Ginoonad G’zhemnido Conversations with Creator (Referring to July photo.) These guardians stand tall. They are resilient and grounded. They are protectors. We’ve shared our love, laughter and grief with these guardians. We’ve hugged them, cried to them, and channeled their strength. These beings are loyal, selfless, humble and always giving to us—breath, shelter, warmth, protection. They gift us with wise teachings of stillness, presence, resilience and strength. They weather the storms. We sit with these beings and are reminded of our connection. They ground us and remind us that we are all part of Creation. We are never alone. These ancestors are with us. They have witnessed and survived so much. Sit with them, open your heart, and receive their wisdom and teachings. They stand together like family, like guardians. They are the ones we go to, to have those conversations. They protect our space and instill that feeling of protection. We go and talk to them when we’re needing that grounding, wanting to have that conversation, knowing that they hear us, that they’re listening, and that in their own way, they’re giving us that guidance. We see the play of light and shadow upon the green carpet, a dance of light and darkness. It’s like walking in the shadow of oneself. You know how children love to discover their shadows? They try to run after them, they try to step on them, and they just had fun with them? They have no issue with their shadow. They just love them and are just having fun. So we see this place where nature teaches us to love the shadow of oneself—and to even look in the light. To look in the light of oneself and to look in the shadow of oneself. Each place is a gift. Bagidanaamowin Breathing, breath That life breath… Sometimes we forget how to breath. It’s so unconscious, we don’t even think about breath because it’s something that we are consistently doing, and we forget how to breath. So when we look at the trees, take in that oxygen and breath out, they take care of that breath. They help and remind us of the importance of that first breath and how we use breath to process the energies and even the stresses that we carry. Sometimes when we can’t find the answers, we are just feeling the stress and heaviness, the weight on our shoulders, we are reminded that we need to focus and come back to the core, to use that breath to help us slow things down. Sometimes the stress is because we are moving too fast and we are not centering. Breath helps to bring us back to center. It also helps us with that transition through life, reminding us of all of those senses and to take the time to be able to smell the beauty of that first rain in the spring, or to take that time and smell the roses. Being the lungs of the Earth, the trees are the ones that help us with our breath and breath is so important because it’s like we’re told when we’re born, that there’s a veil put on us that blocks the memory we have from where we just came from. When we take that first breath, that veil is put on for us so that we can learn the lessons we need to learn on this Earth. In that same way, when we give that last final breath at the end of our life, the veil is lifted again and our spirit can see where we came from—the stars. Shkagamik-Kwe Mother Earth When we think about the fall and the changing of the colours, we think about the fear of change and of the unknown. In order to walk through that change, we have to let things go and that is what this season teaches us as we witness all of the leaves fall. That time of change and letting go can be very scary, but what Creation teaches us is the beauty of it. The teaching of this season that is often shared is that this is the time when our Mother, the Earth, with the help of the Tree Nation, puts on her finest clothing, and she dances that final dance before she gets ready to rest, when winter comes and gifts that healing blanket of snow. We envision the fancy shawl dancers at powwows and this image of the spirit of Mother Earth dancing with all of her different colours, with ribbons and fringe swaying in the wind. When we see these fall colours, like Creation’s paintbrush, we celebrate our Mother, the Earth, as she puts on her most beautiful, beautiful dress.
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