Land-Based Healing & Wellness
Our friends at St. Stephen’s College at the University of Alberta are hosting a Film Screening followed by a Q&A with Lauren Aldred, BGS, MA-PPL, DMin Student, tomorrow from 6 – 8 PM in BUS 1-09 (Business) at the University of Alberta. You can join them in person or via Zoom: https://conta.cc/3ydctue
Choctaw Elder and Episcopalian Bishop, Steven Charleston wrote:
“One way to understand the Native American spiritual bond with the land is to place it next to the Western theology of having a personal relationship to God. Many evangelical faiths emphasize this kind of relationship as foundational to their tradition. In the same sense, Native tradition believes in a deeply personal relationship to the Creator, but goes one step further: since the Creator is still incarnate within all of creation, then the relationship is not just metaphorical or emotional, but physical. The personal contact with the sacred is tactile. How we treat the earth is how we treat God. In this way, Native tradition has a personal relationship theology that you can both see and touch. The bond is grounded.”
As she experienced the healing process of being on the Land, she re-focused her doctoral studies to Land-Based Healing and Wellness. Words are not sufficient to describe the healing she continues to receive; it can only be alluded to through art. This mixed exhibition chronicles her relationship with the Land and the inherently healing effect of being connected to Place. Through this exhibition, Lauren expresses her heartfelt love and gratitude for the relationship with and healing from Creator, through the Land.