About Uncí Carole

“Water has been my teacher, my healer, my comforter,
and is the very source of my life.”

Carole has Penobscot lineage through her mom’s mother but was not raised in the tribe. Her grandmother did teach her at least one prayer and possibly other cultural rituals but never explained them as cultural heritage. In her 30s, Carole found an old family Bible that told the truth. She learned more of her Grandmother’s story and began a path of reclamation. At the age of 35 she began to decolonize her ways of thinking and being.

“As a mother of two and grandmother of four, I came to honor the Elders in my life who have chosen to see my heart and share knowledge and lifeways with me along this journey we call life. When Sacred Pipes were passed to me, I learned that their teachings are in fact responsibilities to the People: to the Seven Generations coming up behind me. Bundles are not things, they are responsibilities.

“I have been honored to have many teachers along the Čhaŋkú Lúta (Red Road) and began walking the Wiwáŋyaŋg Wačhípi (Sundance) way of life in 1999.”

Carole is a Pipe Carrier and Bundle Keeper. Carole was taken to the Water while on her Hanblecheya (vision quest). In 2011, she danced her last Sundance and began her journey for the SacredWater. Inspired by the Water Walks of Grandmother Josephine Mandamin and the words and work of Grandmothers Mona Polacca and Agnus Pilgrim, Carol took up the call of Grandmother Mona Polacca for all women to come back to the Water.

Carole walks to help heal the SacredWater and rebuild the human-to-water connection.