(photo taken at Eskasoni, N.B., NBEN)

But they were plagued by a terrible monster, the triple-headed monster of Greed, Hate and War. Greed sucked up all the colors of life and wound them into threads locked inside his fortress Hate severed the threads of love and taught the people to fear each other. War threatened destruction to anyone who opposed the monster's rule. And the people were separate, and afraid, and poor. The threads of connection were frayed. The fabric of care unravelled And War took the young and marched them off to slaughter and die in places far away. Greed stole their future...

The river of life ran dry. The women saw the springs go barren, the new sprouts fail, the trees die, and the hills turn brown And they wept and mourned, and didn't know what to do. The women, too, were divided, for some had more and some had less. Old wounds and present injustices kept them apart. But as War shook his fist, and threatened to unleash weapons to destroy the earth, the women heard the earth herself whisper, "If you want to know where power lies, turn and look into your sisters' eyes".

They turned to each other, One woman said to another, "Let me bind your wounds," "Let me bring you water, " "Let me dry your tears.." "We must amplify love, and throw off dread, Take back our power and spin a thread, A life line, held in our strong hands, A living web of shining strands."

And their hands remembered how to spin. They spun freedom rising like the wind, They spun threads of life, the cords of fate, Rivers of love, stronger than hate, They spun Justice burning like a flaming star, They spun the peace that overcomes war.

So come mothers and grandmothers, Lovers and daughters, Come spinners and weavers, Tool makers, potters, Dancers and dreamers, Fixers and changers, Singers and screamers, Forget all the dangers, Come ancestors, guardians, Goddesses too, You who teach us, you who speak true, You who plant, and you who reap, You who soar and you who creep, You who cook, and you who drum, You who have been, and you yet to come, You who fight with the sword, You who fight with the pen, Unreasonable women, Unmanageable men, Come harpies and banshees and gorgons and Witches, Come sweet loving hearts and furious bitches!

Break the chains that have kept us bound, Weave a web to pull the monster down.

We are sweet water, we are the seed, We are the storm wind to blow away greed. We are the new world we bring to birth, The river rising to reclaim the earth.

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