MESSAGE TO JAPAN
David Courchene (Nii Gaani Aki Inini – Leading Earth Man)
Anishnabe Nation, Eagle Clan
Turtle Lodge, Manitoba, Canada
I bring you all Greetings from the sacred lodges of my People, the Anishnabe – we come from what our people refer to as the center of Turtle Island: America. We have a very sacred site known to our People as Manito Api – “Where the Great Spirit Sat”. It is from the sacred site we have evolved with prophecies, visions, laws and teachings that reflect our connection to Spirit and this deep love of the Earth that we have.
At this present time, I am writing these words in front of a Sacred Fire that has been lit for a lodge and ceremony called the Mother Earth Lodge. It is a lodge that honours woman, mothers and Mother Earth.
The Dreamers of our people have confirmed we have entered a time when a New Life is arriving. As this New Life arrives, the Earth will use its natural forces to cleanse the Earth and stop what has been destroying her. If we as humans are going to survive we must reconnect and align ourselves with Spirit and the Land.
Just recently we supported rites of passage for the young boys and the young girls as they made the transition into adulthood. A message came out of the Vision Quest that the young boys went on, as they were brought back to the sacred lands of Manito Api to receive the vision for their life through prayer and fasting.
The young boys were visited by the spirit of woman – the spirit of Mother Earth. They were given the message to honour the sacredness of woman. One young boy became emotional and described the message he received as: “We are nothing compared to the power that the woman has to bring life.”
Man has dishonoured woman; rather than support the gift that the woman has, he has attempted to destroy it with his greed.
When all the men were sitting together to hear the messages that were brought by the ones that went out on the Vision Quest, their faces dropped; it was a wakeup call.
The men returned from the sacred lands to the Turtle Lodge, one of our sacred lodges, where the young girls had been going through their rite of passage in becoming women. As the men returned, the women greeted them and honoured them, despite all that has been done to woman, by welcoming them back into the lodge, which to our People represents the woman.
We need to support rites of passage that will help the young people to become leaders – to become the real agents of change – the initiates reflecting the New Life.
Making a journey to Mt. Fuji – climbing the mountain – is a metaphor for making the journey to a higher level of living. Climbing to the top of the mountain allows us to have greater vision. The higher you go the more you see.
We cannot continue to use energies or technologies that are unsafe and that have the potential to destroy life.
We have to come to terms with what this New Life on Earth will require. We have to come to terms with how we have been treating the Earth. In order to support this New Life that is arriving, we have to be prepared for a much simpler, more sustainable way of living without using technologies and energies that threaten the Earth and our lives.
As the human family, in order to ensure a world that has peace, we must begin by putting the children back into the center of our lives. And we must be prepared to protect the rights that all children are born with. Every child is born with the right to have clean water, clean air, and all that it would need in order to have a good life and a good future. Every child is born with the right to be loved. Every child is born with the right to be told the truth. Every child is born with the right to have a good mother and a good father.
I am in full support of your journey to Mt. Fuji because it represents all our journeys in seeking peace. We will find peace when we find it in ourselves – when we reach the spirit of our hearts.
We must support each other as we join in the collective, supporting a vision that brings us together without relinquishing our individual identities.
I realize that the People of Japan are facing incredible challenges because of recent events. It will require a strong spirit of determination and perseverance in maintaining a spiritual connection and a continued reliance on the Earth to provide what we need to live, including the Mother’s love and connection that she brings to us.
We will continue to offer our support with continued offerings and prayer to the Spirit to intervene on our behalf. As Indigenous Peoples we have always relied on the lodges and the ceremonies that we have evolved with as an ancient People. We remain committed and faithful to the power of Spirit – Spirit to our People has always been reflected in Nature and in the land.
It is our connection to the Spirit that will ensure our survival and future.
