Sacred Ground
I drove to Lake Lenore yesterday… To Drum and Pray for Sacred Ground. As Lake Chelan burns, I went knowing some of
my dear friends and family were affected.
First Creek is where I grew to be an Herbalist. These plants, People, and Animals, and Spirit
of the Land have been my anchor, the
place I come back to time and time again
for comfort, connection, and learning.
When you pulse in a place, it
becomes an intricate part of you.
I have been taught that the rocks, hold memory of the land, the people,
feelings, events, whether good or bad.
The stones are the record keepers of this. So, when we go to a sacred place, our prayers and intentions are magnified by
all the other Prayers, Intentions, and Holiness that resides there. This is true for a church, a home, and a
piece of sacred ground. It is also why
sometimes a place seems “off” to us.
Something may have happened there tragically in the past, or someone just left who had an
argument. When we come together and pray
for each other and the Earth as a group,
the land remembers…….
I have seen big fires take places before in 1988. I watched Yellowstone burn. I also watched the land repair itself… new trees, different plants coming up… I know fire is a part of Nature, and is a fundamental
Element of Life. I found it most
interesting the words the Head Firefighters used to describe their relationship
to the fire….. a plan for “Initial
attack” “chasing these things down and
trying to secure a line”. It is a live
force, and it is a battle……..
So far my sister’s home on First Creek is intact… which is an amazing ………….. I still feel the empathetic pains of losing a
home. A place of Sacred Ground. I have lost a home, not to the Element Fire… but to a Difficult divorce… losing my business and home. The people who bought the house tore it down
for another parking lot for their church. It was an old house…. An eye sore to them. It was sacred space to me
and mine…. And I still feel the pain of having
to leave it. My children also grieve the
loss of this house…. It was beautiful…
hard wood floors, built in china hutch,
claw foot tub. Certainly not a
Historical restoration picture perfect house,
but a BEAUTIFUL HOME.I know, in remembering the sacred,
nothing is ever lost to us. The funny
stories, some I am only privy to now that my children are grown… (because they would have been in BIG trouble
if I had found out then!) LOL
but that is another story……
The land renews and remembers…………
I have been going to First
Creek for many years….10 or so. In ’96 I
believe , a fire went through the area on both sides of the creek. The trees ,
some lived, some didn’t. The
brush has grown thick again with Buck Brush, Oregon Grape and Kinnikinnick…. Another fire went through west of the homes a
couple of years ago…. There is now
achers of arnica growing underneath the trees.
The Land knows how to heal its self.
.
This Tree was in the ’96 fire. It is still covered in black soot…. And it is the tree I harvest pine resin from. I think my biggest sorrow is that as a
human, I may not be around to see the
Forest I love get back to the place it was before the fire. A generation or so from now, I hope my Great Grandchildren will get to
walk these sacred grounds….. and
remember…..
Remember the stories of their
ancestors, remember their connection to
the Earth, and remember that these lands have always been sacred to Great
Spirit. May we make all the lands we
walk, the homes and spaces we live, and places we visit become Sacred Ground by
our actions and our prayers. It is with
gratitude in my heart I write these words,
to my Ancestors, and the
Ancestors of the Lands we walk on, to my
Children and Grandchildren, who make
life such a precious gift; and to the Fire fighters, whoes great work helps
preseve our balance with sacred fire.
Aho.
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