We, the undersigned groups and individuals of the Reclaiming Tradition and other Pagan Traditions, stand in solidarity with the Standing Rock Sioux Nation, the Lakota people, and all Indigenous Peoples who are fighting to preserve and protect their homes and lands. We stand in solidarity with all who declare these things sacred: clean water and air, verdant forests, meadows, prairies and wetlands, and ways of life that honor people over profit.
To hold something sacred means that its well-being becomes the standard by which we judge our actions and decisions. In the words of the defenders who have made their stand at Standing Rock, water is life. No amount of money, no profits that benefit a few, can justify a threat to the very means and sustenance of life.
We bear witness and acknowledge the history of genocide of the indigenous peoples of this continent and the theft of land and resources that began half a millennium ago and continues to this day. We honor the sovereignty and rights of Indigenous Peoples, and demand that no projects that affect their lands, territories, or resources be undertaken without their free, prior, and informed consent.
Our sacred traditions have roots in the earth-based spiritual traditions of our ancestors from around the world. In many places they, too, suffered persecution for holding to their old ways and beliefs, and we proudly call ourselves Witches and Pagans—reclaiming the European words used to justify murder and expropriation of the healers, herbalists, and visionaries of the common people.
And yet many of us also unwillingly benefit from the system that still appropriates indigenous lands, lives and culture. All the more, then, do we bear responsibility to listen to the voices of the original peoples of this land, to stand in solidarity and do whatever we can to assure a viable future for the generations to come.
Today, climate change threatens the life support systems of the planet. We know that we must stop burning fossil fuels and turn to safe, renewable sources of energy. Yet the vested interests of the fossil fuel industry continue to exploit dirty and unsustainable sources of oil, delving for every last drop in ways that assault Mother Earth and fracture her very bones, spilling filth onto the lands and spoiling the waters. Around the world, from the Tar Sands of Canada to the oil fields of Nigeria, indigenous peoples have borne the worst brunt of this assault, through loss of land, health and life, through epidemics of cancer and outright assassination and torture.
The fight to stop this pipeline is also a stand to make the shift we know must come—to leave the oil in the ground and make our energy from sources that do not threaten the stability of life on earth.
The Standing Rock Sioux Nation and their allies have now taken the lead in this struggle, and we support them and accept our own responsibility in this crucial time to protect the health of prairie lands and mountains, of rivers and underground waters, of green valleys and ancient forests, of the web of life that sustains us all.
We invite groups and individuals from other Pagan and earth-based traditions to join with us in heeding the Standing Rock Sioux Nation and the Sacred Stone Camp’s calls for solidarity and support. We are all related.
The water supply of the Standing Rock Sioux is threatened by construction of the Dakota Access pipeline, which was permitted by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in late July, despite the objections of three federal agencies including the federal Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of the Interior and the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation.
Supporters are being asked to call their elected representatives, and donate to support the well-being of defenders at Sacred Stone camp. For up-to-date information on what is needed, please visit standingrock.org and sacredstonecamp.org
Please read, sign, and share this letter of solidarity with the Standing Rock Sioux Nation and all Indigenous Peoples taking direct action to stop the Dakota Access Pipeline. These actions are a key point in a larger fight to protect the land, air, climate and waters upon which we all depend, from the ravages of the fossil fuel industry.
This letter was written by members of the Reclaiming Tradition but is open to all traditions to sign. Please share with your coven or group and sign on together! Visit standingrock.org and sacredstonecamp.org for more up-to-date information. We intend to send the letter with the names on September 5.
If signing for a group / coven / organization: http://bit.ly/pagan_noDAPL
If signing individually: https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/pagan-solidarity-with-standing-rock