Coverage of tribal natural resources is supported in part by Catena Foundation<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not everyday you get to see an eagle \u2014 let alone two \u2014 alive and up close. But it\u2019s something Liberty Wildlife visitors recently did while blessing these animals during the nonprofit\u2019s third-annual Native American wildlife celebration.<\/p>\n
Robert Mesta is usually seen running all around Liberty Wildlife working as director of the repository, aiding tribal members in the Valley and nationwide in getting access to feathers \u2014 excluding those from federally protected eagles and condors. <\/p>\n
Wildlife conservation efforts, in part, criminalized Indigenous customs, but also led to a thriving global black market for wildlife parts. To counteract that illicit industry, a Phoenix nonprofit has been providing an alternative, legal source of feathers for tribal members in Arizona and nationwide.<\/p>\n
But on one Sunday morning in November, the Pascua Yaqui honors bald and golden eagles, Cisco and Anasazi, with a song, stressing \u201cand they\u2019re revered for their strength, their intelligence and even their healing and protective powers.\u201d<\/p>\n
Things the Phoenix nonprofit is helping guests tap into. <\/p>\n
\u201cPinch some sacred tobacco,\u201d instructed Mesta, \u201ctake it to the eagle and say their prayer, and oftentimes, the eagles will flap their wings \u2014 to feel the wind of the eagle is like the ultimate experience.\u201d<\/p>\n
Both tribal and non-tribal people alike participated by gifting that tobacco to the bird handlers, who then rubbed it onto each eagle as an offering. The line kept growing as dozens came to pay respect; it lasted for an hour. <\/p>\n
\n 1 of 6
\n \u00a0\u2014\u00a0salt-river-child-smudging-gp-20251116.jpg\n <\/p>\n
A child from the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community gets smudged by Pascua Yaqui Augie Molina.<\/p>\n
Gabriel Pietrorazio\/KJZZ<\/p>\n
\n 2 of 6
\n \u00a0\u2014\u00a0robert-mesta-tobacco-shell-gp-20251116.jpg\n <\/p>\n
Liberty Wildlife\u2019s Robert Mesta holds a shell packed with tobacco as part of the eagle blessing.<\/p>\n
Gabriel Pietrorazio\/KJZZ<\/p>\n
\n 3 of 6
\n \u00a0\u2014\u00a0eagle-blessing-line-liberty-wildlife-gp-20251116.jpg\n <\/p>\n
Dozens fill in a line to bless eagles at the nonprofit Liberty Wildlife on a Sunday morning in November.<\/p>\n
Gabriel Pietrorazio\/KJZZ<\/p>\n
\n 4 of 6
\n \u00a0\u2014\u00a0augie-molina-sage-smudging-gp-20251116.jpg\n <\/p>\n
Augustine \u201cAugie\u201d Molina, who is Pascua Yaqui, smudges a woman in a scooter with smoke from a sage bundle.<\/p>\n
Gabriel Pietrorazio\/KJZZ<\/p>\n
\n 5 of 6
\n \u00a0\u2014\u00a0eagle-smudging-blessing-gp-20251116.jpg\n <\/p>\n
The sage smudging and blessing of eagles lasted an hour at Liberty Wildlife on Nov. 16, 2025. <\/p>\n
Gabriel Pietrorazio\/KJZZ<\/p>\n
\n 6 of 6
\n \u00a0\u2014\u00a0eagles-sage-burning-gp-20251116.jpg\n <\/p>\n
Bald eagle, Cisco (left), and golden eagle, Anasazi, ready to greet guests and get blessed by them at Liberty Wildlife in Phoenix.<\/p>\n
Gabriel Pietrorazio\/KJZZ<\/p>\n
That didn\u2019t bother Augustine \u201cAugie\u201d Molina, who is Pascua Yaqui and lives near Tucson. He was tasked with spiritually preparing people before meeting the birds by burning sage bundles and tapping them with a fan made from feathers \u2014 while those being cleansed bathed in the smoke. <\/p>\n
\u201cSometimes it calls to me. This person hurts here, or this person might need extra smudging \u2014 more smoke \u2014 more fan \u2014 more of the air,\u201d Molina explained. \u201cWhen you smudge, it\u2019s gonna take as long as it\u2019s gonna take.\u201d<\/p>\n
Molina is no medicine man, but he\u2019s been trained by his uncle to provide this healing service for more than two decades now, noting \u201cyou are tapping into somebody\u2019s spirit and got to be careful with that.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd once you start getting your feathers and your wings together, it becomes inspiring \u2014 makes you want to help people,\u201d added Molina. \u201cAnd with our traditions fading away, I feel like it’s something that we need to keep. So that\u2019s why I do it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Coverage of tribal natural resources is supported in part by Catena Foundation It\u2019s not everyday you get to…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":389820,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5131],"tags":[5229,5643,1587,1589,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-389819","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-phoenix","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-arizona","10":"tag-az","11":"tag-phoenix","12":"tag-united-states","13":"tag-united-states-of-america","14":"tag-unitedstates","15":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","16":"tag-us","17":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115576162642341493","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/389819","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=389819"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/389819\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/389820"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=389819"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=389819"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=389819"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}