Shelley's Summer Journey: 3rd stop-Elder, Older, Wilder. The Woman Who Taught Me to Pray.

Victoria, BC. June 1-3

After my retreat on Vaschon Island, off Seattle, WA, I travelled by car (and ferry!) to Victoria, BC.

I have never really spent time out West or in Victoria. My glorious friend Sherry Morgan, who has the same birthday as myself (February 6) but is 70 years old, put me up in her community house.
​


Sherry introduced me to the Sacred Fire Community (SFC), and was the mover and shaker (along with Toronto Sacred Fire Community Firekeeper Mai Duong) who brought Plant Spirit Medicine to Canada! The three of us attended Eliot Cowan’s only Canadian taught PSM class, from March 2005-May 2006.

Sherry also taught me how to pray.

As I began to connect with fire & heart, I began to listen for this divine voice within myself and the world. In the Sacred Fire Community we affectionately and respectfully refer to the Divine Expression of Fire as Grandfather Fire. This denotes our relatedness, and Fire’s respected position as wise guiding ancestor/elder. Spending time with Sherry, I watched and learned as she spoke to Grandfather Fire each morning and night in her prayers before a candle. Relating to different divine expressions in the world for guidance and wisdom is central to all Indigenous spiritual traditions.

I began my own conversation with Fire/Heart, and my own practice of morning and evening prayers. Tentatively at first...then open heartedly as I learned to recognize the “signature” of heart voice/Grandfather responding in his end of the conversation that is prayer.

Sherry now teaches special workshops, called the Exploring the Core Basis of Prayer, through the Lifeways programs of the SFC.

Sherry lives a very simple, humble...but exuberant life. Sharing her home for a few days with her two roommates, served as another example for me of community living: the blessings, and the challenges of being in relationship!

Sherry can still outhike me up a mountain, strike up a conversation with folks sitting next to us out at a restaurant, and make friends walking down the street. She is truly a community connector and fire-starter!


Then I was on a bus, a ferry, and stopped in at Merrit, BC to visit an old friend (next post!).