4

4 GROUNDCOVER NEWS EARTH DAY Water for life: a message from the Kogi Years ago, back in 1999, I came across a powerful film, “From the Heart of the World, the Elder Brothers Warning, Kogi Message to Humanity. Big Brother talks to Little Brother,” that shook my world perspective to the core. As an Indian, forced modern through adoption, I have tried to come to terms with this modern hypocrisy around mass consumption — trying to divorce ourselves from our excesses while at the same time crying “Save the Planet, Save the Earth.” We play games with our mind once a year on Earth Day, as we give to this charity or that organization, and in the end we can say “I did my part.” Yet, all the while, the plastic island out in the ocean is becoming a new continent of insanity. Kogi Message To Humanity I now take out segments of this film with my own ideas and my own thoughts. The Kogi lived for thousands of years in Colombia — both the coastal regions and the high Sierra mountains. The Kogi Indians lived in a holistic balance with other nations known as the Tianu. These nations lived in peace and harmony. In the words of the Kogi: Little Brother once lived here, but was removed by Creator. Away to his own lands, far away across the Big Waters away from Big Brother. But you came back, and with this, all was destroyed. Within Native American natural worldview, we are the guardians of Mother Earth. We feel like the Kogi — so the Hopi, the Kaska and Havasapi, too. Across the Americas, our voice has never been heard, because of the harshness of the truth. The Sacred Message is: We all need water. Humans need water. They must have water to live. The Earth is the same, water is sacred, but now it's weak and diseased. The animals are dying, the trees are drying up, becoming ill; new illnesses will appear with absolutely no cures or medicines. For them the reason is Younger Brother’s modern humanity: Violations of fundamental principles, total drilling into the Earth. Mining extraction of petrol, minerals stripped away from within the world. This is in fact destroying all of the world, and damaging the Earth. “BBC, tell Younger Brother to open your eyes.” You, Younger Brother, you have returned — you have come back to our high mountain lands. We wish to be apart from you, like the beams of our bridge. Apart, away, but you have returned and now we must speak to you. The Last Kaska family emerged from the woods in 1970 CINDY GERE Groundcover vendor No. 279 In 1970, the last Kaska Dene Nation family of Shamans emerged from out of the forest of the Yukon, surprising even the most seasoned Royal Canadian Mounted Police at that time. They became known as the Greenway family. They had lived high in the backcountry of the bush, on a plateau between two big mountains, living off the land and choosing to live a life of serenity and peace in contrast to modern ways. Hunting, fishing and trapping, with only 35 members of the family, ages one to 75. When the harsh abusive boarding schools were abolished, this family emerged out of the bush, choosing a new time with modern ways. The Kogi choose to stay modern, many tribes wish they had the same legacy of the Kogi nation. But the message is the same… I once had the privilege to drink pure crystal clear aquifer water, I never tasted anything so clean in my whole life. My Nahe mother gave it to me on our Tribal Lands. She showed me this cabin deep in the woods of the road. She told me "You, come here. You live here. The water is the best in this place." It was her old childhood home. I often dream of moving home, to that small strip of land. But like so many, it’s just a dream. Water is life The Kogi message is real. We are losing our water now faster than ever, and nobody understands more than the Kogi. We are now seeing what the Kogi were, in fact, talking about. The lands of the Kogi are drying up in their high Sierra mountains, where there were once glacial waters and vast snow plains. In the last five years, it has been truly challenging. To say we are in fact in a water crisis is putting it mildly. All last year, we watched as the Hoover Dam water line went lower than it has ever been in years. This has affected millions of people in five states. I feel that in the next five to 20 years, we will see real water shortages. This sacred planet has a finite amount of this resource. Yet we still use it with great disrespect. Water is running out and the Kogi tried to warn us in 1992 … yet we choose not to listen. When shall we listen to the warning? When no one can drink a drop of water? Let us see, water is truly sacred, the same way we see our religions. Perhaps then we could truly care as we do for God. APRIL 21, 2023 Awakening sound Years ago (in college), when I read of Thoreau putting his whole body on the ground — immersed deeply in the grass and bathing in the sun and sky and earth — I never dreamt that one day I would be living an adventure that would, in an unusual way, allow me to realize the gift of the earth. When I became "homeless" however, after 18-plus years of a difficult living situation, and two low-income rental situations that were beyond less than ideal, the beautiful, peaceful haven of the woods I now reside in received me. I have literally hugged and slept under trees; looked up to find stars and bats and birds already fondly or curiously noticing me; and have been cradled by higher ground and low-lying trees and bushes. Sure, I have not neglected to use the resources from my earnings to wisely create an all-weather-proof habitation to always have warmth in the cold and dry in the rain. Also, I do have life goals that likely eventually will bring my person and life back living in "my woods." It's a special, magical world of its own that deserves to be loved and respected. The air is even much lighter, healthier and easier to breathe. There, in "my" woods, I am not "homeless." I'm AMANDA GALE Groundcover vendor No. 573 to traditional "indoors." However, I am doing my best to imbue my every moment really living amidst and with nature. I feel God's presence and experience the joy and friendship of those trees, grass blades, bugs, chipmunks and squirrels. (My pet turtle Ticia is convinced that from her I must've realized the advantages of living in her natural environment.) There is an untouched beauty and peace and tranquility that is found experiencing God, being renewed, energizing and seeking the next fresh experiences and life adventures that I'm asking God to ultimately bring me to. I am so empowered, as I seek more paid work hours, continuing those I have now and my volunteering. Did I ever really hear before here? The enchanting sounds of amphibians barking out their own telegraphy; birds singing exotically, the chorus of the wind — fierce at times, gentle at other quiet moments. I pause seeking to being as best I can to receive these calls, to return to what these trees and stars and creatures are saying: praise to God and care deeply for these woods, animals and our fellow humans. After all, I've had the privilege of getting "up close and personal" with the awe and beauty of ice storms. Each day is revealing, inviting, full of wonder, grace and mystery. There is a mystical quality to the semi-hidden pathways, the very ground itself and the play of light or surround of dark. There is an aura — whether misty or clear. I am strengthened, healed, renewed, re-invigorated and recommissioned to bring what these woods are giving me, to others also. This conscience tempers my ecstatic discoveries with the desire to find ways to reach out and connect with others, giving and receiving to enrich our lives from and for each other, in ways that can't otherwise occur. Didn't Frost seek to persuade us, "We were the land's, before the land was ours"? The moon reaches her beams down at nightfall, assuring me I am hearing and heard. I just feel plain GRATEFUL! I just think; I would never have had the opportunity for this BLESSING if I hadn't been "homeless."

5 Publizr Home