 GLOBAL INITIATIVES: Vision & Mission
Grail Springs is dedicated to the expansion of global wellness, for the individual and for the planet. We believe in a fundamental truth that humanity needs to be well in order for Gaia to be well. Our daily efforts towards this vision starts at Grail Springs Spa Canada, Global Centre for Holistic Health & Wellness.
To expand our mission, we have begun an initiative to form alliances and partnerships with other globally minded people and projects. We recognize that we are part of an entire system that depends on the healthy integration of body, mind, heart and spirit. We look to create and facilitate holistic systems that can heal and transform lives, using recognized leading edge sciences in mind consciousness, human performance, organic resources and ancient wisdoms held by the Elders of our humanity. We believe it is our willing embracement and intelligent integration of all these gifts of knowledge and wisdom that is key to our survival and our ability to create a healthy and vibrant world for our children and our children's children to flourish in.
Fire and Ice Ceremony for the Earth
July 19-21, 2009
Held Near the Icecap at Kangerlussuaq
West Coast, Greenland
Hosted by 'The Elders’ Federation of Greenland
Grail Springs is proud to be participating in what could be one of the most significant planetary events of our century.
Location for the 2009 Fire and Ice Ceremony for the Earth |
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The Fire and Ice Ceremony for the Earth will be a powerful three-day cross-cultural gathering of deliberation, ceremony, and celebration, the objective of which touches the welfare of the world. A principal objective is the return of the sacred fire in fulfillment of prophetic tradition. For the first time in memory the sacred fire will be home. The ceremony will revolve around the physical fire but the most important element will be the spiritual fire, the spirit of which the physical fire is a symbol. It is a symbol of countless generations of indigenous people who have met around it to consider how to live well on the land given to them and how to relate well to the Creator and to one another. The lessons of the ice will also be prominent, both in helping us all recognize our common humanity, and in developing common perspectives raised by the melting ice and global climate change. |
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Union of Indigenous People
The Fire and Ice Ceremony will be an historic occasion, uniting for the first time the spiritual leaders of North America with their counterparts from the Far North – thus completing the spiritual circle of Native people. The Ceremony will help northern indigenous people to meet challenges of survival that are closing in on them, challenges that were met by their southern counterparts generations ago but that continue to threaten all indigenous people and the wisdom that they bring to the world.
The Ceremony will bring indigenous people from the four directions together to reinforce each other and to develop a solid front in the struggle to save the heritage and pass it along to coming generations. That heritage includes values which have sustained indigenous people over eons of time, and which are increasingly threatened in the modern world. The sustaining values - faith, thankfulness, love, and respect for all Creation - are what the sacred fire brings home to the heart.
Cross-Cultural Union
Forward thinking and influential members of world societies are invited to participate in the Fire and Ice Ceremony for the Earth. It will serve as an important function in bringing attention to the impact of global climate change, as well as new recognition and respect for indigenous people and their perspectives. The Ceremony will add the traditional indigenous voice to the dialogue on global climate change and care of the earth in general, providing a dimension that has been missing and desperately needed.
To have leading mainstream citizens together with indigenous leaders discussing both the current and potential impact of global climate change, and coming together in a spiritual way to consider required paradigm changes, all in the shadow of the Icecap, will have a major effect in bringing the world’s attention to its most pressing problem. Evaluations of the consequences of climate change range from momentous to catastrophic. But in spite of considerable media coverage in recent months the public has not yet grasped its reality, in part because political voices have downplayed it. Because of its unique elements, The Fire and Ice Ceremony in Greenland will have an important effect on world opinion.
Agenda
The Fire and Ice Ceremony for the Earth will be held in a tipi and tent encampment on a large lake near the Icecap and 40 kilometers from the town of Kangerlussuaq on the west coast of Greenland. The daily agenda for the gathering follows traditional ceremonial protocol with the focal point of activities being under an arbor with a firepit in the center. The primary endeavors will include the reunion of the Elders, the ceremonial return of the sacred fire, deliberations and prayers revolving around the Ice, the earth and global climate change, as well as feasting and celebration.
The tentative agenda is as follows:
- Arrival Day: Welcome Home! Delegates from around the world arrive at camp to greet one another and get acquainted.
- Day 1: Fire Ceremony begins. The prophecy of the sacred fire is told. The spiritual Elders speak, followed by all people of the world. Celebration begins: round dance – filling the circle around the fire. Finally, the feast begins, consisting of: musk ox, caribou, char, salmon.
- Day 2: Elders from the Far North speak of the Ice. Procession (in silence) to the Ice Cap where the Ice Ceremony occurs. Walk back to camp for feast.
- Day 3: Native and non-Native leaders speak about the spiritual implications of global climate change. Small group deliberation sessions. Closing plenary ceremony; closing the fire.
- Departure Day: Break camp.
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For more information or to register for the Fire and Ice Ceremony for the Earth, please contact Alice Miller fireandice2009@gmail.com
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There is little doubt that global climate change is the greatest threat to our way of life and to our survival. Largely ignored by political and other power structures worldwide, indigenous people of the North live with its reality every day. Participants in the Ceremony will be in a unique position to alert the world in a compelling way. During the event, a dramatic statement from indigenous and non-indigenous leaders regarding the threat of global climate change will be issued to the world, helped by world media.
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