We are coming together in our coast redwood and live oak habitats and along our beautiful shores, on lands where Awaswas was spoken, co-creating a world of agaya and ubuntu for all life on Earth.


Protect Juristac

Now is the time for action in solidarity with the Amah Mutsun!

The Amah Mutsun Tribal Band’s most sacred site, Juristac, located in the Southern Santa Cruz Mountains near Gilroy, is threatened by a proposal for an open pit sand and gravel mine. Novasutras sent this letter of support to urge for the protection of Juristac.

The mine can only be approved through a permit-request process that involves environmental review by the County of Santa Clara. Public comments on the draft environmental impact report (DEIR) that were sent between August and November 2022 will play a crucial role in swaying the Santa Clara County’s Planning Department’s vote to deny the permit.

Over 1200 letters were sent using through our letter campaign! A total of over 5,000 comment letters were submitted challenging Juristac mining plans.
Thank you to everyone who took the time to speak out about this issue.

This struggle is not over. Protect Juristac recommends signing their ongoing petition, donating, and continuing to organize.

Learn More & Educate your Communities

Here is a press-release that you can share with anyone you know who works in journalism and media.

Novasutras Stand with the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band in defending their sacred land.  Chairman Valentin Lopez and friends hold banner declaring "Protect Juristac! No Gravel Mining on Sacred Land"

Novasutras Santa Cruz is supporting our local indigenous community, the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band. They have been especially impacted by the pandemic.  Learn more & contribute today.


Land Acknowledgement in the Santa Cruz Area

In the recent blog post about land acknowledgements, we included examples and links to detailed information about the local indigenous peoples. It can be instructive and healing to include some acknowledgement of the land and the people who lived there as part of our gatherings. We can learn important things about appropriate ways to act with integrity in our local ecosystems from the indigenous peoples of the land.

For Santa Cruz county from Aptos north, that was the Awaswas-speaking people. South of that was the Mutsun people. Both cultural groups are now represented by the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band.

…the local Novasutras chapter in Santa Cruz, California attempts to always include an acknowledgement of their gathering on lands of Awaswas-speaking peoples. Sometimes, for small gatherings and in personal practice, “May all beings on the lands where Awaswas was spoken abide in agaya and ubuntu,” is simply included as part of our opening of sacred space in Connecting the Corners, between the wishes for those in the local watershed and those in the larger coast redwood and coast live oak bioregions. In longer introductions to events, we make mention of the history of enslavement in the California Mission period, the genocidal efforts of Gold Rush settlers, and the loss of much traditional knowledge and language as a consequence. We express gratitude for the current efforts of the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band to restore some of their culture and preserve sacred sites. The Amah Mutsun are the descendants of the Awaswas and Mutsun-speaking peoples who were taken by the Missions at Santa Cruz and San Juan Bautista (part of the Ohlone language and cultural group, of the amazingly diverse indigenous peoples of California).


Help Novasutras Grow in the Santa Cruz Area

In addition to following and sharing our posts on Facebook or Twitter, you can help spread the word locally by printing and sharing these brochures (PDF) today.

Ready to make and distribute lots of copies? Of course, abiding in agaya means we should only print as many as we are confident we can distribute to people who would be interested in Novasutras.

If you aren’t able to print and distribute very many, perhaps you can support Novasutras on Patreon to help get more brochures out there and help the movement grow in other ways.


Survey: What, When & Where for future gatherings

Ubuntu suggests collaborative co-creation will give us the best possible Novasutras Santa Cruz gatherings. What are you interested in? When are you available? Where would you like to meet? Please give us your input on this short survey, to help us plan for our next get-together…


September Equinox Gathering

Our gathering at City Hall on Sunday, Sept. 22nd

We held an in-person gathering with meditation and reflection to welcome in the Equinox from 12:30 to 1:30 on Sunday, September 22, 2019 (about 12 hours ahead of the actual time the sun crossed the equator).

Novasutras hosts meditations on the Equinoxes, Solstices and Cross-Quarters (8 times per year). These Octal Meditations revitalize our connection with and reverence for Nature and promote global unity. See Events page for info about the next Octal Meditation.


Archives: Intro to Drawdown Nov 5th ~ Pachamama Symposium 10/12/19 ~ September Equinox Gathering Recap ~ Climate Strike 9/20-9/27 ~ Launch Party 8/12 Recap

Sign up for the Santa Cruz chapter newsletter, so you won’t miss any updates or announcements for local events.

4 Comments

  1. I love seeing that Novasutras has a Santa Cruz chapter and that you’re getting together for an in-person celebration of life, ecology, and community! I’ll be out of town then (as I live in NYC) but I can’t wait to make it out for some future Novasutras celebration when I am in town. 🙂

      1. Opening a chapter might be just the thing for me. I’ll reach out about the opportunity. Thank you!

  2. I love your vision around all of us creating a new guiding narrative for creating a world that works for all. I hope this local event will help seed a nucleus of a growing community of beings who lead from interconnected mind (ubuntu) versus the human-centered mind!

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