Over a year ago I started a prayer, calling, to be able to serve, support, hold, give back, to Native Americans. Feeling especially a deep call to be with Elders and listen to their wisdom, their teachings, their prayers.
My own ancestors were culturally absorbed and diluted in a different culture and lost most of their knowledge and healing traditions. And for years now the Lakota, the Lenape, have been calling me in my dreams and on my land. However strange it might be, I know, and have seen, that my soul have walks those lands a long time ago, have walk those ways.
Prayer is opening today as I am starting a one week "Bearing Witness" retreat with Zen Peacekeepers Bearing Witness Retreat.
This 6-day expanded program is part of a four-year program in which we explore the sites sacred to our Native American elders, especially around the Black Hills.
This year we will focus on the northern side of the Black Hills and will include a few days of direct action benefitting the community of our hosts in Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe Reservation.
Our biggest connection to this land comes through our hosts and elders. Wherever we stop they talk about the history of the Lakota in the place and their own personal connections to it.
We do ceremony, listen to teachings, and share stories, connecting with the wisdom and spiritual energy of each place.
We begin the retreat at Inyan Kara Mountain (Stone Gatherer Mountain), on the far side of the Black Hills of Wyoming, with an opening ceremony and listening to elders speak about its significance for the Lakota. We will then proceed to a sun dance circle near Sundance.
We will spend the day at Spearfish Canyon. The Canyon is a gorgeous natural attraction with its tall limestone cliffs and plunging gorges, and its waterfalls were sacred to the Lakota people. And more... .
The trip will end at Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe Reservation for direct action day.
My heart has been bursting with joy, tenderness and deep humbleness those past weeks as I am feeling and answering more and more deeply to my calling. To this work. To this path. So I am coming with my best tools: my Heart, my two ears and my two hands. ♥️
In the past 6 weeks I spent around 3 to 6 hours a day on my land.
Giving.
Caring.
Planting.
Feeling.
Watching.
Listening.
Dirting.
Drumming.
Praying.
And I feel so nurtured by Her. She is giving back so much.
Teaching me, us, that the more we give, the more we will receive.
Teaching me, us, that this life was never about us, but about the "others", our relations.
Going to bed each night with my nails holding dirt, scratched arms and legs, feels wild, feels real, feels like Home.
When in Nature, we are asked to be present. To listen. To atune ourselves to the whispering of Nature Spirits. Bird songs. River songs. Tree songs. All around me is a concerto. A symphony. A divine music that heals all.
I often forget time when I garden.
I forget the "world".
I forget my self.
And I find my Self.
My Soul.
My song.
My spirit.
My voice.
My center.
My peace.
My truth.
My prayer.
Join me.
Come to the wild side.
Remember your Nature.
Magic is waiting for you there...
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Shawinigan Ungaia at The Sanctuary
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❤️
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TheSanctuaryHeal.com
