This Program was offered by the Parliament’s Indigenous Working Group and First Nations Technical Institute (FNTI) and was designed so that it could be completed in one day. It was the one thing I wanted to do for myself at the 2018 Parliament of the World's Religions in Toronto which took place November 2 - 6, 2018. I was attending  as an ambassador for the Parliament and as a  journalist, and thus had responsibilities which limited the time available to me personally.  It took a number of days to fit enough of these presentations and activities into my schedule to complete the requirements. All in all I attended eleven workshops and film presentations as well as a number of ceremonies both inside and outside at the the sacred fire.

    I am  grateful to our hosts the Anishinaabe and Mississaugas of the Credit First Nations. Deep gratitude to the firekeepers who tended the sacred fire 24 hours a day even though it was often bitterly cold  and made it possibly for me and many others to offer tobacco and pray at any hour.  I was excited by and very much enjoyed the presence of indigenous elders from the United States as well, including Hopi, Dinè (often called Navajo), Paiute, Zuni, Havasupai, Tongva and Lakota/Dakota, especially Chief Arvol Looking Horse of the Lakota, Dakota, and Nakota Nations, and keeper the Sacred White Buffalo Calf Pipe Bundle and its teachings. I had heard him address the Spotlight on Indigenous Peoples plenary at the 2015 Parliament in Salt Lake City, Utah. My 40 years of interfaith work has been inspired by intertwined with Native American spirituality and culture, both in Utah (particularly among the nations of our hosts at the 2015 Parliament, the Ute, Paiute, and Shoshone) and for the last few years in South Carolina among the Edisto, Catawba and Cherokee peoples. Although I was blessed with bits and pieces of a number of events and interactions I attended the following sessions in their entirety:

    The Opening Ceremony at the sacred fire, the Native American Church, Tradition bearers for Bio-cultural diversity, Sacred Water, Earth changes & Prophecy, Original Instruction  (I just loved Elder Tom Porter or Sakokwenionkwas “The One Who Wins”, of the Mohawk’s (Kanien'kehá:ka.) birthing prayer! Everyone should start their lives this way. In this prayer the newborn is told who they are, where they are, in whose hands they have been entrusted, the sacred vow of the parents to protect, guide and nurture them and all else that comes into the heart of the father. This prayer can often last forty-five minutes to an hour. Porter was a co-founder the ‘White Roots of Peace’, a group of Iroquois Elders who tour the country sharing traditional teachings and encouraging Indians to embrace their respective Native traditions.), Sacred Pipe Ceremony, Climate Crisis, Evolving Spirituality, Declaration of a new Initiative to Protect Sacred Lands (I was graced to listen to Elder Besha Blondin of the Dené first nation of the Northern Athabaskan peoples in Canada again whom I had met in 2015), Four Directions Ceremony, National Monument, "Indians" of Old Europe (I was grateful for this Pagan perspective given by Andras Corban Arthen, a POWR Trustee and President of the European Congress of Ethnic Religions), and Indigenous Eden.

    I bathed in the loving humility of Manulani Aluli Meyer who spoke from the perspective of the indigenous people of Hawai’I and shared Ulu a'e ke welina a ke aloha (Loving is the practice of an awake mind) and gifted me with a bag of sea salt that she had gathered.  Also very inspired to hear L. Frank Manriquez, a Tongva culture bearer whose passion is to reclaim and revitalize traditional knowledge for not only her people, but for the vast network of California tribal peoples. The story of the decimation of the indigenous peoples of California is as heart breaking as any I know. I would also like to mention Lyla June Johnston a descendent of Diné (Navajo) and Tsétsêhéstâhese (Cheyenne) lineages. I first meant this powerful young activist/poet at a presentation she gave at the Parliament in 2015 in Salt Lake City. I spent some time in her presence at the 2018 Parliament in Toronto as I videoed Trebbe Johnson's Panel discussion 'The Sacred Arts: Creative Expressions of Faith to Heal a Troubled Earth' to which Lyla June eloquently contributed. We'll hear much more from this wise woman as time unfolds. You can find a number of presentations by her on YouTube.

    Much of the offerings took place in the Lodge of Nations which was a re-creation of a traditional long house,  which sheltered the spiritual dimension of those things that were shared in such a sacred manner.  Deep bows of gratitude to Anishinaabe leader Bob Goulais of the Nipissing First Nation and Diane Longboat of the Kanien'kehá:ka. (Mohawk) Nation at Six Nations Grand River Territory, who organized and facilitated the events held in the Lodge of Nations and at the Sacred Fire. To them I say ᐊᓂᔑᓈᐯᒧᐎᓐ Miigwech, and Nia:wen!

    Behind and thoroughly mixed in with all of this was the Truth and Reconciliation process underway in Canada. I met many folks whose lives were personally touched by the cultural genocide of the 'Residential Schools'. There is a video on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada website, of Commissioner Justice Murray Sinclair, an Ojibwa judge from the court of the Queen’s Bench, Manitoba, which clearly tells the back story, the purpose, and processes of the commission. I heard him address a plenary at the Parliament and was very moved by his eloquence. I’ve taken the following from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada webpage:

“For over 100 years, Aboriginal children were removed from their families and sent to institutions called residential schools. The government-funded, church-run schools were located across Canada and established with the purpose to eliminate parental involvement in the spiritual, cultural and intellectual development of Aboriginal children. The last residential schools closed in the mid-1990s. During this chapter in Canadian history, more than 150,000 First Nations, Métis, and Inuit children were forced to attend these schools some of which were hundreds of miles from their home. The cumulative impact of residential schools is a legacy of unresolved trauma passed from generation to generation and has had a profound effect on the relationship between Aboriginal peoples and other Canadians. Collective efforts from all peoples are necessary to revitalize the relationship between Aboriginal peoples and Canadian society – reconciliation is the goal. It is a goal that will take the commitment of multiple generations but when it is achieved, when we have reconciliation - it will make for a better, stronger Canada.”

    I am hoping that this Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada will someday become a model for a similar and much needed process here in the United States. In Utah, where I grew up, there was the infamous Intermountain Indian School in Brigham City which ultimately had students from nearly 100 tribes by the time that it was closed in 1984. And then there was The Indian Placement Program, or Indian Student Placement Program (ISPP), also called the Lamanite Placement Program, which was operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) officially operating from 1954 and virtually closed by 1996. Native American students who were baptized members of the LDS Church were placed in foster homes of LDS members during the school year. They attended majority-white public schools, rather than the Indian boarding schools or local schools on the reservations. The program was developed according to LDS theology, whereby conversion and assimilation to Mormonism could help Native Americans, who had been classified as Lamanites in terms of theology in the Book of Mormon. An estimated 50,000 Native American children went through this program. These were just local to me in a small part of the west, hundreds of thousands of native folk throughout the country suffered similar fates.

    That was what I wanted to share about my personal experience in pursuing the Certificate in Indigenous Cultural Awareness, I welcome comments from others who enrolled or have something to add, you'll find a button down below.

Although this material is still available elsewhere I’d like to share some more details, mostly taken from the ICA page on the Parliament’s website:

The 2018 Parliament of the World’s Religions in Toronto may be your starting point to discovering a renewed appreciation of Indigenous worldview and taking an important step to Reconciliation action.
The Indigenous Peoples’ Program of the 2018 Parliament of the World’s Religions is offering a Certificate in Indigenous Cultural Awareness. This full-day offering (minimum 8 hours) will provide a wide-ranging and informative primer into Indigenous peoples of the world, including First Nations, Métis and Inuit people in Canada.

Developed by the Toronto-based Indigenous Steering Committee, their mission is to develop an inclusive and diverse program that creates awareness of Indigenous spiritual and faith traditions to all those attending the 2018 Parliament of the World’s Religions. The Steering Committee consists of knowledgeable Indigenous people and cultural-practitioners from nations across Turtle Island, and led by representatives of Indigenous traditional societies.

About FNTI
The Certificate in Indigenous Cultural Awareness is issued by First Nations Technical Institute (FNTI) one of the foremost Indigenous post-secondary institutes in Ontario. First Nations Technical Institute (FNTI) is a First Nation owned and governed educational institute specializing in applying Indigenous knowledge to both formal and informal learning experiences. Many of our programs and services are delivered at locations across Ontario.

FNTI is accredited by the World Indigenous Nations Higher Education Consortium (WINHEC), and is a member of the Ontario Aboriginal Institutes Consortium and Colleges and Institutes Canada (CICan).

About ICA Certificate Program
The Certificate in Indigenous Cultural Awareness (ICA) is issued by the Indigenous Working Group and FNTI. It will require registered ICA participants to attend and complete a minimum of eight (8) hours in the Indigenous Peoples’ Program of the Parliament of the World’s Religions. The ICA participant will register for a full-day of programming that could include elements of the following:
 
   Daybreak Ceremony
   Over 60 Indigenous developed, led and delivered workshops, panels, film screenings and other content-specific sessions to choose from
    Blanket Exercise
    Water Walk and Water Ceremonies
    The Lodge of Nations: A beautiful and important Indigenous sacred space that will be the centerpiece to the Indigenous Peoples’ program.
     Ceremonies, teachings, prophecies, story-telling and sharing of Indigenous traditional knowledge

What is Indigenous Cultural Awareness?
Indigenous Cultural Awareness (ICA) refers to the development of knowledge, skills and improving the understanding of Indigenous people, culture, history and worldview. It goes beyond a typical academic approach to Indigenous awareness. It implies knowledge transfer from Indigenous peoples themselves through a cultural experience, Indigenous traditional knowledge learning within accepted contexts and protocols, including participation in knowledge sharing, teachings and in ceremony. In most cases, building Indigenous Cultural Awareness involves reaching the participant holistically, through immersion of the body, through the senses, the mind as well as reaching the spirit. It is a step towards Cultural Competency.

Cultural Wisdom from many Nations:
The program featured teachers, traditional Indigenous knowledge holders and Faith Keepers from many nations, including:
Anishinaabe (Mississauga, Ojibway, Chippewa, Odawa, Pottawatomi, Algonquin), Haudenosaunee (Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Seneca, Caguga, Tuscarora), Métis, Cree (Mushkegowuk and Plains Cree), Hawaiian, Maori, European Indigenous traditions, Hopi, Lena Lenape (Delaware), Dene (Blackfoot), Mi’kmaq, Maliseet, Apache, Choctaw, African Indigenous traditions, Karamojong (Uganda), Cheyenne,     Aleut, Maya …and many more.

Workshop Topics and Titles
ICA participants were able to choose from over 60 workshops, feature panels, presentations, film screenings and other content-specific sessions, including:
    Impact of Colonization on the Health of Indigenous People in Canada
    Lana Gets Her Talk: Documentary Film Presentation & Conversation
    Ininew Pamatisiwin (Cree World View)
    Indigenous Eden: New Perspectives on an Ancient Foundational Beliefs
    The Twisted Roots of the Doctrines of Discovery
    Sacred Fire Ceremony of the Tzs'utujil Maya
    Iwi Kupuna: Caring for Our Ancestors
    Your Place is an Indigenous Place: Using Digital Humanities to Illuminate and Assert
    Spirit Game: Pride of a Nation
    Anishinabe 101
    Reclaiming the Indigenous Ethnic Religions of Europe
    Why Spirit Matters: Expanding Our Sense of the Sacred
    Reconciliation, Dialogue & Hope - An ongoing relationship with Canada's Indigenous Peoples
    Reclaiming Our Indigenous Spirituality and Sacred Sites
    Envisioning the Future through Indigenous Ceremony and Wisdom
    Lifting the Spirit: Healing through our Connection to Sound Vibrations of the Human Voice
    Sweat Lodge Teachings
    Creation of Love
    Tradition Bearers for Bio-cultural Diversity
    Colorado Plateau: Sanctuary - A Message of Hope
    Protection of Land and Sacred Sites
    Climate Change
    Traditional Medicine & Gardening
    Spirit of the Environment and Stewardship of Mother Earth
    Emerging Spirit: Transcending Colonization
    Indigenous Eden: New Perspectives on an Ancient Foundational Beliefs
    Reconciliation
    Indigenous Women Leading Change Panel of Prominent Women
    Water Rights for Indigenous Peoples
    Native American Grave Protection
    Sacred Feminine
    Ancient Skills Workshop
    Learning together through the Blanket Ceremony
    Doctorate of Cultural Genocide, Intergenerational Trauma: The Way Forward
    Intercultural Understanding & Awareness
    Prophecies: Global Change & Emerging Civilizations
    African Spirituality

In closing I have to say that in pursuing this certificate my experience at the Parliament was much enriched. I hope that a similar program will be part of the next Parliament of the World’s Religions!
 
 
 
 
 

Unity of Hilton Head held its second annual Interfaith Harmony service in alignment with Governor Henry McMaster's proclamation of January as South Carolina's Interfaith Harmony Month. Among the faiths celebrated were Bahá’í, Islam, Judaism, Native American, New Thought, and Taoism. Here below 21 slides each of which have a Time Stamp in upper left hand corner if you would like to quickly navigate to that segment of the video which was made from the audio and these slides. Here's the link to the video: Unity of Hilton Head Interfaith Harmony Service.

Rev. Dr. Jack Bomar launched United Church's Interfaith Ministry Fellowship this past Thursday, February 9th with a presentation on Native American Spirituality. He felt it appropriate as we are on land still under the spiritual stewardship of First Nations tribes. Among those presenting was my friend Billy who is in the Lodge (Sweat Lodge, where the Inipe ceremony of purification takes place) that I attend, and in which Pastor Jack recently participated. Pastor Jack's experience reconnected him in a profound way with his roots through his Cherokee grandmother in Tennessee.

​This will be followed by monthly presentations. March 9th the Baha'i Faith will be shared by Ms. Veronica Smalls, April 13th will feature a "Freedom Seder" conducted by Rabbi TZiPi Radonsky and in May Rev. Lori Hlaban will speak about Unitarian Universalism. There is much else in the works, to keep up to date please visit United Church's Facebook page.

Even though I grew up in a Mormon community in semi-rural Utah, my mother’s love of art exposed me at an early age to religious Icons. I did not find them in churches but in books and found them beautiful and moving perhaps because I sensed the divinity behind them, not because I knew anything of Saints and the role of iconography in religion. As I grew older I saw Icons from many cultures and religions particularly Buddhism and Hinduism. Several years ago while at a Contemplative Aging retreat at Mepkin Abbey I had a conversation with Sister Annie, a Franciscan Nun, about St. Francis which lead to a discussion of the work of a colleague of hers Sister Kathleen Warren, who had produced a Movie and book called In the Footprints of Francis and the Sultan: A Model for Peacemaking which lead me down a fabulous rabbit hole, but that’s another story. Although I'll provide this link to a flyer I produced for the workshop I presented on the film. The cover for the movie was an exceedingly luminous Icon of St. Francis and Sultan Malik al-Kamil. I used that Icon to illuminate Rev. James King’s evocation of St. Francis’ prayer at the end of his article in the last issue of CommUnity. The artist is Brother Robert Lorentz and these green texts are links to his Robert Lentz website and Trinity Stores where some of his work is on sale.

Brother Robert has certainly stretched the bounds of western iconography. Here is a quote from him “The majority of my critics are uncomfortable with the way I move back and forth between the cultures in which I have had to live since childhood. They want tidy, black-and-white worlds that I have never known. From childhood I have had to deal with a Technicolor world in which I was never quite sure why there were so many fences. Byzantine icons stay safely behind Byzantine walls and look out at the rest of the world. Catholic images are hemmed in by Catholic fences. My icons ignore walls. They belong wherever there is life.”

Here below are wondrous examples of his work which I view as a deep contribution to our Interfaith work. Click on image to see it fully.

      In considering the deepening crisis in North Dakota at Standing Rock where the treaty rights of Lakota/Dakota peoples (commonly known as the Sioux) are being violently violated, my thoughts turned back to the direct actions I participated in with Earth First! in the 1980’s. As opposed to the purely environmental concerns of Dave Foreman, Howie Wolke, Mike Roselle, Ken Sanders and other notable founders of that movement that I engaged with, I saw environmental protection as a spiritual matter.
      The article below was published in CATALYST Magazine and summarizes materials that I presented as a workshop at the Ancient Ways Festival in California in the early 1980s, produced under the auspices of the Covenant of the Goddess. This was the outcome of a deepening interest in Native American spirituality and driven by some of the successes in defending and protecting sacred places, that native peoples had recently had in court. I had been inspired to look into my own Celtic European roots for similar traditions, ceremonies and folkways. This led me to an involvement with Celtic Pagan traditions and credentialing by the Covenant of the Goddess. Anyone who has read other of my blogposts in Interfaith Advocate knows that my spiritual alignments are quite eclectic. For a number of years now I have been deeply involved in the Unity movement, whose byline is “One God, Many Paths”.
 
The Role of the Spiritual Activist in the Environmental Movement

A New Perspective
      We are in the midst of a revolution in consciousness which heralds the new age. It is the redefining of our very place in the universe. The movement of thought from “conservation”, a concept which is anthropocentric and economically based, to “deep ecology”, which takes life itself in all of its manifest diversity as its base — is a quantum leap towards faith. In this new perspective we see all liberation movements as having their ultimate ground in ecology. In its fertile soil lies the seeds of peace. Biological, socio-economical, political and cultural harmony are all branches of the one tree.

Aligning Ourselves in Thought, Word and Deed
      For those that subscribe to this creed there is a spiritual mandate to ally ourselves in the life of the Earth with our fellow beings. We must align ourselves in thought, word and deed. Esoterically in rituals of protection and healing, and celebrations of the cycles of seasons and thanksgiving. Exoterically  as teachers and political activists, engaging in protest and civil disobedience. It is not trite to say that faith and conviction are potent forces for change. Examine the roles of Mahatma Gandhi, Dr. Martin Luther King and the Rev. Daniel Barragan among many others in our recent history.
     The distinction between esoteric and exoteric considerations, although ultimately artificial, is useful in much the same way as are military strategists’ division of a war into fronts (a metaphor suggested by the urgency of our situation).

“Stead” — developing a sense of place
      Spiritual traditions arise out of a community’s relations with its environment and express themselves in the cultural trappings and unique poetry of their practice. A coven, a clan, a spiritual tribe is lost without “stead” — that is, the appointed or natural place of the thing, the ground on which a structure stands, that which gives the upright standing. Covenstead, the place of the gathering, meeting place of the four winds and the five senses.
      Come to know the land on which you live. Meet the inhabitant animals and plants, learn their names and the ways in which they fit into their environment. Your covenstead may assume the guise of political boundary, but must be mapped as a biome, a unit of living organisms in an ecological region; it defines itself in terms of ridge, valley and watershed, by that place where oak gives way to Douglas fir or field to fen. Find the heart of this place and make a shrine, altar of the wider temple in which you renew your faith by finding communion. Such an altar is a focal point for the gathering energies, crossroads of animal, mineral and plant, of devas and demons and of life and death. A place at which you may receive and give, a point of release for devotional energies, the appointed place for ritual and meditation.
      Exoterically we have the duties of conscience. Whether we celebrate in works of art and beauty and balance to which we are privileged witness, or find ourselves in confrontation with political powers and their sworn testimonies in halls of justice, we must stand with our alignments.
      As an environmental activist who acts for spiritual as opposed to “other” reasons, you bring to bear on specific cases, constitutional issues unique to your role in the movement. You must be prepared to demonstrate the integrity of your conscience through a history of affiliations and religious involvement. If called into court, your sincerity is in the province of witnesses and documents. Your views dodge the charge of being idiosyncratic when backed by common experience and by being encoded in charters.
      Law is a conservative venture requiring precedent and careful reasoning for which you will be held accountable. The notion of love may be dismissed as aesthetic, whereas the concept of devotion implies the possibility of sacrilege. The erection of a shrine and a history of religious activity at a given place may be important legal precedents if you are defending an act of civil disobedience. Knowledge of the traditions of indigenous peoples regarding the sacredness of a given place may stand as collaborative evidence. Your religious affiliations should have encoded in their traditions charters and administered credentials a philosophical basis for your actions.
      It is a spiritual war that we wage and our paradoxical weapons include shared hearts and minds as well as the tools of resistance. An ancient aphorism contends that the best defense is the making of friends. From the tradition of the four sacred hallows, also called the four magical weapons, comes the wisdom of offering the cup to those who thirst, the dish to those who are hungry and with the wand you may give the lost direction. It is in the final resort that we wield the iron will. May you be blessed in your service to the living.

While attending the 2015 Parliament of the World's Religions in SLC last year I signed the Indigenous Declaration which specifically addressed the desecration of sacred sites. We now have "boots on the ground" on site at Standing Rock. I was gratified to see Parliament Vice-Chair Andras Corban-Arthen leading the delegation meeting with the camp organizers.  I encourage all of you to visit the Parliaments site and sign this Declaration for Indigenous Peoples. The previous green text is a link.

Here is the Parliament of the World's Religions Statement On Standing Rock and the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) and an excerpt from it:

The Parliament of the World’s Religions denies any purported “rights” of the Dakota Access Pipeline to trespass on, build upon, and subsequently endanger the sacred land and water of the Standing Rock Sioux Nation. We do not speak for the peoples whose sacred sites and waterways are under attack. Instead we respond to a call from our 2015 Parliament keynote speaker Chief Arvol Looking Horse, Keeper of the Sacred White Buffalo Calf Pipe, and we are inviting you to join us in answering that call:

“What we are being faced with is a dark spirit. All life cannot afford to allow the same mistakes to be made any longer. Look what is happening to the four directions in the contamination of MniWic’oni – the water of life...”

“We are asking the religious leaders to come support them to stand side by side with them [the protestors at Standing Rock] because they are standing in prayer.”

                                                                       Chief Arvol Looking Horse of the Dakota, Lakota, and Nakota Nations

Some of you may know I lived over 40 years in Utah. My involvement with native culture and ceremony began there in the early 70’s. In the news for a while has been the controversy over the proposed Bears Ears national monument in the southwest portion of the state. The Inter-Tribal Logo to the left is a clickable link to the Inter-Tribal Coalition’s website where they have placed a wealth of material and some stunning photos. For many of the non-indigenous peoples these lands offer access to mineral wealth and recreation, all monetized. To the native Elders this is sacred land. Land continuously occupied for over 12,000 years. Here is a listing of the tribes and Pueblos with cultural ties to Bears Ears: Navajo Nation, Hopi Tribe, Ute Mountain Ute Indian Tribe, Uintah and Ouray Ute Indian Tribe, White Mountain Tribe and Jicarilla Apache Tribe, San Juan, Kaibab, & Utah Paiute Tribes, White Mountain and Jicarilla Apache, Hualapai Tribe, Pueblos of Acoma, Cochiti, Isleta, Jemez, Laguna, Nambe, Ohkay Owingeh, Picuris, Pojoaque, Sandia, San Felipe, San Ildefonso, Santa Ana, Santa Clara, Santo Domingo, Taos, Tesuque, Ysleta Del Sur, Zia and Zuni. I had the great fortune to know many among the Navajo, Ute, Paiute, Apache and Hopi. I have walked many miles and camped in a number of places in the area of the Bears Ears and it is a wondrous, sacred place.

As important as the Bears Ears issue is, I was prompted to write because of a long held concern with the endangered nature of so many sacred places. All religions with strong ties to the earth have their sacred places. I became radicalized about this issue and worked on the fringe of the environmental movement not because species, including Homo Sapien, were endangered by rapacious attitudes towards lands and natural resources, but because I couldn’t tolerate the ugliness being made in places of beauty where the mark of the creator was still clear, imprinting the land. Early on I sensed the hallowed nature of certain places. In later years I participated in ceremony throughout the deserts and mountains of Utah. My last trip back to there was to attend the Parliament of the World’s Religions in October 2015 and I was deeply gratified by the solemn welcome, and for the guidance and wisdom offered by the indigenous peoples of the Great Basin. Among them the Paiute, the Ute, the Goshute, and the Navajo And for the sacred fire which burned continuously throughout the Parliament, there were elders present to facilitate the offering of prayers and tobacco twenty-four hours a day.

I arrived in Utah early enough to spend three days in the remote House Range of the west desert. Emptying and cleansing myself were part of it, but I had two sacred tasks specifically to attend to. The making of my “intention” as the stick one plays the drum with is sometimes known, and the painting of the drum, which my lodge helped me make the week before. The weekend following the Parliament was a reunion, a gathering of Aho, a large spiritual family my wife and I have been connected with for some thirty years.  That final Sunday evening I would ceremonially awaken this drum at a sweat lodge, or Inipe ceremony. A Shoshone elder sang a special song in that lodge as his gift to my drum. This drum has since served me well and I say thank you again to those who made it possible. Reconnecting with that awe inspiring patch of the desert that I knew well, left me with an assuring sense of belonging to our mother earth again, I have sometimes struggled with maintaining that nurturing connection here in South Carolina. It also renewed my commitment to speaking out for the protection of sacred lands and the access of native peoples to them for the spiritual practices that have sustained them and their lands across more than a dozen millennia.