What does “International Women’s Day” mean for each woman? What is the reason for having such a day? On a grand scale, it is an attempt to reach out to all women and men to understand what violence against women means.

It is intolerable even in our First Nation communities that violence against women exists. It goes against our Cree Society and against our ancestors traditional teachings before which guided us prior to colonization.

I will tell you of a dream I had and it took some time for me to understand it. It must mean something to have been given this message in the dream:

The year was 1994, the season was early summer and I was in Toronto. I was ready to head home for the summer to Fort Albany. This was my usual practice, to get away from the hot city and go home for summer.

Anyhow, one night I was extremely tired and I fell asleep. Earlier in the day, I was disturbed about some youths’ behaviours. I could not understand why youth continued to behave the way they did despite guidance at home and from teachings they learned from Elders in the community.

It is true, Elders always spoke to young people in the ‘rez’ back then. They didn’t lecture, they simply talked about their way of life when they were growing up. That was how they taught us, in a quiet and subtle way.

There was no blaming us for our behavior, but their silent coaching was a form of discipline, it was in our heads and like seeds they began to grow and spread knowledge until we understood. Many of us who chose to listen to these teachings live a pretty good life – at least we pass the knowledge on to our children and our grandchildren.

So I slept and I felt myself drifting off somewhere and in this place I woke up.

I went to this blue centre and the light seemed to suspend from nowhere. I went closer and I noticed people sitting around the blue flame. The one closest to me turned and motioned me to sit in an empty space beside him. I walked over and sat down. That’s when I realized there was no floor! We were all suspended in air! I looked under me and I felt under, I could see lights everywhere below.

I asked, “Where are we?”

The blue flame in the centre began to glow a bit more and it drew my attention to it. It was so quiet. I could say the silence was deafening and then I realized there was a deep humming sound. It was the most wonderful hum I had ever heard.

I looked around and focused my eyes. I saw old people. They all seemed to have long flowing white hair. They were all sitting cross-legged and they were speaking, but I also noticed their mouths didn’t move. I realized that I could hear them in my head.

I took this in stride.

OK, I asked, ” Where am I?”

They all turned to look at me and smiled because they had heard me.

There were sixteen men and women altogether. I guessed they were the grandfathers and grandmothers of our ancestors. That’s what I sensed from them. They sat in this circle around the blue flame and I wondered if they sat here forever.

They spoke to me and I listened, because I had no choice.

They explained that they had called me here.

They said they chose me to be their voice on the Earth plane.

A grandfather pointed downward. I looked and there were stars below. I could see the solar system and I saw our Earth. I wanted to reach down and touch it, but I didn’t instead I looked down at it.

‘We are formless as we sit here, however, we seem to have form as you still need to see us. The blue fire is here to help with that. We called this council, because there is a need to stop men from breaking the Sacred Law.

They have dishonored the Circle and it is broken. They have dishonored Earth as they broke tradition.

We have sent out others like you from this council over the centuries to make sure the Scared Law remains among the people.

It is understandable the White Tribe have crossed the oceans to take over the Red Tribe’s continent. They brought with them the Yellow Tribe and Black Tribe to serve them as slaves. The Sacred Law was broken.

All tribes were placed in their own continents after that the tectonic plates separated.

Each tribe was given a specific place where they could use the environment to exist.

Over time, the ones we sent were responsible for keeping the Sacred Law intact. Each tribe failed and have broken the Sacred Law.

Now, it is not to say all our messengers failed, the Red Tribes’ messengers did what they were advised to do.”

This is what happened and then they proceeded to tell me about the purity of the Sacred Law.

Woman was revered by Sacred Law and the Sacred Law was revered by woman. Without both male and female energy, there could not exist this universe in the mind of our Creator. It is that simple. That is the mystery of the Sacred Law.

I sat there as if in a trance and I could sense what was in their collective minds.

It was overpowering, however, my separateness was intact.

They said I was not allowed to be at their level due to material elements in my ethereal body. They said I must deliver this message the best way I knew how when the time was right to Indigenous tribes as this is the reason they are now suffering.

We are asked by the grandfathers, in one unified effort, to SILENCE the drums for one year until the Circle heals and the Sacred Law is re-established by the Red Tribe and then they will teach their brothers and sisters this knowledge to complete the rift.

I started shaking and I said it seemed like a lot to ask of me. I said I was not worthy to fulfill this role. The sixteen grandfathers and grandmothers looked at me and they spoke in unison in my head that the honor was mine by calling me to this council.

Suddenly, I felt like I was falling and I woke up only to see that I had slept for at least five minutes.

©1994 Stella Koostachin