Report - CASA Mexico

By Coyote Alberto Ruz, Ecoaldea Huehuecoyotl, Mexico House

From November 21-28, 2015 took place the 14th Vision Council, “Call of the Salvia,” in Teopantli Kalpulli intentional community in the municipality of San Isidro Mazatepec, in the state of Jalisco, Mexico.

The movement started in the early 1990s, with the Vision Council of Guardians of the Earth and it has bloomed to germinate many projects in communities, ecovillages, permaculture centers, networks and environmental groups, festivals, calls and meetings. As part of this process, for the period of one week, participants experience life in an eco-village, resulting in thousands of people having received transformative introductions to a way of life socially and ecologically sustainable and in harmony with nature: the ecovillage way.

National, bioregional, and international councils have been held in a dozen territories of Mexico, thanks to the Rainbow Caravan for Peace, the experiential and comprehensive model has been successfully exported to various countries in Latin America and Europe, especially Spain and Italy. CASA Latina can trace its origins and its current calls in this movement.

Interestingly, in this event, the 14th “Call of the Salvia,” of the approximately 500 people who participated in this Council, most were between 5 and 30 years old.

In addition to the nine Councils that operated all week with activities of general meetings, workshops, conferences, ceremonies, group dynamics, celebrations and tasks of collective work, as every year, this time also led the Council to the neighboring village of San Isidro Mazatepec, where it worked for a day with hundreds of school children, groups of women, and with the municipality and local environmental organizations to stop projects that were deemed unsustainable and harmful to nature. The day concluded with a closing speech and a great artistic party in the town square.

The “Call of Salvia” also served to bring together and coordinate various groups of environmentalists, healers, artists, keepers of traditions, local social movements, and bioregional gatherings, thus strengthening the social fabric of the area. Thanks to this experience, we could understand better our complementary yet different experiences and our own areas of influence.

During the Call, we also hosted the annual meeting of CASA Mexico. And thanks to CASA Colombia, we managed to incorporate Sociocracy as part of our organizational and operations, giving new life to our network. Next time you are invited to come together with us, joining in the diversity of our movement.