Why are we gathering at McConnell Springs with the Apache Stronghold ?

The Apache Stronghold have asked us to help organize a stop in Lexington, Kentucky for prayers for their journey to the Supreme Court to stop the shattering of human existence and protect Mother Earth. My first thought was to contact a local church willing to share their building to host the event, but then I immediately knew in my heart that this would not be the right place. Although the support of churches is always appreciated, what I'm learning on my spiritual journey with the Apache Stronghold is that we need to move outside the institutional walls and the co-opted structures of most religion to re-connect to what is spiritual and real with Mother Earth, one another, and our own deeply alienated self.

Remembering the First Chapter

First, a gathering at McConnell Springs will allow our community to remember the first chapter of this violent colonial history. Dr. Wendsler Nosie, Sr. says we cannot heal the nation or the planet until we acknowledge the first chapter of this nation's colonial and capitalist history. For us living here in Lexington, Kentucky as one historical narrative reveals, it was at McConnell Springs in 1775 where the first settler built a cabin in order to stake a claim to the land and the water shed around the springs and the Town Branch creek. We know the colonial history here is much more complex and started much earlier, but McConnell Springs provides us with a historical marker to remember and acknowledge the land we are on was stolen and a settler colonial system of violence remains in place that threatens not only the sacred land of the Apache but all of us and Mother Earth including the water in these springs we will gather at.

"We must all decolonize from the intent of how America was founded to enable us to call America home." – Dr. Wendsler Nosie, Sr. (Apache Stronghold)

Remembering Who we Are - One Circle, One Drum, One Prayer

Dr. Wendsler Nosie has taught me through his own example of the need to connect with our Mother Earth in order to remember who we are. He often speaks of the ongoing threat of the colonial and capitalist way of life (death) that alienates us from the earth and from one another so the ongoing violence to the earth and all living beings continues as we forget who we are. Urban and modern life and much of co-opted religion keeps us in this ignorance. So McConnell Springs provides us with a connection to the earth and its sacred water at these unique artisanal springs that emerge from the force of the earth rising up from water flowing between the limestone to pool in this special place. The water then returns to the earth and finds its way out onto the surface as the nearby Townbranch creek which connects to the Elkhorn and then the Kentucky river. Here at the springs we can remember who we are as one circle interconnected with Mother Earth and all our living relatives.

From this place remembering our colonial/capitalist history and remembering once again who we are – we can offer our prayers and blessings to support the Apache Stronghold on the Journey of Prayer to the Supreme Court