The Land Dreams in Ceremonies: Reparation Ceremony #5 *Cherry Point*

 

Gifts for the Land: Living for 5 months next to the ocean was framed by the rhythms of tides and moon.  Nightly walks to the water’s edge revealed a new beach each time. One tree along the high-tide line became my companion.  Strips of cloth were tied to some of its lower branches for wind and waters to play with – each binding carrying a prayer for protection and well-being.  The gift Motanka carried prayer-ties on her body, and a longer tie was offered to a bush.

Natural Dying: During winter, gathering from land meant finding two handfuls of acorns and an oak branch blown to the ground with a few older leaves still attached.  I also made use of marigold flowers dried and stored from summer, onion- and avocado-skins, used coffee grounds, green tea, oxidized copper, and iron.

The process of making dye takes patience, a willingness to fail, and some creative intuition.  Ratios of plant to water for dye baths was “felt” rather than measured.  Eco-prints were “artful experiments” rather than precise creations.

Pysanka, Gift for the Land: Mother Makosh (symbolized by the “x” with “◊” in the spaces between lines of the “x”) is a powerful aspect of the Great Mother, protecting fertility and life-giving abilities.  She also extends protection and stability – in this case to the ocean waters and surrounding lands.

This talisman was thrown directly into the ocean, which was at high tide during the ceremony. Burned herbs and seashell were buried under the sand, and smoke mixed with prayers drifted in the air as another gift to the surroundings.

Ceremony: I am cautious with the use of the word.  There is a history in Ukraine of suppression and criminalization of customs, rituals, ceremonies, language, clothing, and crafting.  Erasure of culture is a technique used worldwide to oppress and colonize.  The Quw’utsun’ lands are no exception to these experiences.  I am not engaging in a ceremonial tradition long passed down from my cultural elders.  Rather, these personal land-reparation ceremonies are born out of piecing together pre-Christian practices of my ancestors (via academic research and working with mentors), along with a deep listening to and direct relationship with the land and spirits of the land, including dreamtime communication.

Shadow Walking: During nightly beach-visits, I began to make art in the sand using stones, shells, sticks, and other beach-findings ~ each item representing a prayer or intention, The resulting shape would be washed over by ocean waves with the next high tide, carrying my prayers with it.