{"id":13469,"date":"2017-02-01T01:10:53","date_gmt":"2017-02-01T06:10:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/paganpages.org\/content\/?p=14135"},"modified":"2017-01-31T20:04:05","modified_gmt":"2017-02-01T01:04:05","slug":"interview-with-supporters-of-the-water-protectors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/2017\/02\/01\/interview-with-supporters-of-the-water-protectors\/","title":{"rendered":"Interview with Supporters of the Water Protectors"},"content":{"rendered":"<style type=\"text\/css\">\n\t<!--\n\t\t@page { margin: 0.79in }\n\t\tP { margin-bottom: 0.08in }\n\t-->\n\t<\/style>\n<p lang=\"en-US\" align=\"LEFT\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\"><span lang=\"en-US\">Interview with Supporters of the Water Protectors<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p lang=\"en-US\" align=\"LEFT\"><em><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\"><span lang=\"en-US\">How their visit to Standing Rock changed them<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p lang=\"en-US\" align=\"LEFT\">\n<p lang=\"en-US\" align=\"LEFT\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-14137\" src=\"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/StandingRock2-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"StandingRock2\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" \/><\/p>\n<p lang=\"en-US\" align=\"LEFT\">(Diane Hasz and Debra Cohen prepare to leave Connecticut with a car packed with donations in November.)<\/p>\n<p lang=\"en-US\" align=\"LEFT\">\n<p lang=\"en-US\" align=\"LEFT\">\n<p lang=\"en-US\" align=\"LEFT\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\"><span lang=\"en-US\">Diane Hasz, 70, and Debra Cohen, 65, met as Occupy activists and became friends, coven sisters, Bernie Sanders campaigners and, most recently, supporters who visited Standing Rock in November.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p lang=\"en-US\" align=\"LEFT\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"font-family: Cambria, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\"><span lang=\"en-US\">People support Standing Rock for a number of reasons; indigenous rights, thwarting a militarized police force, social justice and others but in the end we all have one thing in common, both women agreed, saying, \u201cWe are all connected. Everyone is downstream from one water source or another. <\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: Arial, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\"><span lang=\"en-US\">Mni Wiconi. Water is Life \u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p lang=\"en-US\" align=\"LEFT\">\n<p lang=\"en-US\" align=\"LEFT\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-14139\" src=\"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/StandingRock4-300x176.jpg\" alt=\"StandingRock4\" width=\"300\" height=\"176\" \/><\/p>\n<p lang=\"en-US\" align=\"LEFT\">(This is a view of the southern border of Oceti Sakowin along the Cannonball River)<\/p>\n<p lang=\"en-US\" align=\"LEFT\">\n<p lang=\"en-US\" align=\"LEFT\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\"><span lang=\"en-US\">The two drove more than twenty-nine hours from Central Connecticut to the Oceti Sakowin camp at Standing Rock in North Dakota with ideas of how they could be of service, and returned having done the unplanned and unexpected, and with a changed insight on prayer.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p lang=\"en-US\" align=\"LEFT\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u201c<span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\"><span lang=\"en-US\">I brought home spirituality from camp,\u201d Debra said. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p lang=\"en-US\" align=\"LEFT\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\"><span lang=\"en-US\">It wasn\u2019t as if you walked around the camp and hear praying everywhere, but there was a spirit from which everything operated and you could sense you were in sacred space, she said. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p lang=\"en-US\" align=\"LEFT\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u201c<span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\"><span lang=\"en-US\">I just ran into so many people, native and non-native, whose conversation was all about feeling that they were in a spiritual place and always feeling that Spirit with them, making them feel they were in the right place doing the right thing.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p lang=\"en-US\" align=\"LEFT\">\n<p lang=\"en-US\" align=\"LEFT\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-14138\" src=\"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/StandingRock3-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"StandingRock3\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" \/><\/p>\n<p lang=\"en-US\" align=\"LEFT\">(Water protectors and supporters gather around the sacred fire December 5 to hear the announcement that the easement had been denied.)<\/p>\n<p lang=\"en-US\" align=\"LEFT\">\n<p lang=\"en-US\" align=\"LEFT\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u201c<span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\"><span lang=\"en-US\">The expectation from the elders and the people who started the movement was that it was going to come from the direction of prayer\u201d \u2013 from a place of protection and not protest, she said.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p lang=\"en-US\" align=\"LEFT\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\"><span lang=\"en-US\">Not sure she could come from that position of prayer, she chose not to visit the front line while she was there. It wasn\u2019t until after her return that she recognized a shift within herself.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p lang=\"en-US\" align=\"LEFT\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u201c<span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\"><span lang=\"en-US\">Something in me got a message. It clicked. I don\u2019t know what,\u201d Cohen said. While at Standing Rock, I felt I was in sacred space. I felt that I was in a magical place. I came home less inclined to discount the likely power of prayer.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p lang=\"en-US\" align=\"LEFT\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\"><span lang=\"en-US\">On her pagan path, she saw what some of her sisters took literally as being more symbolic.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p lang=\"en-US\" align=\"LEFT\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u201c<span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\"><span lang=\"en-US\">That\u2019s in the process of changing, too,\u201d Cohen said. \u201cI feel like I\u2019ve a foot on both sides of the line now and I really appreciate the power of prayer. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p lang=\"en-US\" align=\"LEFT\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u201c<span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\"><span lang=\"en-US\">My understanding of prayer before Standing Rock was that prayer was something that we sent out to somewhere or someone or something, asking that someone or something to do something for us. But I came home with a different understanding of prayer, and that is that prayer can be reaching inward to touch the best part of us. Rather than reaching out for something good outside of ourselves to intervene, it can take us inside to touch the best of ourselves that makes us better prepared to act.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p lang=\"en-US\" align=\"LEFT\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u201c<span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\"><span lang=\"en-US\">Spirit is within \u2026 but I never saw it that way before. So, I came home a changed person. And, I can tell you that I have been prayerful since getting home, in situations that I never would have participated in before.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p lang=\"en-US\" align=\"LEFT\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\"><span lang=\"en-US\">Now, when people ask for prayers, \u201cI get what they\u2019re asking for.\u201d She said she hears them \u201casking me to go deep inside and find a peaceful, forgiving place from which I can be more useful, in stead of going \u2018Let\u2019s kill the bastards.\u2019<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p lang=\"en-US\" align=\"LEFT\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u201c<span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\"><span lang=\"en-US\">Now it\u2019s, \u2018Let\u2019s kill them with kindness.\u2019\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p lang=\"en-US\" align=\"LEFT\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\"><span lang=\"en-US\">Seeing the opposition as \u201credeemable\u201d alters how you interact with those who had previously been labeled the enemy.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p lang=\"en-US\" align=\"LEFT\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\"><span lang=\"en-US\">Forgiveness is another concept that changed because of her visit.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p lang=\"en-US\" align=\"LEFT\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\"><span lang=\"en-US\">She spoke of a forgiveness ceremony among natives without going into detail.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p lang=\"en-US\" align=\"LEFT\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u201c<span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\"><span lang=\"en-US\">Someone had been falsely accused of something and dealt with very, very severely, only to find out that they were probably not guilty of what they had been accused of, and so people who had done the accusing and people who had behaved in particular ways towards this person were asking for forgiveness.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p lang=\"en-US\" align=\"LEFT\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u201c<span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\"><span lang=\"en-US\">We witnessed this whole, elaborate forgiveness ceremony where the two families came together and the families exchanged gifts and the person who was wronged and the person who committed the wrong ended up hugging and it was really powerful.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n<p lang=\"en-US\" align=\"LEFT\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\"><span lang=\"en-US\">Cohen said, \u201cForgiveness is another word that\u2019s been added to my vocabulary in a much more intentional way. I\u2019m very far from being able to say, yeah I can do that now, but I have a better appreciation for it.\u201d <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p lang=\"en-US\" align=\"LEFT\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"font-family: Cambria, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\"><span lang=\"en-US\">Cohen had thought she would work in the kitchen or offer her Reiki skills in the medical tent. Hasz saw herself able to provide rides to people to and from the camp. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p lang=\"en-US\" align=\"LEFT\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u201c<span style=\"font-family: Cambria, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\"><span lang=\"en-US\">I needed a purpose,\u201d Hasz said of going. \u201cWhat my purpose was, was once we were there, was abundantly clear, but it wasn&#8217;t anything I thought it would be.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p lang=\"en-US\" align=\"LEFT\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u201c<span style=\"font-family: Cambria, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\"><span lang=\"en-US\">What you have to do is you have to arrive and put your agenda away. You have to go there to be of service, and what do you think you&#8217;re going to be of service doing is often different than what you what you&#8217;re thinking that you&#8217;re your service would be.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p lang=\"en-US\" align=\"LEFT\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"font-family: Cambria, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\"><span lang=\"en-US\">She had no idea before leaving that their hotel room would be a place people came to take showers \u2013 18 over five days. They were also able to provide a safe place for someone who needed it at that time. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p lang=\"en-US\" align=\"LEFT\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"font-family: Cambria, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\"><span lang=\"en-US\">Cohen remembered being asked by a native activist on that trip, \u201cSo, what tribe are you from.\u201d She found herself answering that she didn\u2019t know. Although she was raised in a Jewish family, she has not followed the traditions, and therefore felt she had no right to call herself a Jew. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p lang=\"en-US\" align=\"LEFT\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"font-family: Cambria, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\"><span lang=\"en-US\">The ah ha moment came after she returned home, when she came across a pendant that had been her mothers: it was the Hebrew word for \u201clife\u201d or \u201clong life,\u201d according to Wikipedia. It\u2019s also the symbol for the number of 18, and it drives gifts and donations in multiples of 18.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p lang=\"en-US\" align=\"LEFT\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"font-family: Cambria, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\"><span lang=\"en-US\">Seeing that, and adding it to the same chain that holds her coven pendent, Cohen acknowledged that while her Jewish faith might not be spiritual, it was cultural and historical, and was, in fact, her tribe.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p lang=\"en-US\" align=\"LEFT\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"font-family: Cambria, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\"><span lang=\"en-US\">Like Cohen, Hasz agreed that one of the lessons they learned reinforced the knowledge that you are always in the right place at the right time, doing the right thing. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p lang=\"en-US\" align=\"LEFT\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u201c<span style=\"font-family: Cambria, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\"><span lang=\"en-US\">And,\u201d she added, \u201cthat right thing is probably not what you thought it would be.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p lang=\"en-US\" align=\"LEFT\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"font-family: Cambria, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\"><span lang=\"en-US\">Also like her traveling companion, Hasz\u2019 definition of prayer was challenged. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p lang=\"en-US\" align=\"LEFT\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u201c<span style=\"font-family: Cambria, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\"><span lang=\"en-US\">I have a hard time defining prayer because their idea of prayer, I believe, is much different than mine was or is,\u201d Hasz said. \u201cThey don\u2019t conjure up things. Even when they\u2019re dancing and drumming, that\u2019s prayer. When they\u2019re walking through the campground, a lot of it is just doing everyday mundane stuff, but you can see how thoughtful [it is being done]. \u201c<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p lang=\"en-US\" align=\"LEFT\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"font-family: Cambria, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\"><span lang=\"en-US\">She found the mood at the camp \u201cjoyful yet solemn.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p lang=\"en-US\" align=\"LEFT\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u201c<span style=\"font-family: Cambria, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\"><span lang=\"en-US\">I watched two different families put up their tipis and while there was interaction, like there would be when you\u2019re putting up a tent, it also was done beautifully and purposefully, like a ritual. I think that&#8217;s awesome.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p lang=\"en-US\" align=\"LEFT\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"font-family: Cambria, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\"><span lang=\"en-US\">The warriors were acting in prayer, participants in frontline actions were prayerful. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p lang=\"en-US\" align=\"LEFT\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u201c<span style=\"font-family: Cambria, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\"><span lang=\"en-US\">And they\u2019re non-violent,\u201d Hasz said. \u201cThey\u2019re focused.\u201d <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p lang=\"en-US\" align=\"LEFT\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"font-family: Cambria, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\"><span lang=\"en-US\">Asked about the sacred fire, she said, \u201cIt was quite unassuming.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p lang=\"en-US\" align=\"LEFT\">\n<p lang=\"en-US\" align=\"LEFT\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-14141\" src=\"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/StandingRock5-1-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"StandingRock5\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" \/><\/p>\n<p lang=\"en-US\" align=\"LEFT\">(A full moon rises over the camp.)<\/p>\n<p lang=\"en-US\" align=\"LEFT\">\n<p lang=\"en-US\" align=\"LEFT\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"font-family: Cambria, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\"><span lang=\"en-US\">Yet it was powerful and the space was sacred.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p lang=\"en-US\" align=\"LEFT\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u201c<span style=\"font-family: Cambria, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\"><span lang=\"en-US\">You didn\u2019t smoke near the fire. No animals were near the fire. I believe if a woman was having her period, she was not to be near the fire. \u2026 No garbage. No swearing. No pictures.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p lang=\"en-US\" align=\"LEFT\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u201c<span style=\"font-family: Cambria, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\"><span lang=\"en-US\">It never went out. It was truly treated with respect. When you&#8217;re sitting or standing near that space, you feel that energy, you truly do. I sat as far back as I could because I wanted to see what was going on without my energy being in there at all,\u201d Hasz said. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p lang=\"en-US\" align=\"LEFT\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"font-family: Cambria, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\"><span lang=\"en-US\">The experience of visiting Standing Rock \u201cconfirmed the fact that I was right in having to go inward.<\/span><\/span><\/span> <span style=\"font-family: Arial, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\"><span lang=\"en-US\">Just being in a space that was prayerful without being \u2026 it\u2019s just really hard to explain that part.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p lang=\"en-US\" align=\"LEFT\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"font-family: Cambria, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\"><span lang=\"en-US\">In December, Cohen flew out to Standing Rock with Sara Ward, a friend who was going to provide psychological first aid to veterans who were arriving at the camps and standing on the front lines.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p lang=\"en-US\" align=\"LEFT\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"font-family: Cambria, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\"><span lang=\"en-US\">She and Ward were only able to be at the camp for one day because a severe snowstorm prevented their return. On that day, Cohen recalled, \u201cWe decided it was getting late in the day, it was going to be cold. \u2018Let\u2019s go back to the hotel; we\u2019ll get a good night\u2019s sleep; we\u2019ll come back tomorrow.\u2019 As we drove toward the south gate, which is the exit gate, there was this line of people, a hand-holding chain, that had been formed and it was going around the entire perimeter of the camp. \u2026 I could see this arch of people holding hands, colorful against the snow. I told Sara, \u2018Let\u2019s pull over and join this circle.\u2019 So we parked the car and we joined this prayer circle and within a couple of minutes of us joining the prayer circle, this guy comes walking around on the outside of the circle, making this announcement, \u2018The easement has been denied. DAPL has been stopped. The easement has been denied.\u2019<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p lang=\"en-US\" align=\"LEFT\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u201c<span style=\"font-family: Cambria, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\"><span lang=\"en-US\">The energy in that circle was absolutely wonderful. I tied my whole new understanding of prayer to that experience of joining the prayer circle.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p lang=\"en-US\" align=\"LEFT\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"font-family: Cambria, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\"><span lang=\"en-US\">After it broke up, the two made their way to the sacred fire to hear the formal announcement.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p lang=\"en-US\" align=\"LEFT\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u201c<span style=\"font-family: Cambria, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\"><span lang=\"en-US\">This is great, but it\u2019s not the end. The denial of the easement was a temporary stopgap to give them time to do more environmental surveys. So the black snake is not dead,\u201d Cohen said when interviewed in mid-December.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p lang=\"en-US\" align=\"LEFT\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"font-family: Cambria, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\"><span lang=\"en-US\">She and Hasz both plan to return.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p lang=\"en-US\" align=\"LEFT\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-14136 alignnone\" src=\"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/StandingRock1-174x300.jpg\" alt=\"StandingRock1\" width=\"174\" height=\"300\" \/><\/p>\n<p lang=\"en-US\" align=\"LEFT\">(Debra Cohen assisted Sarah Ward on a trip to the camp in December.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Interview with Supporters of the Water Protectors How their visit to Standing Rock changed them (Diane Hasz and Debra Cohen prepare to leave Connecticut with a car packed with donations in November.) Diane Hasz, 70, and Debra Cohen, 65, met as Occupy activists and became friends, coven sisters, Bernie Sanders campaigners and, most recently, supporters who visited Standing Rock in November. People support Standing Rock for a number of reasons; indigenous rights, thwarting a militarized police force, social justice and others but in the end we all have one thing in common, both women agreed, saying, \u201cWe are all connected. Everyone is downstream from one water source or another. Mni Wiconi. Water is Life \u201d (This is a view of the southern border of Oceti Sakowin along the Cannonball River) The two drove more than twenty-nine hours from Central Connecticut to the Oceti Sakowin camp at Standing Rock in North Dakota with ideas of how they could be of service, and returned having done the unplanned and unexpected, and with a changed insight on prayer. \u201cI brought home spirituality from camp,\u201d Debra said. It wasn\u2019t as if you walked around the camp and hear praying everywhere, but there was a spirit from which everything operated and you could sense you were in sacred space, she said. \u201cI just ran into so many people, native and non-native, whose conversation was all about feeling that they were in a spiritual place and always feeling that Spirit with them, making them feel they were in the right place doing the right thing.\u201d (Water protectors and supporters gather around the sacred fire December 5 to hear the announcement that the easement had been denied.) \u201cThe expectation from the elders and the people who started the movement was that it was going to come from the direction of prayer\u201d \u2013 from a place of protection and not protest, she said. Not sure she could come from that position of prayer, she chose not to visit the front line while she was there. It wasn\u2019t until after her return that she recognized a shift within herself. \u201cSomething in me got a message. It clicked. I don\u2019t know what,\u201d Cohen said. While at Standing Rock, I felt I was in sacred space. I felt that I was in a magical place. I came home less inclined to discount the likely power of prayer.\u201d On her pagan path, she saw what some of her sisters took literally as being more symbolic. \u201cThat\u2019s in the process of changing, too,\u201d Cohen said. \u201cI feel like I\u2019ve a foot on both sides of the line now and I really appreciate the power of prayer. \u201cMy understanding of prayer before Standing Rock was that prayer was something that we sent out to somewhere or someone or something, asking that someone or something to do something for us. But I came home with a different understanding of prayer, and that is that prayer can be reaching inward to touch the best part of us. Rather than reaching out for something good outside of ourselves to intervene, it can take us inside to touch the best of ourselves that makes us better prepared to act. \u201cSpirit is within \u2026 but I never saw it that way before. So, I came home a changed person. And, I can tell you that I have been prayerful since getting home, in situations that I never would have participated in before.\u201d Now, when people ask for prayers, \u201cI get what they\u2019re asking for.\u201d She said she hears them \u201casking me to go deep inside and find a peaceful, forgiving place from which I can be more useful, in stead of going \u2018Let\u2019s kill the bastards.\u2019 \u201cNow it\u2019s, \u2018Let\u2019s kill them with kindness.\u2019\u201d Seeing the opposition as \u201credeemable\u201d alters how you interact with those who had previously been labeled the enemy. Forgiveness is another concept that changed because of her visit. She spoke of a forgiveness ceremony among natives without going into detail. \u201cSomeone had been falsely accused of something and dealt with very, very severely, only to find out that they were probably not guilty of what they had been accused of, and so people who had done the accusing and people who had behaved in particular ways towards this person were asking for forgiveness. \u201cWe witnessed this whole, elaborate forgiveness ceremony where the two families came together and the families exchanged gifts and the person who was wronged and the person who committed the wrong ended up hugging and it was really powerful.\u201d Cohen said, \u201cForgiveness is another word that\u2019s been added to my vocabulary in a much more intentional way. I\u2019m very far from being able to say, yeah I can do that now, but I have a better appreciation for it.\u201d Cohen had thought she would work in the kitchen or offer her Reiki skills in the medical tent. Hasz saw herself able to provide rides to people to and from the camp. \u201cI needed a purpose,\u201d Hasz said of going. \u201cWhat my purpose was, was once we were there, was abundantly clear, but it wasn&#8217;t anything I thought it would be. \u201cWhat you have to do is you have to arrive and put your agenda away. You have to go there to be of service, and what do you think you&#8217;re going to be of service doing is often different than what you what you&#8217;re thinking that you&#8217;re your service would be.\u201d She had no idea before leaving that their hotel room would be a place people came to take showers \u2013 18 over five days. They were also able to provide a safe place for someone who needed it at that time. Cohen remembered being asked by a native activist on that trip, \u201cSo, what tribe are you from.\u201d She found herself answering that she didn\u2019t know. Although she was raised in a Jewish family, she has not followed the traditions, and therefore felt she had no right to call herself a Jew. The ah ha moment came after she returned home, when she came across a pendant that had been her mothers: it was the Hebrew word for \u201clife\u201d or \u201clong life,\u201d according to Wikipedia. It\u2019s also the symbol for the number of 18, and it drives gifts and donations in multiples of 18. Seeing that, and adding it to the same chain that holds her coven pendent, Cohen acknowledged that while her Jewish faith might not be spiritual, it was cultural and historical, and was, in fact, her tribe. Like Cohen, Hasz agreed that one of the lessons they learned reinforced the knowledge that you are always in the right place at the right time, doing the right thing. \u201cAnd,\u201d she added, \u201cthat right thing is probably not what you thought it would be.\u201d Also like her traveling companion, Hasz\u2019 definition of prayer was challenged. \u201cI have a hard time defining prayer because their idea of prayer, I believe, is much different than mine was or is,\u201d Hasz said. \u201cThey don\u2019t conjure up things. Even when they\u2019re dancing and drumming, that\u2019s prayer. When they\u2019re walking through the campground, a lot of it is just doing everyday mundane stuff, but you can see how thoughtful [it is being done]. \u201c She found the mood at the camp \u201cjoyful yet solemn.\u201d \u201cI watched two different families put up their tipis and while there was interaction, like there would be when you\u2019re putting up a tent, it also was done beautifully and purposefully, like a ritual. I think that&#8217;s awesome.\u201d The warriors were acting in prayer, participants in frontline actions were prayerful. \u201cAnd they\u2019re non-violent,\u201d Hasz said. \u201cThey\u2019re focused.\u201d Asked about the sacred fire, she said, \u201cIt was quite unassuming.\u201d (A full moon rises over the camp.) Yet it was powerful and the space was sacred. \u201cYou didn\u2019t smoke near the fire. No animals were near the fire. I believe if a woman was having her period, she was not to be near the fire. \u2026 No garbage. No swearing. No pictures. \u201cIt never went out. It was truly treated with respect. When you&#8217;re sitting or standing near that space, you feel that energy, you truly do. I sat as far back as I could because I wanted to see what was going on without my energy being in there at all,\u201d Hasz said. The experience of visiting Standing Rock \u201cconfirmed the fact that I was right in having to go inward. Just being in a space that was prayerful without being \u2026 it\u2019s just really hard to explain that part.\u201d In December, Cohen flew out to Standing Rock with Sara Ward, a friend who was going to provide psychological first aid to veterans who were arriving at the camps and standing on the front lines. She and Ward were only able to be at the camp for one day because a severe snowstorm prevented their return. On that day, Cohen recalled, \u201cWe decided it was getting late in the day, it was going to be cold. \u2018Let\u2019s go back to the hotel; we\u2019ll get a good night\u2019s sleep; we\u2019ll come back tomorrow.\u2019 As we drove toward the south gate, which is the exit gate, there was this line of people, a hand-holding chain, that had been formed and it was going around the entire perimeter of the camp. \u2026 I could see this arch of people holding hands, colorful against the snow. I told Sara, \u2018Let\u2019s pull over and join this circle.\u2019 So we parked the car and we joined this prayer circle and within a couple of minutes of us joining the prayer circle, this guy comes walking around on the outside of the circle, making this announcement, \u2018The easement has been denied. DAPL has been stopped. The easement has been denied.\u2019 \u201cThe energy in that circle was absolutely wonderful. I tied my whole new understanding of prayer to that experience of joining the prayer circle.\u201d After it broke up, the two made their way to the sacred fire to hear the formal announcement. \u201cThis is great, but it\u2019s not the end. The denial of the easement was a temporary stopgap to give them time to do more environmental surveys. So the black snake is not dead,\u201d Cohen said when interviewed in mid-December. She and Hasz both plan to return. (Debra Cohen assisted Sarah Ward on a trip to the camp in December.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":210,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13469","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13469","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/210"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13469"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13469\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13469"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13469"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13469"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}