information from Cherokee Healing and Wellness Coalition (I have been blessed to be a member since 2004)
Charles Hicks, Tsalagi(Cherokee) Vice Chief on the Trail of Tears, August 4, 1838:
"We are now about to take our leave and kind farewell to our native land, the country that the Great Spirit gave our Fathers...that gave us birth...it is with sorrow we are forced to quit the scenes of our childhood...we bid farewell to it and all we hold dear."
Gathering and Homecoming- May 26, 2012
"Many generations of our people share in the great pain and grief carried in our hearts and souls. There is now a revolution taking place throughout Cherokee Country. It is a time of healing, the time to heal our wounds is now. So, we pledge ourselves to free our people from the bondage of poverty, substance abuse, child abuse and all our suffering.
We have arrived at the place where we understand what has to take place for our healing to happen. We know we must find a way to deal with our feelings about the removal from our land, our ceremonies, our language, our culture and its devastating consequences to our people, our families and our children. By finding our way through this immense trauma we are ready to forgive the "unforgivable" and to come back into balance with our hearts, our ways and with the earth. We do this for All Our Relations.
The Cherokee Healing and Wellness Coalition is hosting a historical event on Saturday, May 26, 2012 beginning at 10 a.m. being held on the sacred grounds of Kituah to honor the Cherokees who ...undertake The Journey to Forgiveness and Healing which ..will begin... in Tahlequah, Oklahoma on May 19, 2012. This journey retraces the Northern Route taken in the forced removal of the Cherokees to Oklahoma.
We ask you to join us in this sacred Gathering. Together, we will offer our thanksgiving to Creator, asking for the cleansing Water of Life to flow through us, for the Spirit of the Eternal Flame to embrace us, and drawing us together once again in peace and harmony with All Our Relations and balance with the Universe.
This event is sponsored by the Cherokee Healing and Wellness Coalition in celebration of its 10th Anniversary...The Healing and Wellness Coalition hopes to educate and inform those in attendance how to break the cycle of unresolved grief and trauma and how it affects our everyday lives and families. Our hope and prayer is that this event will be life-changing especially for our children in whom we entrust our future.
Our website is www.cherokeehealing.com You must be registered to attend $75.
