2020 SacredWater Prayer Walk during the pandemic

Grandmother Carole says: “I invite each of you to do the same!”

Overview

The SacredWater needs our attention now more than ever. Here in the United States, we had a huge victory when the Supreme Court surprisingly upheld the Clean Water Act, but the Trump administration has suspended crucial rules of the Environmental Protection Agency, putting all our waterways under increased risk from pollution discharges from all kinds of factories, industries, power plants, towns, and so on.

Water has been weaponized by white nationalists who deliberately poisoned Black residents of Flint MI and continue to exploit and oppress Black Americans in cities across Michigan. In a recent webinar on the theme of transformation, Sherri Mitchell (Penobscot) requested that everyone learn the law about water in your town, your county, your state. For instance, do you have the right to store water from your own land? Who ‘owns’ the rights to water flowing from natural water sources in your watershed? Where does the water that runs in your home come from?

This is a life-and-death contest for our survival and the health of Mother Earth. We are winning in many places where we organize effectively, such as removing the Klamath Dam in California — this is not an impossible fight! But we must organize: we need to

• draw attention to the SacredWater through Prayer Walks along waterways near you (guidelines below)
• encourage your friends and family and colleagues and neighbors to learn about the water situation where they live
• share information about water-related issues to our Facebook Page, WaterIsLifeWalk
• find and join water advocacy and protection networks in your region, for example
  • Save the Sound (Connecticut)
  • River Stories series along the Connecticut River: Vermont, Massachusetts and Connecticut
  • Newburgh NY has a drinking water coalition
  • Riverkeeper is working to protect the entire length of the Hudson River
  • the Deschutes Estuary Restoration Team in the Olympia Washington
  • and more, all across the country and the globe
• comment on blogposts here and help us build the conversation and strengthen the network
• follow and share us on social media — Facebook, Twitter and Instagram
• send us information about what you’re learning: info@waterislifewalk.org

Protocol for your own Prayer Walk for the Sacred Water

Walk alone or with small groups (no more than four), maintaining physical distance among all of you at all times of at least six feet.

Select waterways close to your home and walk as close to the edge of the water as you can.

While Walking, watch the Water, look at the Trees and all the Plant People, notice all the other forms of Life.

Try to sense the communication happening all around you — the ways that you are included in the communal experience of being alive.

Keep yourself hydrated, rest as often as needed, don’t rush. The goal is not distance; the goal is to let the Water feel how much you care.

Optional:

You may burn sage to smudge yourself in advance, carry water and/or carry fire while you Walk in Prayer.

You may carry tobacco and sprinkle it where you wish, such as, at the origin/source of the river or stream, when tributaries join (a confluence), at sewage discharge places or industrial sites, where historical events of trauma have occurred, any place that you recognize needs healing, and any time you have a special experience — which could be grief, joy, connection, memory or re-membering, an encounter with an animal or plant, a realization of beauty — the criteria are up to you.

Create and share your own ‘report’ of your experience and share it with us!

Uncí Carole’s ‘Daily’ Report

As frequently as possible, Grandmother Carole will provide updates on her SacredWater is Life Prayer Walk.