PEGI EYERS
What [most] modern human beings don't seem to realize is that each blade of grass, flower, tree, plant, element and creature in Earth Community is offering us unconditional love, to nurture us, sustain us, and empower our joy and deep connection. This love is at the center of our miraculous relationships with the other-than-human world, and Earth Community provides us with all the grace and beauty our souls will ever need.
Precious ecosystems continue to offer the living world nourishment; shade; sanctuary for countless organisms, birds, insects and other creatures; cool respite in the heat of the summer; and a wellspring of ancient myth and knowledge. There is no other force on the planet that can weave the timeless elements of earth, water, air and fire together, for the benefit of Earth Community and all life.
All that is asked of us in return, is that we extend the same deep love, care and respect back to Earth Community. To take more than what is freely offered is an act of contempt bordering on criminality, and severs our Ancient Covenant with the land. Acts of murder, terror and ecocide are unforgivable, and the Great Spirits of the earth and the human allies who love and protect will never forget how the Original Instructions were defiled. We all belong in the Sacred Circle, and our automatic return, or access to this blessed existence, is dependent on only one thing - humility, remaining in balance and living within natural law.
Precious ecosystems continue to offer the living world nourishment; shade; sanctuary for countless organisms, birds, insects and other creatures; cool respite in the heat of the summer; and a wellspring of ancient myth and knowledge. There is no other force on the planet that can weave the timeless elements of earth, water, air and fire together, for the benefit of Earth Community and all life.
All that is asked of us in return, is that we extend the same deep love, care and respect back to Earth Community. To take more than what is freely offered is an act of contempt bordering on criminality, and severs our Ancient Covenant with the land. Acts of murder, terror and ecocide are unforgivable, and the Great Spirits of the earth and the human allies who love and protect will never forget how the Original Instructions were defiled. We all belong in the Sacred Circle, and our automatic return, or access to this blessed existence, is dependent on only one thing - humility, remaining in balance and living within natural law.
REMEMBER
Remember the sky that you were born under,
know each of the star's stories.
Remember the moon, know who she is.
Remember the sun's birth at dawn, that is the
strongest point of time. Remember sundown
and the giving away to night.
Remember your birth, how your mother struggled
to give you form and breath. You are evidence of
her life, and her mother's, and hers.
Remember your father. He is your life, also.
Remember the earth whose skin you are:
red earth, black earth, yellow earth, white earth
brown earth, we are earth.
Remember the plants, trees, animal life who all have their
tribes, their families, their histories, too. Talk to them,
listen to them. They are alive poems.
Remember the wind. Remember her voice. She knows the
origin of this universe.
Remember you are all people and all people
are you.
Remember you are this universe and this
universe is you.
Remember all is in motion, is growing, is you.
Remember language comes from this.
Remember the dance language is, that life is.
Remember.
Joy Harjo
"Remember" © Joy Harjo from She Had Some Horses, W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1983
Remember the sky that you were born under,
know each of the star's stories.
Remember the moon, know who she is.
Remember the sun's birth at dawn, that is the
strongest point of time. Remember sundown
and the giving away to night.
Remember your birth, how your mother struggled
to give you form and breath. You are evidence of
her life, and her mother's, and hers.
Remember your father. He is your life, also.
Remember the earth whose skin you are:
red earth, black earth, yellow earth, white earth
brown earth, we are earth.
Remember the plants, trees, animal life who all have their
tribes, their families, their histories, too. Talk to them,
listen to them. They are alive poems.
Remember the wind. Remember her voice. She knows the
origin of this universe.
Remember you are all people and all people
are you.
Remember you are this universe and this
universe is you.
Remember all is in motion, is growing, is you.
Remember language comes from this.
Remember the dance language is, that life is.
Remember.
Joy Harjo
"Remember" © Joy Harjo from She Had Some Horses, W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1983
Sacred Circle space delineated in the Canadian Shield near the Haliburton Highlands in Ontario ~ ready to be activated by quiet contemplation, Earth Blessing, grief ritual, edgewalking with the spirits of place, community ceremony and song.
 | Pegi Eyers is the author of "Ancient Spirit Rising: Reclaiming Your Roots & Restoring Earth Community," an award-winning book that explores strategies for intercultural competency, uncolonization, recovering an ecocentric worldview, rewilding, creating a sustainable future and reclaiming peaceful co-existence in Earth Community. Available from Stone Circle Press or Amazon. |
