Listening, Once Again, to Our Great Mother - by William Jones (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

An inspiring personal transformation through re-acquaintance with our Great Mother and a rediscovery of our original Indigenous selves.

"I was lost before I was born" the starting point of Pacheedaht Elder Bill Jones' journey through a lifetime of decolonization.

"You were all Indigenous once" the starting point for ending a world based on exploitation and greed.

The book continues the momentum begun at the Fairy Creek Blockades at Port Renfrew, BC in 2020 where both settlers and First Nations experienced a re-indigenization and became reacquainted with our Great Mother during the fight to save some of the last remaining old growth forest. As Elder Bill sat in a tent during a West Coast storm at the height of the protests, he experienced the final phase of his personal decolonization, his absolute re-indigenization when he realized: "I know what happened!", a revelation that has informed his life ever since.

Combining the story of Elder Bill's personal life and ancestors, elder wisdom, settler feminism, and the inspirational story of the Fairy Creek Blockades -- the largest act of civil disobedience in Canada -- Listening, Once Again, to Our Great Mother is wisdom weaving to motivate those towards their own self-awakening, even after Elder Bill is gone.

About the Author

Elder William (Bill) Jones's life spans the spiritual and emotional devastation of the cultural genocide of Indigenous peoples in Canada. From a childhood and early adulthood on the Pacheedaht First Nation reservation navigating the fall out of trauma from the residential school system, to the racism he experienced working in the colonized world, he became a ʔuustaqyu through his own spiritual awakening and is a holder of First Nations traditions and ritual. He lives in Sooke, BC.
Karen Moe is a writer, artist, and feminist activist. She has been published internationally in English and Spanish and has exhibited and performed across Canada, U.S., and Mexico. Her debut book, Victim: A Feminist Manifesto from a Fierce Survivor, is being translated into Spanish and adapted for film. She lives in Lantzville, BC.