Pentagram of Blood #2

God’s Lake, Manitoba, Canada

Point Two

Curses. Probably the only thing or idea that’s older than the Teotihuacan or the Pyramid of the Sun. A curse is a Solemn utterance intended to invoke a supernatural power to inflict harm or punishment on someone or something. Much like the idea of the paranormal and supernatural, curses are another controversial topic that separates believers from non-believers.

Things like witchcraft/Brujeria that could involve black magic, satanic rituals, and other dark practices retain the ability to place curses on the unknowing/unwilling. However, those aren’t the only ways curses are placed on people, persons, or entire lands. Not all curses originate from dark and/or satanic rituals. Perhaps the Teotihuacan, Aztecs, and maybe even the Mayans could have placed a curse every now and then. All the same, some Indigenous also have been known to set a curse or two on people, places, or objects. Is a curse what’s to blame for God’s Lake First Nation in Manitoba, Canada becoming the second point of the Pentagram of Blood?

From what I was able to find, it’s believed that the members of God’s Lake First Nation are the Swampy Cree. It is also important to point out that a good chunk of the information found on the lives of the Cree (Swampy or otherwise) can and should most likely be considered incomplete and sporadic throughout various documents. Over time there has been so much recorded history that has been lost, or maybe even destroyed, that most have no idea of their true background. So here is what I have found.

So many people of God’s Lake First Nation (formed in 1909 when the First Nation signed with the Government of Canada) have suffered at the hands of the Roman Catholic Church either directly or indirectly. What the church did to the children of the First Nation between the years 1908-1948 (when the school finally closed down) was unspeakable. 

It has been a little over seventy years since the Cross Lake Residential School (1908-1948) closed down. What happened behind its closed doors left a gaping wound on many of God’s Lake Cree residents, including those who never had to attend the school. 

The Roman Catholic School was under the jurisdiction of the Norway House Indian Agency. This left the parents with no choice but to send their children to school for about ten months out of the year. The children were loaded into planes as if they were nothing more than a load of cargo or herd of cattle. Upon arrival at Cross Lake, boys and girls (siblings or otherwise) were separated from one another, and not allowed to speak to each other. Once the doors closed the children’s waking nightmares began. 

The Roman Catholic Church (RCC) forced Catholic conversion onto the children. Which meant that they were to forget everything their parents and elders had ever taught them. The church and its people believed that they were obeying God’s will by converting those they most likely saw as “savages”. All because the native Cree of God’s Lake chose to follow their own path of beliefs, and embrace everything about their heritage. The conversion wasn’t the only thing kids had to endure at the residential school. 

Most (if not all) of the children were forced to endure some type of abuse that consisted of: mental, emotional, physical, spiritual, and even sexual. Telling their parents was a waste of time because they didn’t believe or maybe wouldn’t believe that such things were taking place at the RCC school. Why would they believe their children? Priests and Nuns are supposed to be holy people, and religious people wouldn’t do such things. But they did. Both the priests and the nuns. No adult provided pure safety for the children while they were at the Cross Lake Residential School. 

So, what doors or portals did this church unknowingly open beside one of permanent darkness that hangs over generations? There are many malevolent entities that thrive on the pain of others. What if demons or other sinister forces could sense the negative intentions coming from the church, government officials, and other persons involved? So, it wouldn’t be surprising if demons or other evil spirits helped make the children’s pain at the school worse. Demons and dark spirits are known to mimic everything such as people’s voices and being able to appear as children. What if the very demons feeding off the pain and fear of the children pretended to be God himself? A simple whisper in a priest’s ear claiming to be the voice of God would be all it took to create a snowball effect. 

What if the mental and emotional struggle of the children of the Norway House, and generations to follow, wasn’t the sole cause of their deep-rooted pain? What if the door that was opened by the church wasn’t the only door to be opened? Keep in mind that when Cross Lake/Norway House first came into existence in 1908 was over one hundred years ago. It is possible that there are other supernatural reasons for a continued dark history in God’s Lake.  

Unlike the Pyramid of the Sun, there were never any known or

documented blood sacrifices. Like the Aztecs, however, the Cree contained people that could also perform various sorts of rituals. These sort of people were known as Shamans. Within the belief of Shamanism the roles of healer, religious leader, counselor, and councillor are combined with some other extraordinary capabilities. 

Additionally, Shamans retain the ability to not only heal the sick, but are also skilled enough to communicate with the otherworld and guide the dead to the otherworld. It is believed that Shamans hold a great deal of authority, mainly due to there being a fear that the Shamans could (and maybe even would) use their powers for evil purposes. So what if there was a past Shaman that did use their powers, but not for evil. What if they used their powers to call upon an angry spirit, or better yet, use their powers on themselves (if possible)?

The possibility of an angry Native American/Indigenous spirit is not completely unheard of. Over one hundred years ago, a Shaman could have tried to place a curse upon the Roman Catholics for coming onto their land and forcing their children to become Catholic. Since there were few instances of the Shaman using their powers for sorcery, could that curse have backfired? Thus affecting the children that attended the school because they were forced to forget everything their previous religion, families, and clan members have taught them? It’s probable the curse doesn’t see them as true First Nation/Cree natives anymore, even though they were born and raised on that land.

Did their essence, or life force, not soak itself into the land enough to be recognized as an equal among the natives of God’s Lake First Nation Reserve? Or did it become tainted from being forced to take part in the Roman Catholic Church against their parent’s wishes? There might even be an angry spirit of a tribe member who took their anger to the grave for how the church interfered with their lives. They could have viewed the parents that “allowed” their children to be taken, and converted into the ways of the white man, as a threat to the future of their people. They may have sworn on their deathbed that they would bring nothing but harm and tragedy to those who attended the church and their descendants. Therefore possbily rendering the Shaman unable to deliver their spirit to the otherworld.

History, stories, and traditions are very important things to the Indians/Indigenous. One cannot expect to mess around with their history and/or traditions without stirring up some really negative outcomes. Just because it wasn’t carved into stone, or written down in a textbook, doesn’t mean that it didn’t happen.

 

Definitions: 

Shaman- A person who acts as an intermediary between the natural and supernatural worlds, using magic to cure illness, fortell the future, control spiritual forces, etc.

-Or-

Shaman- A person believed to achieve various powers through trance or ecstatic religious experiences.

Shamanism- 1.) The animistic religion of northern Asia, embracing a belief in powerful spirits that can be influenced only by shamans. 2.) Any similar religion.

Sources Used:

–Cross Lake Residential School – Database – Eugenics Archives

–Four deaths by suicide, 22 attempts an ‘ongoing crisis’ in God’s Lake First Nation | Thompson Citizen

–Life is a struggle on God’s Lake Narrows First Nation, but a will to overcome gives purpose – Winnipeg Free Press

–https://www.dictionary.com/e/pop-culture/brujeria/

–The autoethnography of an Ininiw from God’s Lake, Manitoba, Canada: First Nation water governance flows from sacred Indigenous relationships, responsibilities and rights to aski

–Reports – NCTR

–Cree | Customs, History, & Facts | Britannica

–Cree Tribe for Kids

–God’s Lake First Nation – Native Ministries International

–Shaman Definition & Meaning | Dictionary.com

–Shamanism Definition & Meaning | Dictionary.com

–shamanism – Dress and equipment | Britannica

–Shaman | The Canadian Encyclopedia

–Nehiyawak (Cree) | The Canadian Encyclopedia

–Cree (Native Americans of the Subarctic)