Sovereign

Star

Wayfinders

A 10-week group cohort experience that is part course/part coaching/part membership for navigating your way back to Sovereignty through processes of holistic decolonization and rematriation. A collaborative cohort container that allows you to explore, journey, and cultivate in ancestral rooting, place-based awareness, radical empathy/accountability, and experimental play for a vision of an abundant planetary future.

Chart Your Course

I think for so many of us, there is a deep knowing in our bones that the systems around us at this collective moment in human history are untenable, unsustainable, and deeply flawed. But what do we do? So many of us have this awareness in the background of our minds but you might ask what are the choices, directions, and steps I can take to make effective change so that we are not just on a runaway train to extinction? Or maybe you do what I like to do on the regular, which is to curl up into a fetal position, with some chips/ice cream/insert some kind of numbing mechanism here, and zone out on Netflix because all of that is just too damn overwhelming. 

And what if I told you that it’s less about the answer and more about the question?

And what if I told you that the way towards finding the “right” kinds of questions lies within you?

I invite you to close your eyes and in your mind's eye let the night horizon open out in front of you. Looking up, as your eyes adjust, you start to see a sprinkling of stars. Look below and see that you are in a canoe sailing in oceanic waters. 

Imagine as the stars come into sharper focus above you that they are suddenly beginning to constellate. Imagine that those constellations in their unique patterns are your ancestral lineages and are a map to help guide you in unchartered waters. The canoe that you are sailing in are your lands: your body, your ancestral homes, and the lands that you reside on.

In your hand you hold a compass. At the center of the compass reads: SOVEREIGNTY. You realize that with your ancestors as guides, your canoe to hold you, your compass to navigate, you can find your way towards your Sovereign Star. Your Sovereign Star is what will lead you to finding your way back home. Ultimately though, you are the Navigator, and you decide whether or not you are willing to chart the course, to be a Wayfinder for future generations. 

Sovereign S.T.A.R.

Compass

The compass is my gift to you to orient you in your journey and though I have developed it, you are meant to take it and evolve it. We will journey together for a brief time with me as your guide, but you as Navigator will be charting your course through this life with your work and legacy continuing on into future generations.  You have the capacity within you to find your way. 

But first.

WTF is holistic

decolonization and

rematriation? 

I’m glad you asked. It is the multi-dimensional and non-linear processes of unlearning and reclaiming. Of bringing back to center the self-determination and sovereignty of indigenous peoples, their cultural heritages, and their profound wisdom through self, family, community, and collective. I center first the legacies of those who have come before in the genealogy of decolonization work including Frantz Fanon, Haunani Kay-Trask, the American Indian Movement, and the countless other freedom fighters around the globe that have struggled to liberate themselves from the forces of colonization.

I also look to the grandmothers who have inspired me in their extensive work in rematriation to restore body, land, language, and culture such as Corrina Gould, LaDonna Brave Bull Allard, Edith Kenoa Kanakaʻole, and so so many more. At its core, it is about political restoration of indigenous rights to land stewardship and self-governance. It is also about the internal work of undoing cultural programming, healing of historical and colonial trauma, and re-building collaborative communities centering place-based indigenous technologies and ingenuity. 

It's a holistic process where all parts are meant to be explored and integrated and there is no specific starting or end point. You may enter the lifelong journey of rematriation and decolonization through being a part of some political direct action or because you see how the systems in your mind have been architected by colonization or you want to heal toxic generational patterns caused by colonial trauma. I do not place hierarchy on any part of the process and depending on the many circumstances and season of your life you may choose to focus on certain areas more than others. However, the work we do together allows you to see the bigger picture. How every part, every circle in the process of holistic decolonization and rematriation is both needed and interdependent.

Holistic decolonization and rematriation is a psycho-emotional-somatic-spiritual-political process that requires both internal work and external action in personal, familial, community, and collective levels. It’s about aligning your worldview so that you can remain SOVEREIGN in your beliefs, thoughts, decisions, and choices. I know that sounds like a lot, and it is, but I fully believe you are capable of wholeness and integration, and we do this one step at a time that weaves together as part of a larger intergenerational continuum of healing.

You don’t and shouldn't (maybe even truly can’t) have to do this alone.

Find Your

Sovereign Star

Finding your Sovereign Star is a collaborative 10 week cohort container that is part course/part coaching/part community.  As far as the “course” goes, I have learned from past offerings that less is more and in the spirit of decolonizing instructional design there will be very little dense readings (This is a different beast than RECLAIMING!). I de-center myself as an expert and look to you Navigator to make the appropriate intuitive and self-knowing decisions to chart your course. However, you will still receive support through exercises/prompts, coaching calls, community forum, and more. Think of me as your “Chief Mate” who is facilitating some of the operations and mechanics while on the canoe together but YOU still fully chart the course.

The Beginning of the Journey

On-boarding - Pre-work - Aligning Your Compass (Self assessment)

Week 1: Opening ceremony and intention-setting

Week 2 : RECLAIM ROOTS - Right Relationship with Ancestors 

We will dive into looking at your ancestry from multiple perspectives: genealogically, historically, and geographically. We identify what you do and do not know and what the multiple intersections of your ancestry mean- both for you and collectively. I will guide you to center the ancestors that you most want to connect with and elevate, including ways to continue the journey after the program to reclaim those cultures, practices, and worldviews. 

We also look at ancestries that may have histories and cultures of harm in ways that are both accountable and ultimately empowering. We also look at ancestry that may have included histories of being harmed and we will do work to integrate and release. We will continue this integration work in REGENERATE RESILIENCE. You can choose to either create a Love Letter to Your Ancestors through a guided prompt or build out a Family Tree. 

Week 3: Integration and Group Coaching Call

Co-creation: Love Letter to Your Ancestors OR Family Tree

Week 4: REALIZE LIBERATION - Right Relationship with Land

We will look at the relationships you have with the lands that you have lived on, the lands you currently live on, and the lands you may potentially live on (or even visit). This includes the histories and cultures of the long time indigenous stewards of those lands including and especially if your ancestors were/are the stewards of the lands you have lived/live on. 

We examine and commit to unlearning colonial patterns of relating to land and re-learning reciprocal ways of honoring land. We also commit to becoming allies and when necessary an accomplice to the indigenous peoples of the lands we reside on. Our co-creation for this pillar is the Land Liberation Commitment. This is a step beyond the land acknowledgement where we not only recognize the longstanding indigenous stewards, but commit to leveraging our privileges and resources towards collective liberation.

Week 5: Integration and Group Coaching Call

Co-creation: Land Liberation Commitment

Week 6: REGENERATE RESILIENCE- Right Relationship with Self 

This pillar builds on the work we have done in RECLAIM ROOTS where we began weaving together your ancestral threads. We look to your specific elevated ancestries that you have chosen to find guidance in how they have viewed and approached healing.

I also provide guidance and facilitation that incorporates somatic and re-writing narrative practices to begin to address the longer term intergenerational, historical, and colonial trauma.  In the end, we integrate these practices to create Rituals of Resilience that are specifically tailored for you honoring your heritages. You are encouraged to continue this co-creation after the program is completed.

Week 7: Integration and Group Coaching Call

Co-creation: Rituals for Resilience

Week 8: RENEW VISION - Right Relationship with Future Generations

Everything comes together in this final pillar of RENEW VISION. The final weaving is the clarity that comes through our cumulative work in how you want to show up as a future ancestor that supports future generations and the legacies that you want to leave behind.

We outline concrete ways that this shows up in practice for yourself, your family, and your community or organization. This will be summarized through the Future Ancestor’s Manifesto, our final co-creation. Through renewed vision comes renewed hope where we can see the possibility for cascading collective transformation instead of disaster, climate crisis, and oppression. 

Week 9: Integration and Group Coaching Call

Co-creation: Future Ancestor’s Manifesto

Week 10: Closing Ceremony and Declarations for the Future 
Post-boarding - Feedback questionnaire and Guidelines for Integration

By the end of your journey you will have the confidence, connection, and clarity to continue developing as a Wayfinder creating cultures and systems of care rooted in reciprocity, abundance, and joy.

Sovereign

Storytelling

I am excited that for this founding cohort I have decided to make some time traveler tweaks to this offering and bring forward something that I had meant to happen in 2024.  For every quarterly season & cohort I will be centering a different indigenous futurist author to help catalyze the process of visionary thinking and radical possibility. Think of it as imagination lube to help us get into a playspace for decolonial worldbuilding. 

“all organizing is science fiction.

we are bending the future, together, into something we have never experienced. a world where everyone experiences abundance, access, pleasure, human rights, dignity, freedom, transformative justice, peace. we long for this, we believe it is possible.”

- adrienne maree brown

The first book and author I am selecting is The Marrow Thieves by First Nations Metís author Cherie Dimaline.

“Humanity has nearly destroyed its world through global warming, but now an even greater evil lurks. The indigenous people of North America are being hunted and harvested for their bone marrow, which carries the key to recovering something the rest of the population has lost: the ability to dream. In this dark world, Frenchie and his companions struggle to survive as they make their way up north to the old lands. For now, survival means staying hidden - but what they don't know is that one of them holds the secret to defeating the marrow thieves.”

We will read throughout the 10 weeks with weekly discussion/prompts in the online community forum. There will also be a BONUS group Sovereign Storytelling call at the end of the cohort. 

Come join me in this indigenous futurist playspace as we dreamweave and worldbuild together new realities. 

The Exchange

There are two main options to choose from: 

Cohort Only: 10 weeks 

• Find Your Sovereign Star Course

• Sovereign Star Wayfinders Online community space (through the course portal) 

• 6 group coaching calls

BONUS: Sovereign Storytelling Group Call

Founder’s Price: $1300 USD

Cohort + Extended Membership: 12 months 

• Everything in the Cohort only experience PLUS:

• 3 Quarterly Sovereign Star Roundtable Calls (to-reconnect with your Wayfinders and update/discuss how your Sovereign Star journey is evolving)

• 3 Quarterly Sovereign Storytelling Group Calls (with different quarterly indigenous futurist authors/books)

• Continued access to the online community forum to connect with future Wayfinder cohorts and Sovereign Storytelling book discussions

• Early and FREE access to my upcoming quarterly WorldWeaving Workshop series during your membership year - Topic specific workshops at the intersections of DreamWeaving and WorldBuilding where we get into both the visioning and nitty gritty of implementing into the real world decolonial futures. 

Founder’s Price: $2000 USD

3/6/12 Month Payment plan options are available 

*Pay in Full* and you will receive a BONUS 75 minute 1:1 coaching session

Enrollment closes Jun 11th

Up to 13 Wayfinders set sail June 12th

If you are interested in becoming a Wayfinder fill out the application at the link below!

“This work is so sacred; Stella is an amazing facilitator, combining an intuitive spiritual wisdom with incredible vision and gentle, yet firm support…As I am deep into my own decolonizing practice, I felt it was an experience that helped me to give language and take space to reflect on the work and move into deeper integrity. The reading materials are very current and draw from a diverse range of sources that demonstrate the multiplicity of perspectives on decolonizing work. I also believe that the reclaiming intensive provided a portal through which I could answer the call to heal ancestral trauma.”

Melissa Rosario - Founder of CEPA (Center for Embodied Pedagogy and Action) @ decolonizepr.com

A little bit

about my

Wayfinding

journey…

The compass is an offering from me to you that is a summary of my life’s experiences. It is the distillation of almost two decades of journeying towards wholeness through the processes of decolonization and rematriation. It has been particularly shaped by my work in the indigenous sovereignty movements of Hawaiʻi, the lands of the Kanaka Maoli in which I reside, and Borikén, the home of my indigenous Caribbean Taino ancestors of my paternal lineage. It has also been the framework I utilized to re-connect and go deeper with the Korean ancestors of maternal heritage and the African ancestors of my paternal side. It’s a journey that will take me my whole lifetime and beyond. This is intergenerational work.  

The symbol of the Navigator, the Wayfinder, and the canoe is a potent symbol for me because it represents two major cultural forces in my life: the island cultures of Pasifika (particularly Hawaiʻi) and the Caribbean (particularly Borikén). 

The word canoe comes from canoa which is an indigenous Caribbean Taíno word. In ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi it is waʻa. Both were/are central cultural components reflecting indigenous ingenuity and right relationship. In both cultures this advanced indigenous technology was undermined (read: white anthropologists and the now bunk “Kon-Tiki Raft theory”) and attempted to be erased by colonial forces. Canoa/Waʻa signifies to me the resilience of indigenous ingenuity, the continuity of ancestral knowledge, and what I also hope, a bridging and weaving together of indigenous solidarity around the world. 

Interested?

If you have additional questions or would like to chat to learn more you can either e-mail me at stella@sovereignstar.co or book a call with me here.