Prologue
Queen Calafia by Susan Shelton
California is named after the Black warrior queen, Calafia, famed for riding atop a griffin and ruler of a powerful civilization of women. The first known written account of the legend of Calafia arises in the 16th century. Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo presents it in his novel, Las Sergas de Esplandián. It is told through the lens of European colonization, patriarchy, and racist fetishization. It is a story that longs to unfold through a process of decolonial Love and Black majesty.
Cala F’ Iya: Queen of Cala F’orn Iya.
Like many before me, I am an Oracular Artist. I intuit the deep stories of the Spirits of the Land, the Ancestors, the deities and the archetypes, like Cala F’ Iya. I am an author and storyteller who asked the Spirits of the Land to share their story. I have authored their responses through my lens as a Black person, a Queer cis-gender man, an academic, a healer-teacher and a spirit-worker.
So, Cala F’ Iya unfolds as a realm and a story born in paradox. This is Cala F’ Iya’s story as she has shared it with me. This is a story shaped by my life’s experiences. This is our story as you and I co-create it in the ethers of the collective consciousness. This is an old story newly envisioned. It is a story set in an alternate past and woven with teachings for today. Yet, most of all, it is a story about Love that is so binding it breaks the chains of bondage.
We begin this epic adventure as many great journeys being; with Initiation.
~Coyote
Cala F’ Iya: Queen of Cala F’orn Iya.
Like many before me, I am an Oracular Artist. I intuit the deep stories of the Spirits of the Land, the Ancestors, the deities and the archetypes, like Cala F’ Iya. I am an author and storyteller who asked the Spirits of the Land to share their story. I have authored their responses through my lens as a Black person, a Queer cis-gender man, an academic, a healer-teacher and a spirit-worker.
So, Cala F’ Iya unfolds as a realm and a story born in paradox. This is Cala F’ Iya’s story as she has shared it with me. This is a story shaped by my life’s experiences. This is our story as you and I co-create it in the ethers of the collective consciousness. This is an old story newly envisioned. It is a story set in an alternate past and woven with teachings for today. Yet, most of all, it is a story about Love that is so binding it breaks the chains of bondage.
We begin this epic adventure as many great journeys being; with Initiation.
~Coyote