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Negotiating Spiritually, Family, and Community - Coggle Diagram
Negotiating Spiritually, Family, and Community
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Family Conflict
Her spiritual beliefs often resulted in arguments with her family. Her mother questioned her practices, and her sister teased her about her Indigenous ceremonies. Regardless of these difficulties, she proceeded to follow her beliefs while maintaining family relationships.
"In the beginning, my mother and sister tolerated my ideas because they saw them as a fad that I was going through and would eventually grow out of. Yet to fully embody my spiritual path, I could not accept a disconnect from my family. Thus, I tried to include them, either by inviting them to ceremonies that I participated in or just by subtly including my viewpoint when there was a group or family prayer before dinner or a celebration."
Spiritual Journey
Tellez started looking spiritually apart from Catholicism. She became fascinated in Indigenous traditions, cultural ceremonies ,and ancestral teachings. This helped her form her own spiritual identity and reconnect with her ansestory.
"Of course, these traditions and ceremonias are not actually new, but connect me to the very earth we walk on, here on this continent, indeed providing me with a sense of wholeness that I never felt as a member of the Catholic Church."
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Motherhood
Becoming a Mother motivated Tellez to tell her cultural traditions with her daughter. She involved her in Indigenous ceremonies, and encouraged her to understand their ancestry and maintain their traditions.
"I know from experience that it is hard to walk a new path. By sharing these stories I am highlighting the real ways in which one's daily life, situated and contextualized within one's reality in spaces where one engages with spiritual paradigms that are much, much different from one's family or origin, can create tensions as well as a sense of confusion about oneself."
Culture, Ancestry, and Identity
Tellez wanted to reconnect with her Mexican and Indigenous ancestry. Throughout her cultural traditions and ceremonies, she created a stronger connection to her heritage and learned more about her identity.
"Despite my subsequent separation from the Catholic Church, that feeling of alienation stayed with me as I sought to connect with the traditions of my ancestors. I write this because I want to acknowledge that it is difficult to disrupt family expectations, even if your new path of choice is about reclaiming practices that are grounded in our lost histories."