Conversation with Mitigook I am out for my walk this afternoon. I will walk as far as I can, thinking about everything. I love to look around in nature. I stop halfway up the hill and look at the trees. I see the age in them. I see the environmental effects on them. I ask them, do you have your aging process too? Do you drop your seeds for the next generation to come? Have I looked carefully to see where they are and who they are? When you drop your seeds, do you place your knowledge in them? Do you place your wisdom in them? When you place your knowledge and the wisdom in your seed, do you let them know they will be growing in a different era than you did and with different environmental effects than you did? Will their roots be grounded deep into the ground as yours were? Will they hold the earth together as you did? Will they lift our prayers and honour our breath Creator gave us as you did? These are my thoughts today as I stand amongst you, as I look at you rest stand sleeping through the winter cold. I say Miigwech to all of you. I pray and hope that we look at our generations as two legged in this way. To the next generations to come, I leave the seed of knowledge for those younger ones so that they can follow the path and be grounded and deep rooted as our Anishnaabe ancestors. I face the Eastern direction of new life and say Miigwech. Who are those ones? Who are the Grandmothers and Grandfathers of the Earth, Shkagamik-Kwe, those ancient beings who’ve been here since the time of Creation, that hold space and time? We often hear the words time immemorial in gatherings and in speeches, and those ones who have been a part of the backbone, the spine, of our mother, are the ones that hold that true definition of time immemorial. Looking at the mountains, those great beings, who are our Grandfathers and our Grandmothers, they hold our stories, they hold the wisdom, they have watched life come and go. In our teachings, we are always told that we as Anishinaabe people, in everything that we do, in the decisions that we make, the way that we live our life, how we move through this life, we need to look seven generations into the future. We’re always told to acknowledge where it is that we have come from and those ones who have before us. So, we are wanting to look back and celebrate and acknowledge those beings that have been here for time immemorial, celebrating the rock nation, the bones of our mother, the tree nations, the lungs of our mother, and those root systems, the roots of our trees, so that when we look ahead into the future and we look ahead seven generations, that we also hold space, taking on those teachings that those ancient ones provide for us, looking into our past, looking for the steps that our ancestors took, finding those foundations, those root systems, and those tree nations that help us with our breath, our breath of life. Honouring the Ancient Beings Grandfather Tree See this tree here (May photo, page 12), I call him a Grandfather because every time I see him and stand with him, I feel the male energy of him. Beside him stands a sapling. That Grandfather tree is waiting for him to be strongly rooted before he gives way and lets go. If ever that Grandfather tree falls or has to be cut down, the sapling cannot be damaged in anyway. It will need to continue and carry on for the Grandfather. – Gloria Oshkabewisens-McGregor Honouring the Ancient Beings introduction by Geesohns Manitowabi. Above photo collage and Conversation with Mitigook by Gloria Oshkabewisens-McGregor. Poetry by Sarah Gartshore. Border illustrations by Raven Debassige. Art direction and design by Melanie Laquerre.
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