When I get a speaking gig, I always prepare in more ways than most people would think.

Once I had a speaking gig in Niagara Falls at a conference. I did a ton of research to find out more about the original peoples of that land, so that I could honour them. It turned out that the first two Indigenous nations to live there were said to be extinct.

I was asked to do a Land Acknowledgement and Welcome Song to open the conference. A Land Acknowledgement is how to show respect for the Indigenous peoples of that land, as well as the land itself. A google search came up empty. I went to someone I knew in the area and asked if they knew any elders who know the proper Land Acknowledgement.

Another friend began asking their contacts and found some deep research on the area and its original peoples.

We found out that the Adina, also known as the Hopewell, were the very first people there, many thousands of years ago and their descendants were known by many names, but the name they gave themselves was the Chonnonton, the deer herders. I have since found out that an elder I know has Chonnonton ancestry but she used one of the others terms, Attawanderon.

The French called them the Neutrals because the Chonnonton or Attawanderon peoples refused to participate in a war between the 2 peoples on either side of them and they also refused to allow any fighting in their territory.

On the way to Niagara Falls, originally known as Oniiagarah or Ongiiarah, my friends and I did 2 healing ceremonies for the Chonnonton peoples, to acknowledge and heal their spirits and the land. It was powerful. A song came through.

Once we got to Niagara Falls, timing shifted and we had an hour to go visit the Falls before I sang and spoke. This video is one of the healing songs I channelled there, for healing the water – within you and around you – and healing the Niagara Falls and Niagara River.

We humans are made of water, so allow the water within you to receive healing as you listen.

Breathe in, breathe out and let the vibrations flow through you.

Imagine that waterfall is right in front of you and let yourself feel those negative ions and the healing power of the water itself.

Water carries memory. Let the water within the waterfall remind the water within you of the power it holds.

Enjoy the video!

Love & Blessings,

Brenda MacIntyre, Medicine Song Woman

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FOLLOW ME ON SPOTIFY – MUSIC FOR THESE CRAZY TIMES:

• Follow My Artist Account on Spotify.
• Follow my Global Pandemic Playlist on Spotify. The studio (CD, not live) version of the songs I sang in the livestreamed concert are also in this playlist.
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