Sacred Waters Pilgrimage Journal
with our kindred from Indigenous Environmental Network at Lake Itasca
On the Seventh Full Moon of our journey down the Mississippi River, we held ceremony to complete our pilgrimage on the Winter Solstice in Louisiana, both in New Orleans and in Plaquemines Parish, where the Mississippi meets the Gulf of Mexico.
with extended family, drumming for the Winter Solstice culmination of Sacred Waters Pilgrimage
Reflections
“The Waters know your intentions.”
-Renee Gurneau
It is early morning on the last day of June, and we’re in the last days at the headwaters. We began this journey with 24 hours of driving across a nation alternately siloed in homes and uprising in the streets, still finalizing the adaptations of the vision of 2019 for the realities of 2020.
We opened the pilgrimage on Juneteenth with a land altar and ceremony on a small shore where the river meets the city under a bridge.
Drums and offerings. Songs and prayer.
Gathering at the river’s edge, and wading in the water.
The previous evening, we were received with grace and storytelling into the home of Renee Gurneau, an Anishinaabe elder and wisdom keeper. We spent hours with her in her home that evening, along with two other women, including her daughter, Simone Senogles, who would join us in ceremony at the headwaters. We talked creation stories, popular music, water songs, family, uprisings, justice, and community. We laughed about the ways of tricksters that walk with us and the great mysteries of cable TV remote controls.
We made offerings, we asked permission.
We left that evening feeling full in many ways. We received permission and an expanded circle of community. Renee and her daughter extended calls to women who are water and wisdom keepers and women learning water ceremony. On the day of the summer solstice, we gathered at the headwaters for ceremony, we exchanged songs and gifts, and later conversation and contact information to stay connected with some who we were just meeting that day.
The Mississippi River begins relatively small. Her waters have a strong song, yet gentle flows here in Minnesota. She gains size and force as the river travels south.
This Sacred Waters Pilgrimage, because of the communities on the journey with us, and those in simultaneous ceremony and virtually community conversations, feels like it is following the same pattern.
Medase (thank you).
Gratitude
As our time at the headwaters draws to a close, we reflect with immense gratitude for the Anishinaabe elders, youth, and women who shared ceremony with us and all the wisdom, knowledge, laughter, and prayers offered; for an unforgettable boat ride to the northernmost point of the river, and for the joy of jumping in the water together. Thank you to the many who are trusting us on the journey of this pilgrimage, the water keepers and local communities along the stops, all who are joining us from home, our Gulf Coast Center for Law and Policy partners, and Pilgrimage Circle teams. Thank you to all who are sending offerings and messages with us for the communities where we are traveling and sharing ceremony. Thank you to our families supporting us and holding it down at home during our time away. Thank you to the Ladyslippers, Dragonflies, Eagles, Loons, and Herons who greeted and visited with us over these weeks.
Thank you to the Ancestors and Spirit guides who open the ways for this pilgrimage, who protect and guide us on this journey.
We spent the morning in ceremony opening and clearing the pathways and roads. We completed right at the time you all started in MN. Walking out of the water we continued out through the trees with nature. With plant butterfly and bee relatives affirming us just as they had in our water time. 7 Geese working in collaboration. Waves quieting and crashing passionately against the rocks in tandem with ceremony. Song dance laughter story telling full range of emoting. Reverence and Clarity.
