Lancaster School of Psychodrama and Experiential Psychotherapies
  • Home
  • Events
  • Online training
  • About
    • About Karen
    • Staff
  • Methods
    • Psychodrama
    • Family Constellations
    • Sand tray
    • Tarot
  • Contact
  • Blog
  • Links
  • Sand tray figures for sale
  • Home
  • Events
  • Online training
  • About
    • About Karen
    • Staff
  • Methods
    • Psychodrama
    • Family Constellations
    • Sand tray
    • Tarot
  • Contact
  • Blog
  • Links
  • Sand tray figures for sale
Search by typing & pressing enter

YOUR CART

11/21/2018 0 Comments

My Thanksgiving message to you

Picture
By Karen Carnabucci, LCSW, TEP

Every year I hunt for a message for the Thanksgiving season that seems meaningful.


This year, I happened on this beautiful poem by Peter Blue Cloud, born in 1933 of the Turtle Clan of the Mohawk Nation who is widely acclaimed as a poet and folklorist.

Accompanying the poem is art by Isaac Murdoch, who has committed his life to the preservation of Anishinaabe cultural practices and has spent years learning from elders.

In these times of challenge, chaos and tragedy it may seem odd, even daring, to find places of gratitude and to voice our thanks and connectedness. Yet the practical and spiritual practice of gratitude is necessary for each and every one of us to thrive. Even though we as a country have not been very nice to the original inhabitants of this continent, it is true that the natives of this land have much to teach us -- if we are willing to listen.

May we all say thankful words for what we have been given. Happy day of gratitude.

 White Corn Sister

And season merged into season,
and we learned the life cycles of all around us,
like the moon, the face of each thing is in constant change,
and yet life goes into death a seed awaiting rebirth.
And season into season,
we grew into a nation of many lodges and cornfields,
and ceremonies were given to us,
as were beans and squash.
And we sat in council,
male and female,
to ponder the future of our children,
of our nation,
and again Creation heard
and answered with the voices of our elders.
And season into season,
like the sapling pine,
grew the thinking of our elders
into a Great Tree,
and the laws by which our nation was to live
became known as the Great Good.
and these laws were like seeds of corn,
each separate, yet bound to a single core,
and these laws were spoken often to our people,
so that none forget.
And the memory of these laws were woven into beaded belts,
like rows of seed corn,
and the words were said to the hearts and the minds of the people
as a living part of life,
and not mere words to drift away upon a breeze.......
.....The seed corn in Earth,
the newborn child,
the sun rising as ever to warm the good earth,
all these in promise to a scattered nation.
So it was spoken and remembered by a scattered people,
remnants of a nation.
So did they seek to keep the fires of the Great Good alive.
And even into today,
in the heart of this nation,
the Great Good lives,
held by a few threads of sinew,
which must be gathered into a strong and binding cord.
This sinew, these threads of life connecting elder to child,
and child to Creation,
is the meaning of our Mystery.
We, the elders, are gatherers of this thread,
we are the singers who send our voices to the directions,
calling our children to return,
to be reborn a nation.
Come home to us and touch our hands,
and life the soil and smell the rich damp earth,
yours forever in promise.
Return to us and dance the praise of the Great Good,
and sit with us in council close to the warming hearth.
And season follows season,
and born a nation we plant the sacred corn,
and do you see your elder
back bent with age,
hoe in hand
slowly walking to the cornfield?...
And will you bend beside him and hear his whispered words,
that he welcomes home his children and that now,
when his eyes close upon that final sleep,
his journey will be in peace?....
...Counsel wisely with your elders,
then counsel your mind and heart
and do not trust yourself to speak of the Great Good
until your heart and your mind are one.
Offer advice only if you have tasted of the turmoil in question,
and be strong inside and truly believe
before using the outward power of your voice
to convince others of your truth.
And when a feast is given,
thank the Creation that people have food to eat.
And eat the corn and squash and beans
knowing that your back has bent
to the rhythm of the hoe.
And at the fire's warming glow
be pleased that you have shared
in the gathering of the fuel to keep warm the lodge.
And know and praise the seasons
in the knowledge that you
have shared their constant change."

  • Excerpts from "White Corn Sister" by Peter Blue Cloud. Thanks to @rowenwhite on Instagram who introduced me to this beautiful poem and the art by Isaac Murdoch. The art is Thunderbird Woman and Her Eggs by Isaac Murdock, 2016.

0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Author

    Karen Carnabucci, LCSW, TEP, is an author, trainer and psychotherapist who promotes, practices and teaches experiential methods including psychodrama, Family and Systemic Constellations, mindfulness and Tarot imagery.

    Archives

    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    July 2022
    April 2022
    February 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    May 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    November 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    December 2017
    August 2017
    May 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    April 2015
    January 2015

    Categories

    All 2016 2017 2020 2021 Conference Abuse Adam Blatner African Americans Alan Swanson Alison Mezey American Society Of Group Psychotherapy And Psychodrama Ancestor Healing Anger Anti-racism Anxiety Art Of Play ASGPP Authenticity Azizi Marshall Bert Hellinger Brain Science Breathe CE Credits Chicago Christmas Conference #constellatepeace Constellation Work Coronavirus COVID Dear Abby Decolonizing Mental Health Decolonizing Therapy Documentary Series Donald Trump Dr. J.L Moreno Eating Disorders Edward Tick Election Day 2016 Empathy Essential Oils Experiential Psychotherapies Experiential Psychotherapy Ex[periential Therapies Family Constellations Food Gratitude Group Psychotherapy Groups Group Skills Health Hidden Messsages Of Water Hoarding Illness Intergenerational Trauma Interview Japan Joseph Moreno Juneteenth Karen Carnabucci Kate Hudgins Kenosha Lancaster Lancaster School Of Psychodrama & Experiential Psychotherapies LIberty Place Light Linda Ciotola LNP Love Marcia Karp Mark Wolynn Masaru Emoto Meditation Memoirs Mental Illness Mice Study Nancy Alexander Neurobiology New Year Office Office Protocol Online Conference Online Training Pandemic Play Playback Theatre Play Therapy Politics Practice Space Psychodrama Psychodrama Books Psychotherapy Puppets Racism Regina Moreno Reiki Resources Rice Experiment Ritual River Crossing Playback Theatre San Bernardino Sand Tray Schaumburg Seed Point Selena Fox Self Care Self Love Sleep Social Change Social Justice Sociodrama Sociometry Solstice Spirituality Spiritualty Spring Equinox Stephan Hausner Stress Studies Stuffed Animals Systemic Constellations Systemic View Thanksgiving Theatre Of The Oppressed The New York Times Therapeutic Spiral Model Training Transformation Trauma U.S. Election Vacation Vaccine Veterans Video Training Visualization Warm Up William Moreno Winter Solistice Wisconsin Women's March Yoga YouTube Zerka T. Moreno

    RSS Feed

Located in beautiful Lancaster, Pennsylvania


What People Say

  • “A wonderful mix of relaxed professionalism, humor and up-to-date information.”

  •  “…awakened my creative spirit and pushed me to stretch myself professionally and personally beyond what I could have done with any other type of training programs.”

  • "She inspired the rest of our team with her ready smile and easy-going presence."

Subscribe to Karen's e-letter!

Join our mailing list today!
Subscribe!
Photos used under Creative Commons from anieto2k, CrimsonDarko