The award-winning book Ancient Spirit Rising: Reclaiming Your Roots & Restoring Earth Community by Kawarthas resident Pegi Eyers delves into issues of appropriation and white identity, and examines intercultural competency, social justice, healing the First Nations/Settler divide, and restoring earth-emergent values for all people. The solution to the problem of cultural appropriation (and other questionable New Age beliefs) is to access our own heritage and cultural roots for spiritual connection.  We are also being challenged in these times of massive change to uncolonize from Empire,  re-land to place, recover our ancestral wisdom, and revive an ecocentric worldview. Pathways to a sustainable future include  animism, rewilding, ecopsychology and other nature spiritualities, as we work toward reclaiming peaceful coexistence in Earth community. 

​"Ancient Spirit Rising kick-starts the conversation that First Nations and Settlers need to be having."    Linda Post (Odawa), author of "Ojibway Drive from Crumpled Sheets"
Enaajmotaaged Publishing

"I am very happy and appreciative that I have read Ancient Spirit Rising.  As I moved through the book, I found so many good sections.  I wish that all the non-indigenous people who are lost and confused about their spirituality (through no fault of their own) would read and reflect on what Pegi is saying. There is a way for non-indigenous people to heal and connect to our great Mother and Creation, without having to appropriate our ways and teachings."
Alice Olsen Williams (Anishnaabe), Pimaatisiwin Quilts
www.pimaatisiwin-quilts.com
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"Ancient Spirit Rising is a good read - very well-written and excellently researched - and it’s easy to see that Pegi Eyers speaks from the heart. This beautiful book has been an enormous amount of work, and I commend Pegi for that effort. She definitely has a gift for writing, and we desperately need people who can present coherent thoughts about challenging issues, to keep us informed of both our human history, and as we prepare to live in the future as a global community. Effective communication such as this is in danger of becoming a lost art! Thank you Pegi for your ongoing support of First Peoples."  
Jean Koning, Elder & founder of the Kawartha Truth & Reconciliation Support Group (KTRSG)   www.kawarthatruthandreconciliation.ca
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"I am opposed to violence, but now IS the time for a revolution. A pencil, a pen, a typewriter or a computer are the perfect weapons, and Ancient Spirit Rising is the perfect array of bullets. I highly recommend the work of Pegi Eyers as a means for people to find their own roots, and not appropriate the teachings of First Nations." 
Rita Gonzales (Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw/Squamish)

"Thank you for your care toward the journey of right relations."  
Cathy Underhill, Centre for Christian Studies    http://ccsonline.ca

"Pegi Eyers is an organic intellectual.  Her wide reading and first-hand experience in First Nations community for which she is an articulate advocate, makes her work original, accessible and important at this time in Canadian history.  No more borrowing of cultural identity!  Ancient Spirit Rising is an excellent guide for discovering our own ancestral roots."
Rosemary Ganley, founder, Jamaican Self-Help, and author of "Jamaica Journal: The Story of a Grassroots Canadian Aid Organization"    www.yellowdragonflypress.ca

"Ancient Spirit Rising is a timely Canadian contribution to the growing field of critical whiteness theory, which is very dominated by the American experience of race, racism, and white privilege. I believe many white Canadians are looking for a deeper understanding of their own complex histories and identities, and Eyers’ extensive research and urgent call to action provides us with much to think about. A very rewarding read for anyone concerned with justice and our ability to live in harmony with our environment!"  
Debbie Harrison, Human Rights Educator, Coordinator of Diversity, Accessibility & International Student Support, Fleming College, Peterborough
http://ruralantiracistwhite.blogspot.ca

​"I dipped into my new copy of Ancient Spirit Rising this evening, read through the bibliography and got so excited~! This is an amazing bibliography, and worth the purchase price to me.  Thank you so much. I am really looking forward to reading the whole book, and have started a list of friends that I am going to give a copy of Ancient Spirit Rising."
Lynne Porter, member of KTRSG

​"Ancient Spirit Rising is an excellent resource for all people who wish to continue educating themselves on Canadian history, as well as providing solid solutions for moving into a peaceful and healthy future. She delves into the many ways local communities are working to transition into stable off-grid and self-sustaining networks, and how international and particularly European communities can return to their own Indigenous roots. We can rediscover our own Indigenous Knowledge no matter where we live or where we came from, and re-connecting with our own ancient and undeniable relationship with the Earth must now be our primary responsibility!  Ancient Spirit Rising is full of descriptions, resources, research material, references, explanations, guides and inspiration - all helping to steer us back to our own connection to each other and Earth Community."    
Patricia White, Front-Line Activist and Revered Elder

Pegi Eyers is a visual artist, independent curator and author of the award-winning Ancient Spirit Rising: Reclaiming Your Roots & Restoring Earth Community, a book that supports the recovery of authentic ancestral wisdom and traditions for all people. She self-identifies as a Celtic Animist, and is a member of the Helena Clan (descended from “Mitochondrial Eve”), with more recent roots connecting her to the mythic arts of England and Scotland.  Pegi lives in the countryside on the outskirts of Nogojiwanong in Michi Saagiig Nishnaabeg territory (Peterborough, Ontario, Canada), on a hilltop with views reaching for miles in all directions.   For more information on the book, the publisher, the author, and her blog please see www.stonecirclepress.com

January 2022

Compiled by Barbara Herring, Member KTRSG

KAWARTHA AREA FIRST NATIONS
INDIGENOUS EVENTS CALENDAR