Māori Warrior Queen: Rangitunoa

"If we want the humanoid strand to continue living on Earth, we have to get real. The women have to stand up and say: Enough." Listen to this episode with guest Rangitunoa Black. She is bold enough to call herself a "Warrior Queen and Seer", amongst other things. She is a published lesbian poet and composer and writes and composes primarily in Te Reo Māori (Māori language). Rangitunoa is indigineous to Aotearoa (New Zealand) and from the tribes Ngāi Tūhoe and Ngāti Tūwharetoa. Her name means "The internal chimes of freedom", and that is what she stands for. In this episode, she speaks of the necessity for women to stand up and reclaim their sovereignty, of spirituality and ancestry, of Patriarchy and colonisation, of women's connection to the land, and more. "Women are connected to the land because they are incubators of the people." "We have to decide how to draw up the blueprint of the future." Rangitunoa uses a few Te Reo Māori terms that you may be curious about: 1) Whānau means "family", and goes beyond blood family. It includes friends. 2) Treaty of Waitangi: New Zealand’s founding document of 1840. An agreement signed by some Māori chiefs and the British Crown. It is to date disputed whether Māori tribes gave up their sovereignty under this Agreement. 3) Aotearoa means New Zealand. 4) Te Urewera is a region on the North Island of New Zealand, to the East of Lake Taupo. It is the historical home of Tūhoe, a Māori iwi (tribe) known for its stance on Māori sovereignty. 5) Te Wakaminenga Flag: In 1834, British official James Busby called the Chiefs of the Northern districts together to decide upon a flag. There were three options and the one they agreed upon became known as Te Haki Tuatahi, meaning the first flag. One year later, in 1835, Busby gathered the chiefs together and they signed He Whakaputanga, The Declaration of Independence. Today many Maori hold firm to the 1835 He Whakaputanga and maintain that Te Haki Tuatahi is the first and legal flag of the sovereign independent nation of Aotearoa. Te Haki Tuatahi is also referred to as Te Kara o Te Whakaminenga o Nga Hapu o Nu Tireni – The Flag of the United Tribes of New Zealand.