As many of you may have heard by now, I walked with the copper pail with water from the Gulf of Mexico last Saturday when Sandy Stein and I caught up with the Mother Earth Water Walkers between Old Post and Reserve at LCO. Anna Merritt and I are going to Bad River Reservation tomorrow, June 10. Follow-up on this day afterwards.
Please take the time to read about the important issue of protecting water for all species and for generations to come. Water is a gift and not a resource to be plundered, contaminated, bought and sold.
Today when you take that sip water, be sure to thank the water. She has been taken for granted and disrespected for far too long. In ancient times and with many tribal cultures of today, people remember to thank the water and honor her for the gift of life she brings.
Saturday morning, June 4, I drove up to Lac Courte Oreilles (LCO) Reservation in Hayward, WI and parked at the tribal college to wait for Sandy Stein, Secretary of Happy Tonics. Our plan was to meet up with up Mother Earth Water Walkers and join them.
First I must tell you that the old ravens that guard over the college let it be known I was there. They landed in trees near me and I bid them good morning as they cawed. These ravens have been in the forest near and around the tribal college for years, perhaps even generations. I know because they or their descendents were there when I graduated from the tribal college in 2003.
Sandy arrived and we put on our skirts over pants to show a sign of respect and then we headed to Hwy. E going in the direction of Reserve. We said our intentions silently and put down some sacred tobacco as we drove. I called WOJB the tribal radio station while we were on the road and a nice young man told me that the walkers were about at the hill headed for Reserve. What hill I thought? Northwest Wisconsin is all hills since the four glaciers passed through this country long ago. Sandy understood that the walkers stayed on the reservation last night in Old Post so she turned down a road that might be where they were.
And they were. The walkers of the southern direction have been walking since April 20th, carrying the salt water of the Gulf of Mexico to Bad River, WI where it will meet with the other waters from the Atlantic, Hudson Bay and Pacific on June 12th. The southern direction included Mississippi, Tennessee, Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa and Wisconsin – The walk is ongoing until the water from the south reaches Bad River, WI
Brody helped walkers between runs. Mary Ellen waiting to walk.
Not knowing how to join them in the well orchestrated walking event, she asked a driver with the back window displaying WATER WALKERS. His name is Brody and he said, “Jump in” and I did.
Mary Ellen Ryall carrying water and Conner Beauleu carrying Eagle feather staff.
He and his wife Barb Baker-Larush have been on the road for a
long time and they were orchestrating the walk through the reservation. Sharon Day has been on the walk since April 20. It is so important that the water never stops. It has to keep moving until it reaches its destination being Bad River on June 12 where all water walkers from the Four Directions will converge; Pacific and Atlantic Ocean; Hudson Bay and the Great Lakes.
Conner Beauleu carries Eagle feather staff.
The same respect is held for the Eagle feather staff that men usually carry to protect the water and the woman carrying the water. If a man or young male is not available than the water carrier herself has to carry the staff also. The staff is sacred.
Water runner Barbara Baker-LaRush. Eagle Feather Staff runner Conner Beauleu. Isaiah Martinson, Conner's cousin slightly cut from photo copyright Mary Ellen Ryall.Sharon Day copyright Mother Earth Water Walkers.
To start my walk, Sharon Day, one of the main event organizers and grandmothers smudged me so I would be pure before I carried the copper pail with water gathered from many clean and fresh sources. Brody told me Sharon was in a hurry to get back home for a few days and had started to step up the pace so that walkers knew that it was important to help her in their own pace in order to help Sharon achieve her goal. She has been walking through many states and was near closing of her part
of the walk. I think that was probably spurring her on. I was impressed that a Grandmother could walk at a clip like this. It was almost like she was dancing the steps as she fast walked to the beat of drum music.
I had to hold on to the pail handle and walk at the same time as the walker started to pass it to me. I matched my steps with hers until she was sure I was walking on my own. I felt honored to finally be walking on this important journey. I have wanted
to be part of this walk since Grandmother Josephine Mandamin started walking with a vision of protecting and respecting water back in 2003 when she walked around Lake Superior. Brody told me the walkers stayed at his house last night June 2, in New Post. In the evening they sat around a bonfire to relax after a long day. I must say I never saw such fit Native American women as I did today. These are warrior women who have the heart beat to walk from their hearts. They are dedicated to bring this
important issue of fresh and pure drinking water forward for all species and for seven generations out. The vision is global.
Multinational companies don’t want us to know that they are buying up rights from countries to “OWN” the water. Colonization is still ongoing. Then the multinationals turn around and bottle the water and sell it back to the very poorest of the poor in
developing countries such as in Africa. It is unethical to dishonor water in this way. Water is a gift from the Creator not a commodity to be bought and sold.
While on the walk, I was happy to see Paul DeMain was there doing a live stream from News from Indian Country. We have worked together on several occasions over the past few years. His wife Karen was there too but we were concentrating on our roles
and didn’t have time to meet and greet. When I walked I felt empowered and in the silence all I could feel was my own breath and heartbeat. I remember there was drum music, sounds of singing birds, sights of cotton fluff blowing on the wind from cottonwood trees and fragrant green forests on both sides of the street. It was an honor to finally be part of this sacred walk. A young man, Conner Beauleu, held the staff and ran beside me was focused as we both were. He did two runs, one after the other, and was my silent strength. I am a 66 year old woman with mild emphysema and it felt so comforting to have a young warrior beside me. Such a noble young man true to his Ojibwe culture.
This was a once in a lifetime experience for me. I wouldn’t have the physical endurance to do the action miles that are required to fulfill the total trip through many states. I am a Council Guide for the Sisterhood of the Planetary Rites, founded in California by Grandmother Tonya Whitedeer. I carried a butterfly beaded medicine bag handmade by Marilyn Vig, an artist in Rice Lake, WI. Inside were the names women who sent emails saying they wanted to be with the water walkers in spirit. Their names are: Worth Cooley-Prost, DC, Anna Dunn, MN; Cassie McCrow, WI; Anna Merritt, WI; Grandmother Tonya Whitedeer, CA and founder of the Sisterhood of the Planetary Water Rites (SPWR) in CA; Kunda Wicce, Island near France; Sandy Stein and Mary Ellen Ryall, Happy Tonics, WI and SPWR, WI chapter participated in the walk; Ginger Wilcox, WI; Chris Doolan Ottose, WI and Akasa WolfSong were women who were spirit walkers. Inside the medicine bag was a prayer bundle of red cloth. Inside the small bundle was a pinch of sacred tobacco, made by Ginger Wilcox.
Sandy took lots of photographs which we will publish later because a CD needs to be made first and uploaded to my hard drive. I am so proud of her and her insight in knowing how important it was for me as an elder to walk in this unfolding vision. Women
are the protectors of water. I would like to mention that Worth Cooley-Prost is an artist in Washington, DC. We are water sisters through Facebook and have never met. Worth recently sent a beautiful water necklace that she was inspired to create through ceremony, moon and water. She doesn’t make her glass jewelry until she has been inspired by her rituals and ceremony first. Now I wear this water necklace to all water ceremonies. I was wearing the necklace today and as I walked with thoughts of all the women who have touched my life, I touched the medicine bag with sacred intentions within.
I gave the little medicine bag to Brody’s wife Barbara Baker LaRush. She will know who should hear the story when they sit around another bonfire.
Tonya Whitedeer of the Sisters of the Planetary Water Rites in California sent the following excerpted email:
Pure Shell Lake in Shell Lake, Wisconsin
I wish I was not writing to tell you that the Gulf of Mexico is experiencing an epic oil spill. I wish we were not witnessing what may become the largest oil spill in US history. I am asking for your help. I am calling for a group meditation on Sunday evening. (Of course…any time you love water…whether today or tomorrow or Sunday…it will make a difference…so join when you can.)
I am calling for a miracle. Let’s join in a meditation to cap the oil leak Sunday night at 5:00 p.m. Pacific & AZ time. I feel that this oil spill has served to wake us up. Maybe this will allow us to refocus, and find a better solution to meet our energy needs. For that awakening, we give thanks. Our hearts open to the families who have experienced loss, and trauma. Our hearts embrace all life in the area affected; people, wildlife, flora and water.
Shell Lake and diminishing water table due in part to Climate Change
Grandmother and water sister Tonya Whitedeer says, “Invite the Spirit of Water to be fully present and enlivened and one with the Spirit of the Gulf of Mexico.” Turn your thoughts and prayers towards purity of water and to cap the oil leak Sunday evening 5 p.m. Pacific & AZ time, 6 p.m. Mountain time, Central standard time 7 p.m. and 8 p.m. Eastern standard time. Let’s stand in solidarity and prayer for five minutes and give our healing energy to water. Tell the water that you love her and are doing your part to protect her insectamonarca friends where ever you live.
The Sisterhood of Planetary Water Rites by Tonya Whitedeer Cargill and excerpted from her email to share with women around the world.
Greetings:
Water is the first foundation of Life. Without it there would be no life upon our Planet Earth. We have been brought together through Spirit as a dedicated voice for our waters.
Our mission is to teach, to support and to be a unifying force for ceremonies to bless, purify and restore our planet’s waters and natural water systems, that there will always be clean and fresh water for all.
So many of us are feeling overwhelmed and devastated over what has been happening to our Mother Earth. We have found that through prayer we can make a difference. Prayer and ceremony has been used since time memorable. It is our hope to renew our faith and empower ourselves with our spiritual energies given to us since our first breaths as human beings.
Several prophecies and visions have been brought to the surface to educate us on the changing of times and how we can help. These messages all say to Turn to the Power of Prayer!
There has been a date brought to us from the Universe through the Planets that a day for a World Prayer for Water Day would be May 18th, 2010.
Mark your calendars and say a prayer for water on May 18th.
Without water there is no life. We are in a great global water crisis.
Capture rainwater where it falls. Don’t let it patter down the street.
Recycle water for gardens and insects.
Thank you insectamonarca friends where ever you are.
We’re almost there at 81 VOTES at 9:10 p.m. Only 19 more VOTES to go till we reach 100. Yeah Team! If you are watching the results and have voted once, you are entitled to two more votes. Each voter can vote three times. If you are new please REGISTER AND VOTE AT http://brighterplanet.com/project_fund_projects/100 for Climate Change Native Habitat and Community Garden Shell Lake.
Got Milkweed? Sign made by Matt with DNR GrantWild milkweed meadow Go Wild with Butterflies
I thought you might be interested in the DNR Monarch Butterfly Habitat that Happy Tonics has land use for a seasonal habitat. Just look at the milkweed. Native milkweed is the only host plant of the monarch butterfly and this meadow is full of milkweed. Here is a photo of our sign that Matt made last year with a small grant from the Spooner DNR.
Today we want to thank Paul DeMain, Editor of News from Indian Country, for voting and passing the word along. Please read Nick Vander Puy’s interview with Dawn White on the Importance of Water.
Happy Tonics is a co-sponsor of the Environmental Film Festival. We heard from Belinda Bowling, Owner Innkeeper, Casa Escondida Bed & Breakfast in Chimayo, New Mexico at http://www.casaescondida.com/
Sandy Stein and I had the pleasure of staying at the Casa when we were exhibiting at Tesuque Pueblo, New Mexico, in 2008. Facebook friend Amy Lou Jenkins, author of Every Natural Fact Five Seasons of Open Air Parenting also voted for our grant proposal. The book has not been released yet but can be pre-ordered. We like to make friends all along the way. So many individuals have emailed to say they have voted and we are deeply honored. You never know who your friends are until you need them.
Till tomorrow, keep up the good work. REGISTER AND VOTE for Happy Tonics. We love hearing from you.
We offer a women’s healing circle in season to promote the sacredness and sustainability of the natural world. This sacred time together supports womens’ environmental advocacy to activism on behalf of Mother Earth.
Donna Alena Hrabcakova, Art Therapist, at Red Lake Reservation, Michigan at http://www.rlnn.com/newsarticlesnov03/aboutRL.html is a student at the Center for Sacred Studies. She is studying under the direction of the International Council of 13 Indigenous Grandmothers. Alena will be coming to Northern Wisconsin, in the summer of 2010.
She will give a talk about her work and studies and show the film: The Next Seven Generations. To acquaint yourself with the documentary, click on the following link at http://www.forthenext7generations.com/home.php
If you are interesting in attending a water ceremony, Alana’s talk and film, please contact diadeluz@centurytel.net We haven’t set a date yet. We would love to put an Eco tourism package together to honor the water at Wisconsin Point beach on Lake Superior.
thimbleberry learn about wild edibles with Mary Ellen
The film and feast will take place in Shell Lake where the Monarch Butterfly Habitats and Happy Tonics are located.
Gladyce Nahbenayash of Superior, Wisconsin, an enrolled Ojibwe member of Sault Ste. Marie Chippawa Tribe, of Michigan, was a guest speaker at the Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwe Community College’s Environmental Film Festival on 28 January 2010.
Driftwood view of Lake Superior
Happy Tonics, Inc. is the sponsor of the II Annual Winter Film Festival throughout Northern Wisconsin. The tribal college, LCO-UW-Extension, NNAHA Environmental Health Services, Sustainable Living Institute and Institute of Museums and library Services are cosponsors for the program that is running November 2009 – May 2010. The film Flow was shown. Please see this film. It will bring each of us closer to the global water issue on a profound level at http://www.flowthefilm.com/
Gladyce spoke about the sacredness of water. She told us the following: Water is the gift of life. Water is sacred. Water is alive and guided by spirits. Water is the transporter of other energies. Sing to the water to resonate vibrational healing. Give thanks to the water in ceremony. Water assists us in power. Give offerings to the water spirits. Give tobacco ties for water ceremony. Do a water ceremony around the New Moon. Water spirit is feminine. Water ceremony is fluid.
I first read of the Water Ceremony in Mazina’igan, a Chronicle of the Lake Superior Ojibwe. The article “Nibi Wabo” a Woman’s Water Song was published in the winter 2007/2008 issue, pg. 20. We are reprinting the article but not the sing. The originators want the ceremony to be shared with women around the world.
Nibi Wabo Water Ceremony
Please honor the following request: It is important to be aware that, while the originators of the Water Song want it to be shared, [they] ask that it not be shared through the internet. Mazina’igan hopes this request will be respected.
At the end of February 2002 in the time of the Bear Moon, a ceremony was held in the backwoods of Kitigan‑zibi reserve. Thirteen grandmothers participated in this ceremony, among them Algonquin and mixed blood women. Between the thirteen, the four races of women were represented. This ceremony had not been done in one hundred and fifty years.
This was the time before the hand drum had come to the woman, the time when we still played the sticks. The grandmother who brought this vision to completion underwent a spiritual process that lasted four years from the time the vision was presented to her until the time of the actual ceremony. She has chosen to remain anonymous, and the other twelve women present are the guardians of the ceremony that we have been asked to pass on to the women of the world.
The ceremony includes a song, a ceremonial staff and led to a series of related teachings that we have received since then. These are not yet ready to be shared. It is time for the women to assume their responsibilities. We are the keepers of the water because we are more in tune with the natural cycles. Traditionally, in most cultures, the women are considered the keepers of the water. We have the connection and the ways and the ceremonies to bless and purify our waters as well as the waters that make up 70% of our physical bodies.
We are living in the days of the great purification of the Earth. We have the choice to sit by helplessly watching the events take place or to be active participants in easing her passage. It can be as simple as singing a song at a river bank, putting our hands over a bowl of water for our children’s consumption, giving thanks and blessing the water that goes into our morning coffee, or picking up the garbage at the beach.
We would like to share this song with the women of the world. Teach it to your daughters, granddaughters, sisters, aunties, mothers, and grandmothers. Teach it to all the women you know. Go and sing at lakes and rivers, wells and oceans and at the kitchen sink. Mother Earth is bleeding. It is our turn now to help Her, who has given us so much through this crisis. Let’s not wait to be asked. Let’s not wait to be forced.
Let’s do it now, together. The ceremony is a simple one. Women in a circle playing birch bark clapper sticks, is what was shown. The sticks are about eight inches long and about two inches wide. That is all. In areas that have no birch trees, seek out the branches of the trees that are traditionally connected to women or the water and use these.
Of course, it is needed much and at any time of the year, but the grandmothers have asked that the water ceremony be done particularly at the thirteenth moon which is the moon at the end of February/March. They have also taught us that all women’s ceremonies are best done at the new moon. It was also asked that the notes are not changed. Period.
It has been asked also that only women can sing this song because of the connection between our menstrual blood and the blood of the Earth, which is the water. It is to be sung one time for each of the seven directions—east, south, west, north, above, below, and within. It can be played on a hand drum, but in its original form it was played on the white birch sticks…
In February 2003 the ceremony was held again for the second time, and this time there were two or three thousand women (that we know of) around the world who were singing over the water ways of Mother Earth at the same hour. A sacred fire was held in Maniwaki (Kitigan-zibi) Quèbec for these women.
The countries included the United States, Canada, Guatemala, Brazil, Columbia, Germany, Holland, Japan, Italy, Senegal, New Zealand, Jamaica, and Mexico to name only a few. It is the music that purifies the water. The words were given in Algonquin/Ojibwa to the women in this community to pass on.
It is always best to preserve sacred things in their original form. According to the original vision, the thirteen grandmothers stood on the ice in order to absorb the teachings from the water under their feet. It was asked to bring the ceremony in for four straight years in the land where it was received so as to set it in time once again. On March 10, 2005 the fourth ceremony was held. All was done as shown. Thirteen women sang on the ice and an Algonquin elder sat in the center of the circle holding the Grandmother Staff and a Bald Eagle that was donated for the ceremony. That night women on every continent of the Earth sang in unison. We were about nine thousand or more. The feathers of the Eagle were distributed to spiritual elders and healers around the world.
The next Nibi Wabo ceremony should have been held on the thirteenth new moon counting from the tenth of March 2005. It always falls between the middle of February and the middle of March. This is the moon that opens up the door when the ancient Grandmothers are most easily accessed. (This door can also be accessed by all women when they are on their moontime.) And at this time (the thirteenth moon), it has been asked to have the full ceremonials, whereever possible. This includes a sacred fire lit right before sunset which burns for thirteen hours during the night. We include the men as the firekeepers, but if no men are available, women firekeepers are chosen. The women go out after dark onto the ice to bless the water and return for a traditional feast that ends with a giveaway ceremony. It is an opportunity for the women to spend the night together so they can share knowledge and teachings with each other.
This thirteenth door is actually open for the four days from the time of the last sliver of moon until the first sliver of rising appears. Hopefully one day we will be able to spend this full four days together with the women. Remember that this is a water ceremony, a woman’s ceremony. It is fluid. There is no need for rigid ‘protocol.’ There are no set ‘rules’ as to how it should be done apart from the Grandmothers’ requests. Every woman will add her own touch, her own wave or ripple. The water song can be done at each new moon or even every day to bless our water. It can also be done on each other, over our food and our animals—anywhere water is present.
The old thirteen moon calendars are also returning. Many women (and men) are having visions. Other water ceremonies are coming back, and new technologies coming through as we realize that in a very short time there may be no more drinking water for the next generations unless we act NOW. The elders tell us that if we don’t act now we may not have any clean water left within ten years. They tell us that it may already be too late unless women everywhere make the water their first priority. Pass it on.
In the Algonquin way, the spring, when the first water starts to run, is the time that the women offer tobacco ties to the water in thanks. In the summer, it is the time for the Rain Dances and the ceremonies of renewal. In the late fall in the time when the Aurora Borealis (northern lights) come out in the north, water ceremonies are also done. And in the cold of winter, the Nibi Wabo ceremony to honor the Grandmothers is held. It is good. It is necessary now more than ever. The elders tell us that if things continue the way they are, we may not have any clean water left within 10 years. They tell us that it may already be too late. Unless women everywhere make the water their first priority. Now.
Grains near Lake Superior
We will offer a women’s healing circle to promote the sacredness and sustainability of the natural world. Donna Alena Hrabcakova, Art Therapist, at Red Lake Reservation, Michigan at http://www.rlnn.com/newsarticlesnov03/aboutRL.html is a student at the Center for Sacred Studies. She is studying under the direction of the International Council of 13 Indigenous Grandmothers. Alena will be coming to Northern Wisconsin, in the summer of 2010. She will give a talk about her work and studies and show the film: The Next Seven Generations. To acquaint yourself with the documentary, click on the following link at http://www.forthenext7generations.com/home.php
If you are interesting in attending a water ceremony, Alana’s talk and film, please contact diadeluz@centurytel.net We haven’t set a date yet. We would love to put an Eco tourism package together to honor the water at Wisconsin Point beach on Lake Superior. The film and feast will take place in Shell Lake where the Monarch Butterfly Habitats and Happy Tonics are located.
12:00 p.m. Potluck (remember to bring your plate!)
12:30 p.m. Speaker: Gladyce Nahbenayash
1:00 p.m. Film: Flow
Irena Salina’s award-winning documentary investigation into what experts label the most important political and environmental issue of the 21st century—The World Water Crisis. Salina builds a case against the growing privatization of the world’s dwingling fresh water supply with an unflinching focus on politics, pollution, human rights, and the emergence of a domineering world water cartel. (64 minutes)
Save the dates for Upcoming Environmental Films and Sustainable Living Education!
Thursdays—February 18, March 11, April 22, and May 6. For more information, contact Amber Marlow, GIS Lab/Rm 508 or #534-4790, ext 156.
Irena Salina’s award-winning documentary investigation into what experts label the most important political and environmental issue of the 21st century—The World Water Crisis. Salina builds a case against the growing privatization of the world’s dwingling fresh water supply with an unflinching focus on politics, pollution, human rights, and the emergence of a domineering world water cartel. (64 minutes)
Save the dates for Upcoming Environmental Films and Sustainable Living Education!
Thursdays—February 18, March 11, April 22, and May 6. For more information, contact Amber Marlow, GIS Lab/Rm 508 or #534-4790, ext 156.
II Annual Winter Environmental Film Festival – JANUARY 2010
January 28 – Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwe Community College, 13346 Trepania Road, Hayward. Local fresh caught fish to be served at NOON day meal. Speaker from Red Cliff Reservation will share update on toxic waste dumping in Lake Superior at 12:10 p.m. Gladyce Nahbenayash speaks at 12:30 and film at 1 p.m. Environmental film Flow to be shown. Film addresses global Indigenous water rights, water purity, privatization and pollution. College students plan to go ice fishing on January 22 to catch the main course. American Indian Science and Engineering Society (AISES) will cook the fish for the pot luck meal. Guest speaker Gladyce Nahbenayash will speak on the sacredness of water. FREE. Open to the public.
Sweet free flowing water in northwest Wisconsin. Copyright Mary Ellen Ryall
Have you seen the documentary film “Flow” yet?
The film eloquently points out what is happening around the world with water privatization by multinationals. The film explains how the World Bank plays a part in displacing people from their homelands to build big dams that will burden the people even more with water costs. Learn more about the film at http://www.flowthefilm.com/
Flow is a must for environmental advocates who want to protect Mother Earth. Visit http://freeflo.org/article31 Read about ARTICLE 31: Sign the petition to add a 31st article to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, establishing access to clean water as a fundamental human right.
We need to protect Mother Earth’s blood which is the free flowing water within and above ground. Water is a precious gift of life to all species. Water is not a commodity.
Water is the first foundation of Life. Without it there would be no life upon our Planet Earth. We have been brought together through Spirit as a dedicated voice for our waters.
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