. I only had about two hours of which made me feel tired and exhausted throughout the rest of the day. When we left, I felt so sad but so happy to have gone to Wishtoyo and been around the elders and everyone else.

 

 

Kyle’s Wishtoyo Experience

 

It all started when I arrived at Wishtoyo. The welcoming was Mati and Luhui singing a welcoming song. I felt like I was at home when I first got there. The chumash village had such good energy. On the first day after we arrived we had gone done to the beach to soak our feet. Then we were served this amazing dinner by nana. The food was delicious because nana had put so much love in it. Then came the second day. We started by having breakfast and then going down to the beach to go boogy boarding. We were also able to go surfing. Even though it was hard the first couple of times i was able to pick it up pretty fast. Then we came back to the village for lunch and then we participated in activities like making necklaces and learning sacred geometry. Towards the end of the night we began to prepare for a sweat. then came the time for the sweat. I was prepared for it but I still knew it would be tough. I was able to last for 2 out of 3 rounds. In all together Wishtoyo was awesome and great

 

 

Agnes Day 1

Hello! My name is Agnes, I am 13 years young. I am Chumash and Pueblo on my mother’s side. I am Sicilian on my father’s side. I live in Atascadero, but some of my ancestors are from Malibu (Wishtoyo) and there are other places as well. That is just the one place I know we are for sure from. I don’t know pretty much anything about my Pueblo side. I also know very little about my Sicilian side. The one thing I do know is we were knights in Italy and that’s about it. I’m a very open minded person and I love to speak up to a lot of things I believe are wrong. It can get me in trouble at times but I do it anyway. I’m a very friendly person when you get to know me but on the outside I’m pretty shy. This is my first year attending the Pitzer College program. I’ve been involved with Wishtoyo and their programs for a while now. Today being my first day, I was nervous but knowing some people didn’t make it so hard. I did talk to new people that I’ve never meet and I am shy so it was kinda hard. Talking to each other in theatre made it not as nerve raking. All in all today being my first day was pretty good!

Tina: Día Uno

Hakû, Cristina kaki! I am Chumash, O’odham, Hispanic and African American. I am a junior at Long Beach Polytechnic High School in Long beach, California where I was born and raised. I am 16 years young. My hobbies are acting, listening to music and just straight-up chilling. This is my first year attending the Pitzer College. My dream job is to be a theatre arts teacher or something theatre oriented. So, today was my first day joining the program and the moment I stepped out of the car, I was greeted by Nick, Agnes and Dani. I am so excited to see what these two weeks have in store. Stay tuned!!!

Helleeerrrr

This is Sarah 🙂 I am Chumash, Smuwich, from Santa Barbara. I’m a fourth year theatre major at CSULB, just FYI 🙂
It’s been a beautiful first couple of days, guys, and I am so looking forward to all the adventures we’re going to experience together. Hope you all are excited as well! If not, GET excited cuz we’ve got so much in store 😀

Love to you all<3