GAIA MANDALA

Earth Treasure Vase for Mackenzie King Park,
Ottawa River Valley, Ottawa-Gatineau, Canada

Introduction

The 31st Earth Treasure Vase (ETV), the 2nd of the next generation (the second generation) of holy vessels, was buried on the full moon of June 2015 in the un-ceded, un-surrendered territory of the Algonquin Nation. The vase was buried at the same time as the ETV for Gabarnmang, Australia. We give deep gratitude for this land, known today as Ottawa/Gatineau, Canada, for receiving, activating and sustaining the healing emanations of this Earth Treasure Vase.

The steward of the vase, Elizabeth Christine, writes:
‘”Upon receiving this vase, I sensed it singing a song of Peace. I was drawn to the story of the Peace Maker, who unified the Iroquois Nations prior to colonial contact. In November I traveled with the vase to Ontario, visiting the land and waters of the Peace Maker’s life, the vase guiding me to deep roots of peace beneath militaristic societies and to my own indigenous roots beneath colonizer consciousness.’’

The vase was present in Ottawa for the historic Truth and Reconciliation Report, culminating a six-year documentation of the stories of the Indigenous population who survived forced attendance in Canadian Residential Schools.

Elizabeth:
“The healing of the Indigenous people and our (the colonizer’s) relationship with them was a dominant theme working through this vase.

In Ottawa, I was taken to sacred ground near the Chaudiere Falls in the Ottawa River. Indigenous ancestors from across the Americas once made pilgrimage to these falls and prayed into a magnificent swirling vortex at their base, much as we pray into the consecrated vases for the magnification of our prayers. For the First Nations, these falls and the land around them were the heart of our Earth. It was their Mecca.”

The Canadian Earth Treasure Vase seemed destined for the islands in the Ottawa River at the base of Chaudiere Falls – this region being one of the most sacred sites of the Indigenous People. However, because of political strife over whether this site will ever be returned for their use and current Indigenous sensitivity brought forward during the Truth and Reconciliation proceedings, the vase was guided by Grandmother Annie St. Georges to be buried in the Mackenzie King Estate, a beloved public park on the bluff overlooking the Ottawa River Valley. The way opened, as the park director and staff unanimously agreed to receive the vase and offered a location where the vase would rest undisturbed for all time.

Elizabeth:
“Roger Fleury, an Algonquin teacher, led us past factory ruins, which have been incorporated into the design of the Peace Center, to a patch of Earth on the corner of Victoria Island. Before us, he lit a sacred fire containing ashes from a lineage of sacred fires. Through the fire, we connected to the Song of the Earth and to the vortex of Indigenous prayers; calling forth the Culture of Peace, the Circle of All Nations with such strength we were inside its reality.’

On the opposite bank within view, stood the Canadian War Museum, built with money the government had originally designated for the Peace Center; embodying the human commitment to war and barriers not yet let down.

Though the way may be challenging, this sacred heart of the world calls me to make the journey and pilgrimage once again from New Mexico to Chaudiere Falls. It invites this Earth Treasure Vase and all our prayers for a Vision of Peace to be planted in that soil.

I pray that right relationship may be found on this Island of Peace and for the rivers to carry our prayers to the world.’’

What follows is a personal account of Elizabeth Christine in which she shares her experience of the burial ceremony of the Earth Treasure Vase for Ottawa / Gatineau.

Once through l’Arc De Triomphe, we passed under another natural arch on our way to ceremony and were blessed by a driving rain that turned gentle as we made our way towards the fulfillment of our prayers. Just as the vase took her place in the mandala, the sun broke through, giving herself fully to the work of turning the social tide toward Indigenous and environmental justice.

Many centuries of peace in the Great Lakes region were followed by more than a century of war as British and French colonists moved into the area to claim territory. Much of the US Revolutionary War to gain freedom from Britain was fought along the St. Lawrence River and on Lake Ontario. Battles between Canada, Britain and the US drew the Great Nations into war and split the tribes as promises were made for the protection or return of their homelands.

Although the newly formed Canadian and US governments drew from the model of government which held the Iroquois Confederacy in long-standing peace, these indigenous populations were not included in representation by either government until recently.

The Canadian vase is calling us to awaken our connection with the template of peace established and lived by the Iroquois Confederacy. In every story of the Peacemaker, it is said that there will be a time that he will return. This time may be now.