Tracey Whiteye
On September 21, we and about 50 others had the distinct pleasure and privilege to celebrate the Fall Equinox by walking a spiritual journey around Victoria Park in London, ON, led by Tracey Whiteye, a local Indigenous Woman helper and a second-generation survivor of a mother who had been in a residential school.
Tracey's infectious way of engaging us with Creator in expressing gratitude for all of creation was both respectful and so down to earth.
We gathered in a circle around Tracey's Indigenous bundle representing the ancestors. A Metis helper woman placed four strawberries, the "heart" berry, in the four directions on the bundle. A woman residential school survivor was there and was so gratefully and gracefully acknowledged by Tracey.
Tracey went on to thank Creator for the Water which was carried by another Metis helper woman.
Water is life for us, she went on to say and stressed its importance when we are firstborn. It was especially meaningful when she and others of us who knew it, sang the water song together.
What struck me was how she prayed the ceremony, honoring the four directions, the stages of growth through which we all travel, all the while, walking us through those four directions.
May WE, settler folk continue to be gifted by women like Tracey who invite us into their sacred spaces. This truly was a sacred encounter of Creator through the experience of being together in a circle in the beginning and ending with the circle formation. We are all equal by being invited into the Circle.
Let's live that belief in our lives, as Tracey shows us.
- Sister Kathleen Lichti, CSJ
The Who/What/Why of our Walk:
A spiritual journey around Victoria Park led by Tracey Whiteye
WHY
to connect us all and future generations to the land that belongs to the Creator;
to launch Greening Sacred Spaces (London); and
to support and advance the City of London’s Climate Emergency Action Plan.
WHO
led M. Tracey Whiteye, Oshkaabewis Kwe, which means a woman helper or
messenger in Objibwe language. Tracey is a wholistic practitioner, researcher
and educator.
WHAT
honour mother earth and future generations with story telling, songs and
prayers
share the water ceremony
to honour the four directions around the sacred fire;
engage the sacred bundles and other indigenous women who are Berry Fasters;
announce the new Greening Sacred Spaces initiative
and to announce the call for submissions for two x $500 Climate Action London grants, which address London’s Climate Emergency Action Plan and aligns with the Global Sustainable Development Goals.
““It’s education that got
us into this mess.
It’s education that
will get us out of it.””