We call upon the Earth,
Our home planet,
With its beautiful depths and soaring heights,
Its vitality and abundance of life,
And together we ask her to teach us and show us the way.
We call upon the mountains,
The cascades and the Olympics,
The high green valleys and meadows filled with wildflowers,
The snows that never melt,
The summits of intense silence,
And we ask that they teach us and show us the way.
We call upon the waters that rim the Earth,
Horizon to horizon,
The flow in our rivers and streams that fall upon our gardens and fields,
And we ask that they teach us and show us the way.
We call upon the land which grows our food,
The nurturing soil,
The fertile fields,
The abundant gardens and orchards,
And we ask that they teach us and show us the way.
We call upon the forests,
The great trees reaching strongly to the sky with Earth in their roots and the heaven in their branches,
The fir and the pine and the cedar,
And we ask them to teach us and show us the way.
We call upon the creatures of the fields and forests and the seas,
Our brothers and sisters,
The wolves and deer,
The eagle and dove,
The great whales and the dolphin,
The beautiful orca and salmon who share our Northwest home,
And we ask them to teach us and show us the way.
We call upon all those who have lived on this Earth,
Our ancestors and our friends,
Who have dreamed the best for future generations and upon whose lives our lives are built,
And with thanksgiving we call upon them to teach us and show us the way.
And lastly,
We call upon all that we hold most sacred,
The presence and power,
The great spirit of love and truth which flows through all the universe to be with us,
To teach us and show us the way.
Since time immemorial,
Chinookan peoples have resided along the lower and middle Columbian River in the river's gorge near the present town of Dallas,
Oregon,
Downstream west of the river's mouth and along adjacent portions from the coasts,
From the Tillamook Head of present-day Oregon in the south,
North to Walapa Bay in southwest Washington.
Since the 20th century,
The Chinookan Indian nation has engaged a continuing effort to secure formal recognition,
Conducting research and developing documentation to demonstrate its history.
They are referred to in government and historic accounts,
But treaties signed at Tansey Point in 1851 were not acted upon by Congress through a formal ratification process.
This inaction caused the Chinookan territories defined in the treaties to remain unseated.
Nevertheless,
These territories were taken by the federal government.
If Congress had formally ratified these treaties,
A reservation would have been established,
And which would have meant automatic recognition.
Source Wikipedia.
We hope you've enjoyed this Earth Prayer and this Earth Blessing.
We're so grateful for the diversity of wisdom traditions that have inhabited and continue to thrive and flourish on this Earth.
May their teachings help to evoke our own deep knowing and our advocacy for our beautiful home planet.
Thanks for listening.
