HEARTS OF THE ROUND TABLE

This weekend  Winnipeg was the destination for some of the most powerful indigenous healers and intellects from around the world. Gathering at the Windy Hills Learning Center were; Ashanincan shaman Juan Flores Salazar & his family from Mayantuyacu in the Peruvian amazon, Swiss anthropologist and author Jeremy Narby his family, Adine Garazzi an Italian Master of Ceremonial Architecture, Fidel Fajardo a Peruvian archeologist and Juan Jauregui an apprenticing Ayahuasquero from Argentina.  These minds were welcomed with the open hearts of Cree Elders Lyna Hart and Wilfred Buck as well as a handful of other healers and enthusiasts. The Nosis Gathering organized by Jim Saunders and Andre Clement focused on developing a lasting and meaningful exchange of knowledge and culture between indigenous and non-indigenous communities from both North and South America. 

With twenty-five speakers and six languages present, there seemed to be only one voice with a few common themes;

 Love and care for thyself, do not separate thyself, and prepare a humble and hopeful path for our children.

Mike, whose spirit name is Club Foot Wolf shared, “The only way we can have peace outside of ourselves is to have it inside of ourselves. Take care to look after your heart, body, mind & spirit. Acceptance is key for inner peace to prevail. Part of this peace comes from knowing our ancestry. There can be great confusion and anger from not knowing what or who we belong to.” Mike continued to say that many people look to the wrong symbols of power to find a connection, “A True Warrior is someone who is willing to give up his or her own life in order to save another. A true warrior is a protector. Life is Sacred.”

Rob, whose spirit name is Red Wolf,  stated, “Peace is to have connections to all things, all people, my past, my future, my blood, my ancestors, all walks of life. Connection equals Compassion. Honour all life. Honour the ancestors that prayed for us thousands of years ago. We see greed, we see the struggles, the illusion of power. Greed just takes, it never gives back. We need to restore the balance, but cannot do it alone. We need to help those that want to help us. We need to accept our spiritual responsibilities.”

Brian, Eagle Warrior Man, stated “In order to find ecological sustainable growth we need to listen to our hearts. We need to remove the things that have created separateness, such as our egos, in order to strengthen our connection to all living things.”  His partner, Shining Moon Woman, continued with, " We have to believe that peace is possible. Do not resist. Open your heart."

Cree Elder Wilfred Buck spoke slowly and powerfully. His message was this, “Everyone has their own way to knowledge. How people conduct themselves with what they professed have been my greatest teachers.” Buck made it loud and clear that the earth has changed for thousands of years and will continue to change and survive with or without us. “The world is constantly changing. Everything is in constant change. We must move forward with the understanding that things change. What is traditional changes. You need to be comfortable with change. Change is constant. We are not really that important in the grand scheme of things. If we want change it will come through our children. If we want peace we must project peace.” Buck’s wife Connie, Bear Spirit Woman, followed up by saying, “Lets put our minds together to see what kind of life we can make for our children. We must look beyond our ego, beyond our selfishness. We are connected as a whole world.”

If I may interject here, I would like to add that sometimes it takes being selfish to be giving. Sometimes it takes separation to find connectedness.  My greatest strengths have come from isolating myself through meditation and through time spent alone in nature. It is in these places and spaces that I am able to explore my own fears and sadness with a ray of light. It is through awareness and acceptance of myself that I become a conscious participant in the collective whole.  It is through positive self-reinforcement that I can bring positive energy to all that is.  It is important to raise consciousness to a level where the majority have hope for our future. What the majority wants, the majority will manifest. 

Juan Jauregui from Argentina added, “When I began to heal myself, others began to heal themselves in my presence. It was through love that the healing took place. This is the best way to start healing ourselves as individuals and as families- love. We can first start by forgiving ourselves and forgiving others.”

World renowned author and anthropologist Jeremy Narby brought forth an intellectual insight, “Separation is something that plagues European & Northern cultures. Separation from our beings, our bodies. It divides us. Separation is not the root of all evil. It has brought us science. The instinctive tendency to separate is hidden in the words we are using and we don’t even realize it. Nature. Nature is a concept that has been developed by people who have separated themselves from everything natural. There is no concept for nature in Amazonian indigenous cultures.” He continued with, “Science now confirms that we have real physical kinship with all species. There is nothing that separates us from all that is. The separation only exists in the minds of the people who believe it."

Maestro Juan Flores Salazar from the Peruvian Amazon spoke about love as the key to change, “To me, the whole of nature is the greatest temple to honour. Apart from listening to the plants the hardest part is how to go forward, how to behave as human beings. When we are humble we open more hearts. What we can try and do is practice a little love every day. It is useless to speak of love today if we loose it tomorrow. Love is simple, but keeping it can be difficult. We can all maintain and follow our paths with love.” He finished by saying, “ We need to march beyond what is expected of us.”

Cree Elder Lyna Hart  shared, "Everyone was placed on this earth to bring about change. The most important thing is to bring about change through our children. You’ve got to humble yourself. We are here to embrace each other. Acknowledge both male and female. Honour one another”

Adine Garrazi who flew all the way from Italy to participate in this event, sums it up nicely, " It is not so important to discuss all of this. It is more important to do it. To live it. It may not be easy, but it is in the challenge.  The bigger the challenge the bigger the result."