Therapeutic Animism is held at Earth in Sky which is currently situated on the land that's commonly called Hamilton Ontario. This land we call Hamilton sits on the traditional territories of the Erie, Neutral, Huron-Wendat, Haudenosaunee, and Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation. It is part of the Dish With One Spoon Wampum Covenant, which was an agreement made long before colonization between the Anishinaabe, Haudenosaunee, and allied Nations to share these lands and waters, take only what is needed, and care for the dish so it would never be empty. This law was not written in books, but in the living relationships between people, animals, plants, waters, and the spirit of the land itself.

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Colonization broke those relationships. Indigenous peoples were displaced, murdered, languages and ceremonies were suppressed, and the land was stripped for profit. Forests were cut, rivers polluted, animals driven out or killed in excess. This harm continues today in the housing crisis, in poisoned air and water, in the marginalization of Indigenous peoples, and in economic systems that still treat the earth as a resource to consume rather than a living community to respect.

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Here we hold the memory that this land is alive. The escarpment is the backbone of the earth here. The lake is a living entity that sustains. The animals and plants are our neighbours and kin. The soil beneath our feet is layered with seeds, roots, and the bones of those who came before. Everything we build, eat, and drink comes from somewhere, from someone, in this web of life. May we remember to honour this.

 

Nothing is truly ours to own. We are in temporary and eternal relationship with all of life.

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At Earth in Sky we remember a human’s role as a steward of the Earth.

To steward is to act as a caretaker and guardian of the planet’s living systems, not as an owner, but as a participant in a shared home.

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In this role, humans are responsible for:

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• Protecting the health of ecosystems, waters, soils, air, and biodiversity.

• Restoring what has been damaged by human activity.

• Using resources wisely, taking only what is needed and ensuring there is enough for future generations.

• Honouring relationships with more-than-human beings plants, animals, fungi, microbes, water, air (and all beings) as kin rather than commodities.

• Passing on knowledge, practices, and stories that sustain life and reciprocity.
   

From an animist perspective, stewardship isn’t about “managing” nature, it’s about being in right relationship with it. It means listening to the needs of the land and waters, giving back in gratitude, and recognizing that humans are one strand in the larger web of life.

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Earth in Sky exists here as a guest. Our work is to live in reciprocity, to repair relationships where they’ve been broken, and to stand alongside Indigenous peoples (of all shapes and forms) in protecting the land, waters, air and spirit.

 

This space is created with a social worker’s understanding of systems and harm, and an animist’s knowing that every being has its own agency and wisdom.

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This is not a symbolic statement. It is a reminder that how we live here matters. That the land is alive and watching. That the waters remember. That every choice we make either nourishes or depletes the dish we all share.

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A Note from Chauntell 

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I acknowledge my own lineage within this history. My grandparents arrived here as settlers, and I have inherited both the privileges and disconnections shaped through colonization and capitalism. I am not separate from these systems, nor fully free from their influence. Like many, I am continually learning, unlearning, listening, and remembering.

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I approach animist practice with deep respect for the indigenous and ancestral traditions that have carried relational ways of being with the living world across generations. My intention is not to extract or claim ownership over these teachings, but to engage with humility, care, reciprocity, and ongoing reflection. I recognize that this learning is lifelong, and I remain open to accountability, correction, and growth.

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This is not a declaration of expertise, but an offering of sincerity and relationship. My hope is that this work encourages deeper compassion, connection, and responsibility toward ourselves, one another, and the living world we belong to.

My commitment is to contribute, in whatever ways I can, to keeping the dish full while I am here.

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- Enchaunti Waroway