Honoring Indigenous Wisdom and Cultural Respect: Renaming Rainbow Heyoka Truffle

Art by Thomas Blackshear

After being pulled to do so for years, I finally changed the name of the Rainbow Heyoka Nightshade Truffle to the Double Rainbow Nightshade Truffle. Appropriation is something I believe all white people should be taking seriously. Coming from my background of living on a reservation and in other Native American communities and having that be the biggest influence on what my life became I still feel I must walk a tightrope between these two worlds and what needs to remain back on the rez and deep inside of me, and what parts can be shared. One of the most influential people in my entire life was from that time period & carried strong Heyoka Medicine. Because it became so much a part of me I had decided that it was okay to put it in the name of that particular truffle which was also so personal to me, but I never was completely comfortable with that mainly because it is part of my personal story and these truffles are out there for everyone. To me that difference makes all of the difference. I am grateful for my time on the rez, and those communities where I was held close and treated like family and in my greatest respect and reverence to those people and all that they shared with me, part of how I can pay it back is to not only speak of the importance of recognizing these cultural boundaries (appropriation) but to show them in my actions as well. After all, the whole point of creating these truffles came from wanting to help non-Native Americans make similar connections with our own plants in a way that was respectful to all.