Connecting with the land you are on

I’ve been in Hilo, Hawai’i for about 5 months now, and I’ve had some time to think about Seattle. I grew up in Seattle, but never really felt comfortable there, because I didn’t feel like it was really my “home”.

When I started doing energy and healing work in 2015 and learned about talking to land spirits, I reached out to the land spirits of Seattle. I ended up connecting with Chief Sealth, the chief of the Duwamish and Suquamish tribes in the Pacific Northwest, who Seattle was named after. Developing a relationship with him and his people helped me feel settled, welcome, and connected to the land I lived on.

It also taught me a valuable lesson about the importance of making connections with and showing respect to the land that you are on. I’ve always loved this speech he gave during treaty negotiations with Washington state in 1854. It is a powerful reminder of the damage of displacement and colonization and the importance of ancestors and animism.  

Before I moved to Hilo, I went to Chief Sealth’s grave, thanked him for letting me live on his land for so long, and burned incense and tobacco as an offering of gratitude. I will always have a lot of love and gratitude for the time I spent in Seattle.