You are invited to participate in the Stone Mountain 2020 Weather Ceremony.
There is not a heart left unstirred by what has been unfolding in Australia. The suffering of the animals and the images of Mother Earth being ravaged take our breath away. And now, we are seeing photographs of renewal: the greening of pastures and trees and kangaroos literally dancing in the rains. What does all of that mean for us here? Can we help transform that loss into awakening to the lessons that nature has to teach us about balance, bringing us the life-giving waters and beneficial weather to our region?
We are extraordinarily blessed to have been given a sacred ceremony to build and maintain right relationship with the weather and the divine natural world in the springtime at Stone Mountain, located just east of Atlanta, GA. This sacred weather mountain, also known as Tsantawu, influences the weather in a large portion of the southeastern US. Tsantawu has allowed us to petition him for the beneficial weather on behalf of our people at this time. Please visit sacredstonemountain.org, to learn more about how this amazing unfolding came to pass.
We can recall the achingly parched landscapes in North Georgia and the surrounding region almost 20 years ago when streambeds and wells went dry, water levels in the lakes and ponds dwindled with the worst drought in more than 100 years. This ceremony helped bring back the life giving waters. This is the ancient cycle of sacred reciprocity well-known to and practiced by the original peoples of the land. And it is the continuance of the ceremony that keeps things in a good way.
We, too, can remember the fires that swept through Western North Carolina and parts of TN and GA, in 2016. What we learned from this was that once a sacred mountain has been engaged and petitioned, and prayers for rains have been answered, there is a need for the people to express their deep and continuing gratitude.
Everyone, yes everyone, has an opportunity to participate in supporting the work at Stone Mountain. We invite you to engage in a way that truly honors this miraculous opportunity that we have been given at this time. Please… sit by a candle, pray, meditate, feel into your intuition or however you access your deepest knowing and explore how you can be part of this redemptive tapestry of healing, connection and profoundly rewarding service that benefits us now… and for generations to come.
Do you Hear the Call to Help our People – Here are 5 important ways you can locally help.
- Ritual Team: The Tsantawu Council is accepting applications for those who feel called to perform the Ceremony. Currently we have ritual team members (referred to as “walkers”) who reside in Florida, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Maryland and Colorado in addition to Georgia, North Carolina and Tennessee. The Ritual Team arrives in Carrollton, GA the evening of March 31st for a week of preparation and departs Stone Mountain the afternoon of Friday, April 10. Please click here to request an application if you feel called to step onto a path that bestows great meaning and purpose to one’s life and brings enormous blessings to our people. Applications must be returned by Friday, February 7, 2020 to be considered for this spring.
- Support Team: The success of this Ceremony is literally contingent on the sacrifice, hard work and dedication of the Support Team. These people are the backbone of this ceremony. Those people who have participated previously on Support Team share that their lives have been tremendously blessed by serving in this way. It is a five-day commitment: April 6-10. To learn more about serving on the Support Team, write to: info@sacredstonemountain.org.
- Cook Team: If you live in the Asheville, Chapel Hill, Maggie Valley, Greensboro, Oak Ridge, or Carrollton communities, you are invited to participate in local cook days to prepare food for the ceremony. If you would be willing to help in this way, please click here.
- Scholarships and Financial Support: Every year we receive requests for financial assistance to help people serve on Support Team. This is a foundational way of helping us to ensure that we have a minimum of 40 people serving in these critical roles. Often, people are willing to help in this way, but do not have the financial wherewithal to participate. You can help make that happen. We also have costs for storage, wood, tarps, and other supplies essential in conducting this ceremony. Please share what you can by clicking here.
- Fall Harvest Festival: Please mark your calendars now for our Fall Harvest Festival: Saturday, September 26-Sunday, September 27, 2020. The mountain has called for 200 people to participate in this expression of Thanksgiving as part of this cycle of petitioning for the rains in the spring and giving gratitude in the fall.
We looking forward to hearing from you and thank you in advance for your participation and support.
Warmly,
The Tsantawu Council
Sherry Boatright, Cindy Fogle, Alison Arnold, Robin Lockwood, Jane Meadows, Jane Wollack, Laurie Perla, Linda Azar and Sally Wagoner-Council Emerita