Northeastern was an Ancient Peace Center

 

On February 16, 1996, an ancient Peace fire was lit on the campus of Northeastern Illinois University by Bruce Hardwick and Duane Kinnart, two Ojibway Firekeepers from Rapid River, Michigan. Peacekeepers and Spiritual Leaders have been visiting our campus for the last thirteen years to visit the fire Circle, participate in ceremonies on campus and share their knowledge and wisdom with our community. Coal bundles from our Fire Circle have been carried and shared around the world for the last thirteen years.

 

Many renowned Spiritual Leaders and Peacekeepers have visited our campus and our Peace Fire Circle, our Peace Pole, our Peace Labyrinth and our 1.8 billion-year-old feldspar crystals. Namely, Arun Gandhi, grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, primatologist Jane Goodall, Spiritual leaders Ravi Shankar, Ajit Telang from India, and a group of Tibetan monks from the Drepung Monastery. Native elders and tribal leaders from many nations also have visited the campus and participated in peace events.

 

Irish Spiritual leader Bean Feasa nah Eireann, Margaret Connolly is another Peacekeeper who has visited the campus on four separate occasions to present seminars at the annual Teacher's of Experiential and Adventure Methodology (T.E.A.M.) Conference. Near the end of her third visit on Saturday, February 22, 2003, Margaret shared a vision/dream she had about Northeastern with a small group of people who had gathered at the fire.

 

It was 5:30 pm, the darkness had settled in from the setting sun, the wind picked up to 30 miles per hour, and the heavy tarps on the fire lodge were waving parallel to the ground. The bone-chilling cold cut through us like a razor knife as the Bean Feasa called us to the Fire Circle.

 

She shared the following to those who were present:

 

" The Winds of Change have started. I had a vivid dream about Northeastern, but I had to come here three different times to walk the land to confirm my dream. Three is a sacred number in Ireland. I also had to walk the Fire ring barefooted to let the land also confirm what I knew as the truth. A long, long time ago before there were written records people would travel here to this place. It was a Peace Center. It was a Peace Center where people would ground themselves and then go back to their homes. It was a place where the women were at the center of the circle running the community and making the important decisions for the future. The men would stand as Sacred Guardians on the outside of the circle of women to protect them but to also demonstrate their support for their wisdom and leadership. When the women were in the center making the decisions for the community, there was never any war. The women did not want their sons to die in misguided battles by misguided leaders."

 

"When the Sacred Fire was relit here in 1996 it reactivated the ancient energy that was in the land. People will travel here from all over and not even know why they have shown up, but they will feel something special, something very old they cannot put into words. All the gatherings that involve the Sacred Fire reactivate that cellular memory in all those who visit the Northeastern Campus. They will feel like they are at home, reconnected to their Divine Natural Ability as Northeastern is a powerful sacred site. With gratitude and compassion, I am honored to have been invited to Northeastern."