David Courchene Jr.
From May 24 through 27, 2012, Valerie
Taliman and I attended the Gathering of Wisdom Keepers,
organized by Anishnaabe spiritual leader Dave Courchene and the
Turtle Lodge, which is located in Sagkeeng First Nation
territory, in Manitoba, Canada. The gathering took place at the
Sports Arena in Sagkeeng, and opened daily with a prayerful
sunrise ceremony.
At one point in the gathering, Mr. Courchene spoke of the
importance of “that spirit that comes from the heart.” He spoke
of how the teachings and the sunrise ceremony remind us of
“sacredness of the elements of life.
“It is absolutely important,” he said, “if we are going to
find life, in the fullness of which it was given to us by the
Great Spirit, that we need to experience the ceremonies…
“We consider ourselves as a ceremonial people, a people of
ceremony, because ceremony helps us to connect with the Spirit
itself, and it helps to invoke the Spirit within our presence.”
He continued: “Spirit always fills the emptiness that we may
feel in our life. That’s what spirit does. It creates and brings
a spirit of comfort to all of us.”
Mr. Courchene further said: “We are reminded in ceremony of
the stories that are told that are passed on to us orally….
There was a time when our people had also forgotten this way of
life. And there were instructions that our great Creator had
given to us. The Spirit that had put us on the land [gave us
those teachings] to help us, to remind us, to teach us, how
important it is to walk the road that was given to us.”
Out of that Anishnaabe love for the land, for the ceremonies,
and for the spirit—and from the profound messages delivered
during the Gathering of Wisdom Keepers—A Declaration of Spirit
emerged from the Turtle Lodge. It is presented below, with its
call for a sacred offering of water to Mother Earth, an offering
made with love and gratitude to her. Although the call for the
water offering to Mother Earth is suggested for today, June 21,
2012, such a prayerful offering can be made on any day, and,
indeed, every day. Enjoy.
A DECLARATION OF SPIRIT
Gathering of Indigenous Wisdom
Keepers: Sending A Message to the World
Out of the lodges of our Peoples we are being told we have
entered a time of great change and opportunity. The cougar,
moose and eagles recently came into the community in the
Sagkeeng Territory where the Gathering was to take place, and
asked us to speak on their behalf about what is happening to the
land. Supported by the Grandfather Drum, the Gathering of
Indigenous Wisdom Keepers sends this urgent and prayerful
message to the world.
We are the original free and independent Peoples of Turtle
Island, extending back to the beginning of time in Spirit. In
keeping with our Original Instructions given to us by the
Creator we have a sacred responsibility to our ancestors and our
future generations. We also have a ceremonial responsibility to
the waters and to our traditional lands and territories, for the
sake of Mother Earth and all living things.
Everything has a Spirit. Spirit is the life force of every
human being and lasts forever. When we rise in the morning we
acknowledge the sun as a way of honoring and celebrating the
Spirit of Life itself. Our spirituality is our life. Our
traditions contain the knowledge and wisdom accumulated by our
ancestors and contained in our languages. It is one of our
teachings that the beauty of nature is the face of the Creator,
and results in our deep and abiding love for the land and water.
Water is Life. As humans, we are born through the water of
our mother, and the women are responsible for the waters of
Mother Earth. An acknowledgment of the sacred feminine is
critical to the transformation needed at this time. It is one
means of ending the epidemic of violence by men against women,
and the neglect and abuse of children, which is destructive to
our families, communities, and nations, and detrimental to our
future generations.
These symptoms are the result of a human spiritual
disconnection from the land and from the healing comfort and
beauty of Mother Earth. Now is the time to come to the
understanding that we cannot respect the future without
respecting what makes the future, and what makes the future
possible, specifically, our women and children.
Our healing wisdom and traditions continue to live on,
carried and taught by our Elders, who are precious to us.
Without the kindness and compassion of our Elders we would not
be able to carry on our Spiritual Way of Life and our
ceremonies, through which body, mind, spirit, and heart are more
fully connected.
Through our songs and ceremonies, sacred fires, our prayers
and prayer bundles, and the Original Instructions of our Sacred
Laws, we are continually reminded that all Life is
interconnected, and that all the colors of the human family and
all forms of life are relatives.
As a result of the suppression of the cultures of our
ancestors, the modern world has been prevented from
understanding the wisdom to be gained from our ceremonial-based
cultures and our Earth-centered traditions.
Our children need to be returned to the center of our
families, communities and nations. By mentoring our children,
supporting rites of passage for young men and women, we affirm
our sacred balance, health and well being. Because of the
thousands of years of experience with Spirit, the First Nations
and Peoples of Turtle Island have unique gifts to share with the
world for healing what has been wounding the human spirit.
The answer that every human being is looking for is within
the Spirit in each and every one of us. We have always
acknowledged that Spirit is a very significant element of our
life. Spirit defines who we are. We are all bound by spiritual
and natural laws.
How can we collectively connect with Spirit? Acknowledge
Spirit and show our gratitude. Join us on June 21, 2012
to fulfill our responsibility to honor all Spirit and Life. We
invite people throughout the world to join us on that day by
making an offering of water to Mother Earth with thoughts of
love and thankfulness. This sacred act will invoke the
Spirit to guide us to a good life, and will let Mother Earth
know we have not abandoned her.