By Sutton King
The Eagle and the Condor, an Indigenous prophecy that dates back to the 1490s, described the Americas splitting into two paths. The Eagle people, who were the Western cultures that colonized the north, and the Condor people, who were the Indigenous cultures that populated the south.

The path of the Condor has been described as the path of the heart, of intuition, and of the feminine. It is the root of Indigenous knowledge and teaches the ways of being and knowing. The path of the Eagle has been described as the path of the mind, of the industrial, and of the masculine. It is the root of Western culture and teaches the ways of colonization.

It was prophesied that after 500 years these paths would gain the potential to come together to create harmony and unlock a new level of consciousness for humanity.

Achieving a new consciousness for humanity requires the act of decolonization and indigenizing. As Western culture begins to recognize the validity of Indigenous worldviews — and begins to center our traditional ways of healing through plant medicines — we begin the act of indigenizing.

The psychedelics renaissance has arrived 500 years after the prophecy of the Eagle and the Condor. With it comes the potential for humanity to find harmony. As these medicines make their way into the mainstream, we must recognize how imperative it is that we center decolonization. Our ability to create a new paradigm, to unlock new levels of consciousness, is directly proportional to our ability to decolonize.

What does decolonization mean? It means we must dismantle the systems and structures that perpetuate the Western-influenced status quo and address the unbalanced power dynamics between different cultures. It means we must all work to achieve new and lasting healing by upholding Indigenous principles and sovereignty — and to repair the harm that has taken place.

Only then will the prophecy of the Eagle and the Condor be realized. Only then can we reimagine a new mental health paradigm for our greater human collective.

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Sutton King is an Afro-Indigenous woman from the Menominee and Oneida nations of Wisconsin. She is the Program Manager of the Indigenous Medicine Conservation Fund, as well as the Impact Advisor at Journey Colab and the first official Trustee for its philanthropic fund, the Journey Reciprocity Trust. She is also the co-founder, president and co-director of the Urban Indigenous Collective.