Ahneen, Boozhoo, Greetings,
I wanted to blog my journey to December 21, 2012. This day has so much significance for me as I will be turning 43, but that is not the only reason. This will also be the last day of the 12 Day Festivities to coincide with the end of the current 52 year cycle. Moreover, this ceremony is a re-enactment of our Anishnaabe creation story that I have been heading since the year 2000. There is more to this ceremony than just the appearances but the review of traditional indigenous knowledge and the prophecies of our peoples. This ceremony was traditionally done every four years in conjunction with the leap year that also happens to coincide with the 52 year cycle on the Venus calendar. These dates and the elapse of time have long been observed by my people and members of the Midewiwin society. I come from a long line of members of this society. Our goal has always been simple to preserve the ways of knowledge that our ancestors carried in the form of birch bark scrolls and to bring this forth upon the beginning of the 8th Prophecy. I am not a member as I follow the prophecies of the my ancestors. In part, very briefly, the 7th and 8th prophecy direct that all knowledge is to be revealed and we are to make our way out of isolation that the time has come for this knowledge to be spoken of once again and the vail of secrecy and isolation no longer be. Thus, this great society in its current form is no longer necessary. For years, members of my family practiced and learned this knowledge in secrecy and isolation. As the mid 1900's approached it became apparent that even the old protocols were adapted to allow women to learn. My teacher was the first woman taught outside of the usual protocols of waiting until a woman approached menopause in order to learn at the same level as men. But the eldership of my grandfathers, great uncles, and elders saw what was before them an opportunity for this knowledge to live on.
My people the Ojibway aka Jimendamaag - the memorizers - once had vast territories from the gulf of Mexico, to the Great Lakes and along the Mississippi towards the Ottawa Valley and to the Great Plains. My ancestors were the Mound Builders. So many have contributed from across generations to make this possible. So I am sharing this journey towards a grand celebration. I am also in the course of bringing the writing of my teacher to print. This was her wish to write a book to share this knowledge. Our motivation to ensure the survival and transmission of our Traditional Indigenous Knowledge to our own people but also to those that share our homelands with us.
As we know, re-unification of the Indigenous peoples from the America with the peoples from the East came with great change and with it suffering, pain, hope, and unity. The circle is now complete. Many nations and peoples now inhabit this great turtles back, North America, which was once known as the Civil Land of the Turtle. This title was in recognition of our mythological stories of a great battle but also to honour the Great and Ancient Civilizations of our ancestors who left us with the tools, knowledge, and capacity to live in a civil way with one another, the animal world, the sky world, the earth, and creation. This knowledge in part gives to us the basis to attain our potential as the true human beings in the time that we have in this world that we are first and foremost spiritual beings with unlimited potential.
This is my beginning to what I envision will be a remarkable point of change and celebration as we move towards gaining honour with Creation and becoming one human family.
Robin
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