
When the Serpents Devour Themselves
Thursday, June 16, 2022
Six years ago I wrote a column in response to the plans by an oil pipeline company to build across the sacred territory of the Lakota people at Standing Rock. I cited a Mohawk teaching regarding the extraction from beneath the earth of the remains of long deceased animals and plant-the oil from which all nations have now come to rely upon.
Our ancestors warned that. releasing the remains would cause havoc on this earth. It would be unleashing the black serpents and the destructive power they wield. We are told that the Thunder Beings were assigned the task of keeping the serpents entombed and that whenever a lightning bolt strikes the earth it is at. place where the serpents are closest to the surface.
Humans will make the fatal mistake of using what was meant to be buried and by doing so bring about ecological catastrophes. Our arrogance and callousness will have devastating effects; we will contaminate earth, sky and waters. The black serpents will cause dramatic shifts in the climate with increasingly powerful winds, made so by the warming waters, sweeping across the continent bringing in turn floods, torrential rains, earthquakes and blizzards.
The climate crisis will also cause tensions within every community as individuals try and survive these radical changes. We are told other species will become fearful of these shifts and begin to fade away. Unmistakeable signs will be the demise of important trees such as the elm, maple, chestnut and ash along with plants such as the strawberry. The Thunder Beings will also disappear but not before shifting their journey from the west to the east.


Doug George-Kanentiio, Akwesasne Mohawk, is a residential school survivor. He was given the number 4-8-2-738. He serves as the vice-president of the Hiawatha Institute for Indigenous Knowledge. He previously served as a Trustee for the National Museum of the American Indian, is a former land claims negotiator for the Mohawk Nation and is the author of numerous books and articles about the Mohawk people. He may be reached via e-mail at: Kanentiio@aol.com or by calling 315-415-7288.
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