For example, at Standing Rock, there was a man who had been infiltrating the camps and had brought a rifle. So when the raid came, they could say the camp had a weapon. He was driving on the road to get to camp and was identified as an outsider who had a weapon. So people got on the road and tried to stop him but he just plowed through them. We radioed that he was coming down the road, so they put the cars up on the road. Then he tried to swerve and go down into a ditch but a security vehicle chased him down and rammed his car off the road, so he had to get out. And he grabbed his gun and ran. In one of the videos, you can see him running with the rifle, and the women saying, “Don’t let him go. Surround him. Stop him.” So the men that heard that call -- they ran after him with no weapons, with open hands and surrounded him. And he was in the river, and one of them approached him with no weapons or anything and had his hands up and told him to not harm people. And to let go of that gun. Eventually he was disarmed and he was taken into custody. But the whole power of that incident was the women saying, “Don’t let him leave. Surround him.” And the men responded. There were many stories of direct action when the women said “Stop” or “Stand” or “Move” or “Help”.
The most inspiring thing I ever saw happen at Standing Rock happened the night when we were being water-cannoned. I was in ceremony and on the front line, but I wasn’t in front of the tank. I was singing and I told them (the police) that we would find them new jobs and to have faith in us. And that they were our family, and I wanted them to join us and be water protectors, because we needed them. So while they were shooting at us, I was out there praying and delivering this message. And we were standing in peace.
Colleen: In below freezing temperatures, I’d like to add
Cheryl: Oh, yeah. It was like a war zone. But that is where prayer is needed. It’s needed on the front lines and for the people with weapons, to know that we’re their family. They are shooting their family and there is an alternative way. So that’s why I am always on the front line because that’s where the prayer and the ceremony is needed. On this night they had soaked everybody, and everybody was freezing to death. But the story I wanted to talk about -- they had started this fire because people were soaking wet and the fire was to warm the people and I walked over to it.
By that time, I had been knocked down by the water-cannon, my shoes were full of water, and my feet were freezing. I walked over and one guy said, “Can I help you?” And I said, “Can you take off my shoes?” They were pouring the water out of one shoe, when the water-cannon hit us. They were trying to put out the fire. So all the men stood up like a shield and I’m not kidding -- they were blasted for more than a minute, till they couldn’t stand up any more. And the water hit the flames and steam came up and there was me and this one guy who was still standing from Sacred Stone and this shiny thing flew by, and I reached over and grabbed it. And I said, “Will this protect the fire?” And he said, “Only if we hold it up like a shield.” So we knelt down and held it up and they were trying to knock us down. They had the water right on our backs, but we still knelt there in front of the fire and we held up the shield and they were pushing us closer to the fire and it was hissing and giving off steam and we couldn’t see anything and we couldn't breathe anymore, so we both got up.
They thought they had put it out -- we couldn’t see anything. But I could hear a woman saying, “Gather dry wood.” So men ran over to the fire, pulled the logs out of the fire, and there were glowing embers. And already there was a new pile of wood, and they went running with these logs. When the wind hit them, they were like matchsticks. Boom, boom, boom, I saw fire! And they stuck them into the dry wood that she had been calling for, and within a matter of 3 minutes, it was another huge fire blazing. And it was a woman who led that action.
And so the people went to that fire and of course, they are smart and they had put it just right out of the range of where the water can't put out that fire. That was amazing, that was the most miraculous thing I had ever seen. It was from the woman's voice, so as women, our power is recognizing the needs of the family and of the community and we need to remember that and honor our men because those are the ones who respond and those are the ones who provide and protect.
Rahul: Cheryl, thank you so much for sharing that story on the power of women and community. I know Pancho was interested in asking about the connection between nonviolence and Gandhi, and your tradition of standing up from a similar space -- can you talk a little about that?
Cheryl: That is a deep question and a very important one. People have to reform and understand the power that they wield, and they are not going to be able to do that, until they recognize their Nagi. That is their spirit. Spirits are part of creator. There are millions of Nagis out there, so they can actually unite, and it is hard to describe. But, for example, when we had our women-led silent march on the bridge, I talked about creating this space and holding this space, that the women need to have the space where our spirits could sit in peace and meditate for peace and protection. But in order for us to hold that spiritual space, we needed the men to be called upon to protect us and they have to have their Nagis in the right space.
For most people who are meditating, if they meditate into that place where you understand where you’re going to stand, no one is going to move you. This satyagraha, this force is already within us, but we don’t recognize it or empower this spiritual force, and that’s what creates change in human beings. When we recognize just how more powerful we are, and how more powerful we can be when we are united, it’s amazing. People call it a love force and and I guess that's a good way to put it because it's the love for peace and love for the safety of your fellow man, and the commonality to share whatever knowledge we have.
Pancho: If you were able to tell a message to the water protectors of the world and the land-protectors of the Earth right now, what would you tell them?
Cheryl: I would tell them that they're halfway to where they're need to be and I'm halfway to where I need to be too. Whenever activists who have been actively protecting the land and tribal territories and their own communities across the globe become spiritual, they move from just being an activist to a spiritual activist. And when people who lead in prayer -- I’m going to call them spiritualists because there are so many inter-denominational faiths on this planet, but whenever they use their prayer and their spiritualism and move that into becoming an activist who will stand in a nonviolent manner, then we have everything. Those are the two things that we need because that's what I saw as the dividing line in Standing Rock.
We have all the activists -- they've been actively protecting in all kinds of ways, anyway that they could think of, except spiritually, and then we have all the spiritualists who are protecting the planet with prayers, for tens of thousands of years with their prayers, but they haven't been active -- so when you get them both together, to stand together, then you have all of the power that you need to stop anything, and that's what is happening.
Spiritualist are becoming activists and activists are becoming spiritualists and that group of people are leading in non-violent, direct action, standing up in prayer to stop the destruction of our planet because that's what's happening. They're destroying our water. Our water is in danger and they're taking away land that tribal people have used to maintain their sovereignty, to feed themselves, to clothe themselves, to shelter themselves. That's the most powerful movement, it's the most natural movement on the planet.
My message is you've got to have faith, continue standing in a nonviolent manner and put the call out. So Standing Rock right now, all the messengers have been deployed, they're all running to different parts of the globe, within the country and they're saying “Stand up! Stand up, wherever you're standing!” because the land that you are standing on -- that was where our tribe lived and they lived in harmony with nature. Honor that tribe, recognize, find out who that tribe is, go to them and say we're here, we'll stand with you to protect this land, protect this water, because now we're the new occupants, that's our responsibility. That's the message that needs to go out there -- wherever you're standing, protect that water, protect that land and it doesn't matter what faith you are, what color you are, if you have feet on the ground and you drink water, then you protect that land and that water.
Victoria: Thank you, Cheryl. I am so moved to hear you call on the women to speak what's needed, to protect the land and the water. From your perspective, where are the spiritual activists most needed now, this summer?
Cheryl: You know every congregation needs a spirit-led movement to protect the land and water. Every congregation, every community -- that's where it's happening. Last week, just a few days ago, I was in D.C. at the Union Theological Seminary and I gave a short speech on the rituals and ceremonies that are needed in water protection and environmental activism.
And we created the ceremony that morning. We had almost 100 different interfaiths there in New York City, and we put flowers in a circle, the petals, and we put food in center and we circled around there. I sang. We all prayed for the water. Later on that week, everybody had found passages from their belief-systems that supported love and protection of the earth. So in every congregation, the ‘ministers’ need to recognize that in their scriptures it says protect the land and the water. Because it's always been there. The religious movements have always been instructed to protect their land and the water but they just haven't done it. If you wish, you can contact the Union Theological Seminary and ask for the scriptures and you can pass them right along to your pastor and say that you need to be a spiritual activist.
Rahul: I love that. From a purely pragmatic perspective, the pipeline ended up getting built at Standing Rock. So what was the lesson in all of the prayers and ceremonies. What happened there?
Cheryl: The lesson is to continue to pray, to continue to stand. This is what it is, right, when it comes down to it -- one man cannot dictate over the entire country. We need the entire country to stand up and show him the wrongs of his thinking. That pipeline is proof that we’re insane as a government because we're going to put in instruments that can literally damage drinking water for millions of people. So that plan was basically for money. The Bakken oil fields where all of this oil is coming out of, they’re nearly dry, so that pipeline was never ever needed. It was just needed so somebody could make some money, so we're up against a money institution.
And we're consumers, we're capitalists -- that's how we were raised. But we can change that by changing our behavior. I'm on a goal -- in five years, 50% of all fossil fuel usage will be gone. I'll probably be reducing more than that; I think I'm already at 50% from a year ago. I don't use fossil fuels as much as I used to, but we have to change our behavior and stop being consumerist and insist on a better product, insist on green energy, and refuse to use fossil fuels because if nobody buys that, then nobody's going to want to sell it.
Rahul: One final question I would like to close with is, how can we, the broader ServiceSpace community, support your work?
Cheryl: I feel like my work is really, really small and I feel like the people are really, really huge and I need to get out there and continue telling all the spiritual people to become activists because there's millions of people praying for Standing Rock. Those millions of people that are praying, they need to stand up and become active. They need to be on that front line of prayer and do it in a nonviolent way because that's the power that we need.
I travel all over the place, wherever people call, wherever they want to stand up in defense of running water. I made a vow to protect water for my life, so I will do my best to get to where I am called to talk, to lead, and just to stand there; even if it's doing dishes, I'll do dishes. Wherever I am needed, I will go. I do have an account for travel which is c_ann_angel@yahoo.com. I'm going to be honest and tell you that my strength not only comes from Creator, but it comes from this herd of horses that was gifted to me. I pray with these horses and I have a relationship with these horses, and somehow I need to support them. It takes money to support horses. We just had three new foals and they're my new family, so I have to work to support them and provide a safe place for them to live. So if someone wants to support my work, they can donate to my PayPal, because yes, I do need money to survive just like everybody else.
And prayers -- please continue praying. Create your own water ceremony and your own prayer, down at your own river that needs healing. Do it in front of a building where the key people are. Do it to the E.P.A. Anywhere there's water being drawn, go there and have water ceremony. Invite all the people who pray to come stand with you. Anywhere, because water is everywhere, and it's being drained everywhere, so start your own ritual -- gather your own people and pray.
Rahul: Thank you, Cheryl!
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