Long ago in the Catskills, wise elders made fires and spoke to the sacred mountains watching over the land. “You give us great abundance,” the elders said. “What do you want from us in return?”
The mountains replied, “Here you find ample game, berries, medicine plants and the sweet sap of maple and birch. All these are brought forth from the waters running down our sides. If you would be in a good way with us, we ask that you honor the waters.”
Near the Blue Deer land stands a small sacred mountain. Springs flow on this mountain and join together to make the headwaters of a sacred river named Saskawhihiwine. The river carries the voice of the land as it flows through what today is Blue Deer Center. In ancient times Saskawhihiwine identified the Blue Deer land as a sacred place of healing and conflict resolution.
Twice a year we go to the mountain and gather at a small spring which forms part of the headwaters of the river. We leave offerings from the bounty of the land. We make prayers of gratitude and honoring. We seek in this way to stay in good relationship with the waters and the sacred mountains. We ask that as the river flows down to New York City and Delaware Bay, the people of those places may benefit from ancestral teachings and healings carried in the sacred waters.
